So much has been said about the importance of learning in organizations, but what is often missed is the effect of the forgetting curve on slowly stripping away learning achievement. Moreover, what guarantees that the retained learning is actually transferred onto the job post-training?
Enter coaching! Hailed as one of the best techniques to encourage learning retention, implementation, and reinforcement after any training intervention, coaching is a simple, yet powerful way to ensure that learning sticks and creates organizational impact.
What is Coaching?
Coaching is a learning technique based on a collaborative relationship between a coach (usually a manager, a peer, or an accredited professional) and a coachee (the employee). It focuses on providing personalized feedback and self-reflection to help employees set their individual development goals, overcome barriers to achievement, and work towards their goals with the coach’s guidance.
The ROI of Coaching
Coaching provides powerful ingredients that traditional training often misses out on; namely, personalization and follow-up.
While traditional training, still essential, provides employees with knowledge regarding vital behavioral, professional, and leadership skills, coaching helps reinforce this learning on the job. Coaching recognizes that at the heart of learning implementation are barriers that differ from one individual to the other and sets out with the employee on a journey to identify these barriers and overcome them.
Moreover, whilst training engagements may last from 1 day to 3-4 weeks, coaching engagements usually last for 3 to 6 months, providing the necessary follow-up to ensure learning implementation, accountability, and reinforcement.
In fact, the numbers don’t lie. Research shows that organizations with a strong coaching culture witness a 52%+ increase in belonging, 30%+ increase in authenticity, and 27%+ increase in work-life balance compared to those without a coaching culture. Moreover, a study on executive coaching’s effect revealed an average ROI of 5.7 times the initial investment, or a return of over $100,000. Along the same lines, our coaching solutions lead to 20%+ behavioral change, 14%+ career advancement, and 90%+ goal achievement post-coaching interventions. These are just some of the reasons why a coaching solution is an excellent investment.
Types of Coaching
But before you start rolling out organization-wide coaching solutions, take a look first at the different types of coaching and which is the best for you.
1.Post-Training Coaching
This form of coaching primarily targets learning reinforcement and transfer to the job. It is considered supplementary to training. It is especially useful when rolling out new systems, processes, or culture initiatives. It is also useful after leadership programs to ensure leaders get the personalized feedback and follow-up they need to implement learning.
2. Professional & Leadership Development
This form of coaching is independent of any training programs. It simply aims to identify employees’ and leaders’ next career goals, the barriers to these goals, and the action plan necessary for goal achievement. Afterward, the coaching journey focuses on providing guidance and support to the employee or leader as they capitalize on their strengths, address their weaknesses, overcome their barriers, and work on their action plans. Very often, this type of coaching intervention utilizes assessments and benchmarks to help identify coachees’ strengths and weaknesses and focus the coaching conversations.
How Coaching Works
Coaching interventions are in the form of meetings, often weekly, between the coach and the coachee, for a period of 3-6 months. The first meeting is usually a meet & greet, followed by a goal-setting meeting. The following meetings are usually progress check-in meetings. Along the coaching journey, the coach may assign the coachee assessments, questionnaires, or activities to help them achieve their goals.
That being said, coaching can be conducted by internal or external coaches.
1. Internal Coaching
Internal coaching happens when the organization assigns an employee inside the organization the role of coach to other team members. This coach can be accredited or not. In most cases, the coach is not accredited and is simply a manager or more experienced co-worker who guides the coachee. Even then, the organization is responsible for providing the necessary training for these employees playing ‘coach’ roles to ensure the effectiveness of their engagements.
There are many coaching models that organizations can adopt and train their internal coaches on. One of the most common models is the GROW model.
The acronym stands for:
- G – Goal Setting: In this stage, the coach helps the coachee set SMART goals.
- R – Reality Check: In this stage, the coach helps the coachee discover where they are from their goal achievement and the barriers and weaknesses that stand in their way.
- O – Options: In this stage, the coach works with the coachee to identify the different options the coachee has to bridge the gap between their goals and reality.
- W – Will: In this stage, the coach works with the coachee on setting an action plan for goal achievement with clear timelines and progress check-ins.
It is important to realize in all of these engagements that coaching is a collaborative relationship. The coach’s role should not be to instruct or teach, but rather to facilitate employee self-discovery and learning.
2. External Coaching
This type of coaching involves contracting an external freelance coach or coaching company to lead the coaching engagements inside the organization. Although a safer, more effective approach than internal coaching, it is more costly.
Before getting an external coach on board, you must ensure they are accredited by an internationally recognized body. Here are the top accredited coaching bodies:
- The International Coaching Federation (ICF)
- The Association for Coaching (AC)
- The European Mentoring & Coaching Council (EMCC)
- The International Association of Coaching (IAC)
Moreover, it is important to note that coaches usually have specializations, such as career, executive, leadership, business, life, or relationship coaching. Their individual life and career experiences also play a role in how helpful they can be in a particular coaching situation. So you need to pay special care to the process of coach-coachee matching to ensure optimal results.
Coaching Modalities
Coaching used to be face-to-face, but virtual coaching sessions are now widely available. Moreover, artificial intelligence is totally revving up the game with AI-powered coaches. To learn more about these state-of-the-art coaches, check out Caisy AI coaching simulator.
Moreover, coaching can be conducted one-on-one or in groups, depending on the specific skill set you are addressing. For example, one-on-one coaching can be used to help an employee with emotional regulation, but group coaching can be used to guide a team to develop better collaboration skills.
Are you ready to embrace coaching as an integral part of L&D?
Coaching can help you maximize your L&D ROI. If you believe that you’re ready to embrace coaching as part of your L&D strategy or would like to learn more, contact us at enquiries@xpertlearning.com.