So, What is a Coaching Culture After All?

Transcription

1 chapter 1 So, What is a Coaching Cuture After A? If you get the cuture right, most of the other stuff wi just take care of itsef. Tony Hsieh, Founder and CEO of Zappos.com overview This chapter sets out to expore what organisationa cuture is and why it is so important. It then moves on to present our definition and mode of coaching cuture, giving exampes of what a coaching cuture may ook ike on each eve. It aso describes the four distinct stages of coaching cuture deveopment and ooks at the business case for deveoping a coaching cuture. Finay, it describes how eading organisations define a coaching cuture. what is cuture and why bother? We have asked the above question a number of times during various workshops and it aways eads to the same resut: a heated debate. What is interesting is that nobody ever questions or disagrees with the two basic assumptions impied in it, that: cuture exists, and there are vaid reasons we shoud bother. It seems that cuture and the experience of its impact are such an integra part of human existence that questioning it woud be as unthinkabe as questioning gravity. The intuitive beief most peope hod about the power of cuture to make or break organisations has been widey supported by research and repeatedy documented in academic iterature. Most management theorists and researchers agree that cuture can be one of the key determinants of how successfu the company wi be. Empirica research has produced a arge number of findings demonstrating the impact of cuture on performance (Cameron and Ettington 1998; Denison 1990; Trice and Beyer 1993; Kotter and Heskett 1992). Edgar Schein (1992), the American guru of cuture and eadership, said that cuture is the key to organisationa exceence and the function of eadership is the creation and management of cuture. Dutch cutura expert Geert Hofstede wrote: In genera, we find that outstandingy successfu organisations usuay have strong and unique cutures... Unsuccessfu organisations have weak indifferent sub-cutures or od sub-cutures that become scerosed and can actuay prevent the organisation s adaptation to changed circumstances (Hofstede 1980, p394). Cuture is important because it determines:

2 4 Buiding and Sustaining a Coaching Cuture decision-making processes and criteria (how decisions are made and what is considered to be the right decisions for the organisation) what is deemed to be appropriate behaviour and acceptabe ways of interacting with others how peope perceive their responsibiities and dea with tasks that are assigned to them the promptness and efficiency with which the organisation performs its key functions an organisation s agiity and adaptabiity to change the way the organisation perceives and interacts with the main stakehoders outside of the organisation. what cuture ooks and fees ike Before ooking at cuture definitions, it might be hepfu to see what cuture ooks and fees ike. The story beow is based on an experiment performed by Stephenson in Athough it had nothing to do with organisationa cuture per se, it is reevant to the subject. Five rhesus monkeys were paced in a cage with a few bananas hanging from the ceiing. A adder was convenienty paced underneath. Whenever one of the monkeys attempted to cimb the adder to reach for the bananas, ALL the monkeys were sprayed with ice-cod water. After a whie, the monkeys eventuay made the ink between the attempt to reach for the bananas and being coectivey punished with ice-cod water. Finay, it was no onger necessary to use the ice-cod water no monkey woud even go near the adder. The researcher then repaced one of the monkeys with a new one. Not being aware of the icecod water treatment, the new monkey immediatey attempted to cimb the adder to reach for the bananas. However, within a fraction of a second, the other monkeys woud attack it and continue beating it up unti it stopped trying. One by one, the monkeys who experienced ice-cod water treatment were repaced with new ones. Every time a new member woud attempt to reach for the bananas, it woud get a beating from the rest, incuding the monkeys who never experienced the cod water. Eventuay, the cage was popuated by five new monkeys, none of which had the experience of the ice-cod water. When the researcher introduced a new monkey, the other monkeys attacked the newcomer the moment it approached the adder. What is fascinating in this story is that even though none of the monkeys knew about the coective punishment with ice-cod water, somehow they earnt that reaching for the banana was off imits. They became the guardians of a norm the purpose of which they didn t understand. It s not surprising that the story has gone vira on socia media we can a reate to it at a deep, persona eve. Most of us had the experience of being introduced to a new cutura context a new organisation, a new team, or even just our partner s famiy and suffering the consequences of unintentionay vioating the unwritten cutura norms of that group. Many of us eventuay assimiated into the group s cuture and started behaving a certain way without questioning the reasons, simpy because it was the way we do things round here (Dea and Kennedy 1988). The fact that cuture can drive behaviour in such a powerfu and consistent way is impossibe to ignore. More and more organisations nowadays are conscious of the ink between their cuture and performance. Leveraging or transforming cuture in a way that supports organisationa mission, vision and objectives is considered a must by a ot of organisations.

3 So, What is a Coaching Cuture After A? 5 defining cuture Management science began investigating the subject of cuture in organisations as eary as the 1930s. The Hawthorn studies at Western Eectric Company were the first attempt to use the concept of cuture in the context of the work environment. However, it wasn t unti the ate 1970s and eary 1980s that the researchers approached the subject of cuture in organisations in a more systematic way, drawing heaviy on anthropoogy and socioogy. What sparked this interest was the impressive success of Japanese companies and curiosity as to whether cuture coud be one of the contributing factors. The term organisationa cuture was popuarised in the eary 1980s. The rapid rise of interest in this aspect of business management was triggered by four semina books on the subject: Ouchi (1981) Theory Z: How American Business Can Meet the Japanese Chaenge. Pascae and Athos (1981) The Art of Japanese Management: Appications for American Executives. Dea and Kennedy (1981) Corporate Cutures: The Rites and Rituas of Corporate Life. Peters and Waterman (1982) In Search of Exceence: Lessons from America s Best Run Companies. Since then, organisationa cuture has been the subject of research by a number of distinguished management theorists. Whie there seems to be universa agreement that cuture is a powerfu force shaping an organisation s performance, there is a surprising ack of consensus on its definition. Even at the beginning of the more systematic organisationa cuture research, Barney noted that: Few concepts in organisationa earning iterature have as many competing definitions as organisationa cuture (Barney 1986, p657). In spite of these differences, it s possibe to identify a few ideas where the iterature converges: Cuture is created over time through the interaction of peope and their environment. This is ceary expressed by Schein when he portrays cuture as a pattern of basic assumptions invented, discovered, or deveoped by a given group as it earns to cope with its probems of externa adaptation and interna integration that has worked we enough to be considered vaid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and fee in reation to those probems (Schein 1992). Cuture creates consistent patterns of meaning and behaviour that bind peope together and make them unique as a group. This idea has been expressed by Hofstede (1980), Martin and Sieh (1992), Schein (1992), Van den Berg and Widerom (2004), Wagner and Hoenbeck (2010) and many others. Cuture is a combination of visibe and invisibe eements that exist on mutipe eves. Arguments supporting this can be found in the work of a number of academics, for exampe, Martin and Sieh (1983), Utta (1983), Denison (1990). The above points of consensus show that the majority of researchers perceive cuture as a unique, shared set of beiefs and assumptions that were adopted by its members over time and which ead to consistent patterns of meaning and behaviour. They encompass both the visibe (artefacts, behaviours) and the invisibe (assumptions, beiefs) aspects of cuture. These common points guide our approach to a coaching cuture; we consider the visibe manifestations, as we as the underying driving forces, as critica to describe and understand what a coaching cuture is. In addition, we wi buid on our bounded functionaism approach to creating a coaching cuture (Cutterbuck and Megginson 2005). This approach sees cuture as a contribution to organisationa effectiveness and, therefore, seeks to aign cuture with the

4 6 Buiding and Sustaining a Coaching Cuture needs of the organisation and its stakehoders. It aso assumes that organisationa cuture can be transformed to an extent that aows a coaching cuture to take root and fourish. We are far from caiming that it is possibe to overcome a the obstaces towards creating a coaching cuture if eaders foow a the tenets presented in this book. Transforming organisationa cuture is a compex task and there are various forces at pay. The suggestions presented in this book are based on what we have seen work in various organisations. However, each organisation is unique and, therefore, our approach shoud be seen as a usefu toobox rather than a fai-proof recipe for a coaching cuture. Tabe 1.1 Definitions of organisationa cuture Hofstede (1980) The coective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one organization from another. This incuded shared beiefs, vaues and practices that distinguished one organization to another. Ouchi (1981) The organisationa cuture consists of a set of symbos, ceremonies and myths that communicate the underying vaues and beiefs of the organisation to its empoyees. Martin & Sieh (1983) Gue that hods together an organisation through shared patterns of meaning. Three component systems: context or core vaues, forms (process of communication, eg jargon), strategies to reinforce content (eg rewards, training programmes). Utta (1983) Shared vaues and beiefs that interact with an organization s structures and contro systems to produce behaviora norms. Denison (1990) Refers to cuture as the underying vaues, beiefs and principes that serve as a foundation for an organisation s management system as we as the set of management practices and behaviours that both exempify and reinforce those basic principes. Schein (1992) Organisationa cuture impies a pattern of basic assumptions invented, discovered, or deveoped by a given group as it earns to cope with its probems of externa adaptation and interna integration that has worked we enough to be considered vaid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and fee in reation to those probems. Trompenaars (1993) Cuture is the way in which a group of peope soves probems and reconcies diemmas. Tayor (2005) Cuture is created from the messages that are received about how peope are expected to behave in the organization. Ven den Berg & Widerom (2004) Wagner (2010) Hawkins (2012) Shared perceptions of organisationa work practices within organisationa units that may differ from other organisationa units. An informa, shared way of perceiving ife and membership in the organisation that binds members together and infuences what they think about themseves and their work. Cuture resides in the habituated ways of connecting that an organisation repeats. Cuture resides not just inside the organisation, but more importanty in the reationship patterns with a the key stakehoders.

5 So, What is a Coaching Cuture After A? 7 the essence of coaching and mentoring There are too many definitions of coaching and mentoring out there to incude a representative seection in this chapter. These definitions and modes of coaching vary consideraby: from ones that are highy directive and nearer instruction, to highy non-directive, not even giving feedback from short-term task and performance focus to onger-term persona transformation from individua focus to team focus. The same is true, with much overap, of mentoring. Our view is that a coaching cuture embraces that diversity of approaches, seeking to create environments with mutipe ways of stimuating creative understanding and positive change. Peter Hawkins observed: What is the essence of coaching, once we strip away a the theories and modes, the different schoos and methodoogies, and the mushrooming muti-biion doar business? At its heart, coaching provides some skis and discipines to aid generative conversations. These are conversations that generate new thinking, previousy unknown to the other party, which arises out of the quaity of the reationship (Hawkins 2012). A pragmatic way of defining what we mean by coaching (and mentoring) is to focus therefore on the nature of the conversations that underie the process. This is iustrated in our mode of deveopmenta conversations in Figure 1.1. Deveopmenta conversations, such as coaching and mentoring, hep peope understand their inner context (what s going on for them internay) and their externa context (their persona and professiona environments). The coach (or mentor) heps to gain crucia insights into each of these words and to have a conversation that inks them, with a view to achieving better decisions and, consequenty, better resuts. so what is a coaching cuture? The term coaching cuture has been used with increased frequency in the past 15 years. However, in spite of its growing popuarity, there is sti itte carity as to what a coaching cuture reay is. Whie there have been a few more books pubished on the subject recenty, the iterature on coaching cuture remains scarce especiay by contrast with the vast number of pubications on coaching and mentoring in genera. In our previous book, Making Coaching Work, we defined a coaching cuture as one where: Coaching is the predominant stye of managing and working together, and where a commitment to grow the organisation is embedded in a parae commitment to grow the peope in the organisation (Cutterbuck and Megginson 2005). Recent books pubished on the subject offer aternative definitions. Jones and Gore define a coaching cuture as one where peope are empowered and where coaching happens at every eve....it adds to the bottom ine performance. It is the recognised too that touches every part of the empoyee ife-cyce (Jones and Gore 2014). Peter Hawkins states that: A coaching cuture exists in an organisation when a coaching approach is a key aspect of how the eaders, managers, and staff engage and deveop a their peope and engage their stakehoders, in ways that create increased individua, team, and organisationa performance and shared vaue for a stakehoders (Hawkins 2012). An oder but we-estabished definition by Hart (2003) taks about coaching cuture as: An organisationa setting in which not ony forma coaching occurs, but aso, most or a arge segment of individuas in the organisation practice coaching behaviours as a means of reating to, infuencing and supporting each other.

6 8 Buiding and Sustaining a Coaching Cuture Figure 1.1 The deveopmenta conversation mode The deveopmenta conversation Externa context Learning opportunities, reputation, networks, sources of support, career paths Panning Doing/performing Interna context persona vaues, strengths/weaknesses, sef-confidence, purpose, skis, personaity, experience Understanding/awareness Learning/refecting Tabe 1.2 Definitions of coaching cuture Hart (2003) Hardingham (2004) Cutterbuck & Megginson (2005) BessingWhite (2009) Keddy & Johnson (2011) Hawkins (2012) Jones & Gore (2014) An organisationa setting in which not ony forma coaching occurs, but aso, most or a arge segment of individuas in the organisation practice coaching behaviours as a means of reating to, infuencing and supporting each other. A cuture where peope coach each other a the time as a natura part of meetings, reviews and one-to-one discussions of a kinds. Coaching is the predominant stye of managing and working together, and where a commitment to grow the organisation is embedded in a parae commitment to grow the peope in the organisation. A coaching cuture is buit on organizationa and eadership beiefs and practices that refect coaching as a strategic business driver and critica taent management too. Supporting each other s deveopment and quaity of thinking is at the forefront....everyone who wants to be coached and when it is appropriate and practica, is offered coaching. A coaching cuture exists in an organisation when a coaching approach is a key aspect of how the eaders, managers, and staff engage and deveop a their peope and engage their stakehoders, in ways that create increased individua, team, and organisationa performance and shared vaue for a stakehoders....peope are empowered and where coaching happens at every eve....it adds to the bottom ine performance. It is the recognised too that touches every part of the empoyee ife-cyce.

7 So, What is a Coaching Cuture After A? 9 A these definitions touch upon essentia eements of a coaching cuture. They present a coaching cuture as a way of working and interacting at every eve of the organisation and at each stage of the empoyee ife-cyce to deveop and support others, as we as to improve bottom-ine resuts. Whie potentiay describing what a coaching cuture might ook ike in a ot of cases, this approach to defining it does not expicity address the deeper eves of a coaching cuture, such as beiefs, assumptions and mindsets. Coaching cuture just ike any other kind of cuture resides both at the visibe and the invisibe eve. What transpired from our work and the hundreds of conversations that we hed about creating and sustaining a coaching cuture over the years is that it is not just about having peope engage in coaching conversations and use coaching skis on a reguar basis. It is aso and perhaps even more importanty about peope adopting a coaching phiosophy, principes, beiefs and mindsets and appying them to a professiona activities and interactions. For exampe, no amount of coaching skis training and appication wi ever ead to creating a strong coaching cuture if peope don t internaise the underying principes of coaching, such as attentiveness, curiosity, openness and trust. Whie what a coaching cuture ooks ike wi vary depending on the organisation, what it is rooted in seems to be stabe and consistent across the board. Based on these observations, we reaised that the heart or the DNA of a coaching cuture ies in the invisibe eements and that these eements are common to most organisations, irrespective of the industry and the nature of their business. Working with a number of organisations on deveoping a coaching cuture, hoding hundreds of conversations with executives and HR professionas, faciitating LinkedIn discussions and reviewing the existing iterature on the subject aowed us to gather a considerabe amount of data on what a coaching cuture seems to be. After distiing a that data, we were abe to capture the essence of a coaching cuture in the foowing definition: A coaching cuture is one where the principes, beiefs and mindsets driving peope s behaviour in the workpace are deepy rooted in the discipine of coaching. The use of the word discipine in our definition is quite deiberate. It originates from the Latin word discipina and means instruction, teaching or a branch of knowedge. Probaby nobody woud argue that in recent decades, coaching (and mentoring) has earned the right to be referred to as a discipine in that sense. But there is aso another meaning of the word discipine, which is to train onesef or someone ese to do something in a controed and habitua way. This second take on the discipine of coaching refers to a consistent practice of coaching and foowing its principes, which can ead in turn to deveoping new habits in individuas and the organisation. Our definition doesn t describe specific habits, behaviours or practices. Frustrating as it might be, it is simpy impossibe to foresee how a coaching cuture wi manifest itsef in each organisation. The form and shape it eventuay takes depends on a myriad of factors, such as wider organisationa and nationa cuture, business strategy, the industry it beongs to, the products and services it offers, its competition and the markets it operates in and so forth. coaching cuture mode To bring our definition to ife, we have deveoped a coaching cuture mode (Figure 1.2), inspired by Ed Schein s Three Leves of Cuture (Schein 1985).

8 10 Buiding and Sustaining a Coaching Cuture Figure 1.2 Coaching cuture mode Visibe Manifestations Processes & structures, skis, behaviours inked to coaching Beiefs & mindsets Often unconscious beiefs & assumptions that resut from integrating coaching principes and phiosophy Core Principes The unwritten rues of being & interacting with each other that refect coaching phiosophy Our mode is represented by a tree, with its crown, branches and foiage in fu view, its trunk providing support for the crown and connecting it with the roots, which are invisibe under the ground. We picked a tree to symboise a coaching cuture not ony because it is a iving organism that evoves and grows just ike cuture does but aso because it beongs to and interacts with a arger ecosystem. For a coaching cuture to take root, it needs to grow in fertie ground and a supportive cimate. We wi describe that ground and cimate in Chapter 3. Our work with various organisations has enabed us to coect a arge variety of exampes at each eve of the coaching cuture mode, some of which are presented beow. visibe manifestations of a coaching cuture Visibe manifestations of a coaching cuture are the tangibe and observabe aspects of a coaching cuture, such as processes, structures, skis and behaviours. Processes and structures A few typica exampes of processes and structures that support coaching and mentoring in the organisation are: a poo of interna or externa coaches interna and externa coaching poicy and guideines coaching and mentoring supervision competency framework that incudes coaching deveoping others and coaching part of the performance evauation criteria coaching cuture steering committee head of coaching and mentoring work team processes which use peer coaching to encourage coaboration and enhance teamwork practices.

9 So, What is a Coaching Cuture After A? 11 Skis Peope have the skis required to coach and mentor others. A few exampes of these skis are: istening effectivey estabishing trust summarising and paraphrasing giving feedback questioning setting expectations identifying outcomes and carifying goas buiding reationships enabing insight and earning use of coaching and mentoring modes and techniques observing. Behaviours Probaby the most noticeabe manifestation of a coaching and mentoring cuture in an organisation are behaviours. Beow are a few typica exampes of behaviours that can be associated with a coaching cuture: engaging in diaogue when peope face difficuties or chaenges to hep them think through the choices and options getting invoved in the process of inquiry and exporation to identify the best possibe soution to a probem supporting, but aso chaenging, team members with the aim of heping them to grow and deveop frequenty providing and seeking feedback and seeing it as an opportunity to improve activey istening to each other to support understanding and insight inquiring about counterpart s concerns and needs admitting mistakes and earning from them suspending assumptions and judgement and freey engaging with others thinking openy admitting to ack of ski or knowedge and asking for hep expressing opinions with openness and honesty taking time to refect. core principes A coaching cuture is underpinned by a set of core principes. In organisations where a coaching cuture is we estabished, these principes often become the unwritten rues of being and interacting with each other. Core principes are not entirey hidden from sight, but they are not as readiy discernibe as the outward manifestations of cuture described above. This is the reason why in our mode we see them as the trunk of the tree, which supports the visibe manifestations of cuture. Core principes can deveop into a wide range of behaviours, depending on the organisation, the nature of its business, environment and its needs. A few exampes of these principes are: Attentiveness When interacting with others, peope give them their undivided attention. They are fuy present to the other person by creating a distraction-free environment, both internay and externay. This faciitates deep istening, connection, and understanding, which are the foundations of effective communication.

10 12 Buiding and Sustaining a Coaching Cuture Coaboration Achieving a goa requires coaboration with others. This incudes agreement on coective goas, sharing information, knowedge and ideas, integrating perspectives and mutua support to achieve the desired outcomes. This joint effort resuts in creating vauabe synergies, where the whoe becomes bigger than the sum of its parts. Curiosity Asking good questions is as important as finding good answers. When faced with a probem, a chaenge or a earning opportunity, peope avoid zooming in on one right answer. Instead, they engage in a diaogue, 1 where assumptions are avoided and the subject is expored with an open mind and curiosity. Interaction of this kind taps into peope s potentia to co-create meaning, vaue and soutions by engaging in coective exporation and inquiry. Ethicaity When faced with a diemma, peope engage in conversations on the ethica aspects of the situation. Ethica issues are part of business discussions and decisions are governed by the accepted principes of right and wrong. Expedience and other forms of the end justifying the means are reguary chaenged. Growth Each person has potentia to grow and deveop and it is their responsibiity to tap into that potentia, both in themseves and in others. Peope continuousy chaenge and stretch themseves and others. This resuts in continuous earning, which is vaued more than being right or an expert at something. Openness and honesty Peope openy share what they think, how they fee and what their intentions are. Feedback is given in a generous and open way and persona perceptions are vaued and respected. Peope respectfuy support each other in minimising bind spots and chaenging imiting beiefs. The same amount of honesty is present when individuas sef-refect. Refection True earning ony takes pace when peope refect on their experiences. Making a conscious effort to synthesise, abstract and articuate key essons from experiences in the workpace is encouraged both on an individua and coective eve. Learning that occurs as a resut of that refection is often shared to increase joint probem-soving capacity in the future. Respect Respect is refected by having positive feeings of esteem for others and vauing them irrespective of position, hierarchica power, or potentia differences in opinions, interests 1 In Ancient Greece διáλογος (which iteray means through word ) referred to Socratesstye conversations, which proceeded by means of questions and answers. These conversations created a freefowing of meaning, which aowed its participants to discover insights that otherwise woudn t be attainabe to them individuay. This form of conversation has been argey ost in modern society unti it was re-introduced through coaching.

11 So, What is a Coaching Cuture After A? 13 or cuture. Respect is considered the right of each individua, rather than something that has to be earned. beiefs and mindsets These are the prevaent beiefs and mindsets that are taken for granted by most members of the group. This coective conviction that they are true can ony come from direct experience and repeated success of impementing the principes described above to an extent that it becomes amost impossibe to question them. A few exampes of these mindsets and beiefs are: Extraordinary resuts can ony be achieved through creating synergies. The whoe is aways bigger than the sum of its parts. Coaborative effort is more effective and sustainabe than persona heroics. The path to good soutions eads through inquiry. The obvious answers are usuay not the most accurate ones. It s safe to express persona opinions and points of view. Refecting on experiences aids earning and supports probem-soving. Abiities can be deveoped through hard work and dedication. We get the best out of peope through chaenging and supporting them. Human potentia is unimited. stages of coaching cuture deveopment Like any iving organism, a coaching cuture cannot achieve its mature stage overnight. In Making Coaching Work (Cutterbuck and Meginson 2005), we identified four distinct stages of coaching cuture deveopment. These four stages, which we named nascent, tactica, strategic and embedded, are sti reevant today. Linking the stages of cuture deveopment with our coaching cuture mode resuted in the graphica representation iustrated in Figure 1.3. Figure 1.3 Stages of coaching cuture deveopment Litte or no commitment to deveoping a coaching cuture & very itte coaching taking pace The vaue of a coaching cuture is recognised but there is itte systematic effort taking pace to create it. Some coaching takes pace, mosty on an ad hoc basis Nascent Tactica Strategic Coaching is considered an important enaber to achieving business goas. Forma coaching takes pace reguary Embedded Peope at a eves in the organisation are engaged in coaching both forma and informa

12 14 Buiding and Sustaining a Coaching Cuture at the nascent stage The organisation shows itte or no commitment to creating a coaching cuture. Whie some coaching may happen, it is highy inconsistent in both frequency and quaity. Top managers present poor roe modes and coaching behaviours tend to be abandoned in the face of more urgent, if ess important, demands on managers time. Any executive coaching provided is uncoordinated and typicay the resut of severe performance probems with a few individuas or a status boost for senior managers incapabe of (or unwiing to engage in) sef-deveopment. Peope tend to avoid tacking difficut behavioura or ethica issues, out of embarrassment, ineptitude, fear, or a combination of a three (Cutterbuck and Megginson 2005). at the tactica stage The organisation has recognised the vaue of estabishing a coaching cuture, but there is itte understanding of what that means, or what wi be invoved. Top management sees the issue as primariy one for HR. There are systems in pace to train coaches and/or mentors, and there are numerous discrete HR systems such as succession panning and appraisa, but the inks between these and the coaching process are at best tenuous. There is a broad understanding among individua contributors and managers of the potentia benefits of coaching, but the commitment to coaching behaviours as integra to management stye is ow. Peope recognise the need to tacke difficut behavioura or ethica issues, but wi ony do so in environments where they fee very safe (Cutterbuck and Megginson 2005). at the strategic stage There has been considerabe effort expended to educate managers and empoyees in the vaue of coaching and to give peope the competence (and, therefore, confidence) to coach in a variety of situations. Managers are rewarded/punished for deivery/non-deivery of coaching, typicay inked to forma appraisa of direct reports. Top management has accepted the need to demonstrate good practice and most, if not a, set an exampe by coaching others. They spend time getting across to empoyees how coaching behaviours support the key business drivers. However, whie the forma coaching process works we (in part because it is measured), the informa process creaks at the joints. There are pans to integrate coaching and mentoring with the wider portfoio of HR systems and, at a mechanica eve, these argey work. Peope are wiing to confront difficut behavioura or ethica issues on an ad hoc basis and there are good roe modes for doing so with both resoution and compassion (Cutterbuck and Megginson 2005). at the embedded stage Peope at a eves are engaged in coaching, both forma and informa, with coeagues both within the same function and across functions and eves. Peope aso use the skis of earning diaogue and coaching with various stakehoders outside of the organisation. Some senior executives are mentored by more junior peope and there is widespread use of 360 feedback at a eves to provide insights into areas where the individua can benefit from coaching hep. Much, if not most, of this coaching and mentoring is informa, but peope are sufficienty knowedgeabe and skied to avoid most of the downsides to informa mentoring. Coaching and mentoring are so seamessy buit into the structure of HR systems that they occur automaticay. The skis of earning diaogue are sufficienty widespread that peope are abe to raise difficut or controversia issues, knowing that their motivations wi be respected and that coeagues wi see it as an opportunity to improve, either personay, or organisationay, or both (Cutterbuck and Megginson 2005) We offer a diagnostic too that can be used to assess which eve of coaching cuture deveopment an organisation is at in Chapter 5: What s Your Starting Point?

13 So, What is a Coaching Cuture After A? 15 business case for a coaching cuture It is easy to think that deveoping a coaching cuture can benefit every organisation, especiay when ooking at the numerous research findings indicating that coaching and organisationa cuture have such a strong positive impact on business performance. Recent exampes are the Internationa Coach Federation study, which found that coaching can be indicative of increased empoyee engagement 2 and boost financia performance, 3 and the 2014 Great Pace to Work survey, which reveaed two main drivers of best companies growth: a steady focus on company cuture and an investment in empoyee deveopment programmes. This has been supported by a number of respected writers in the fied of coaching, a good exampe of which is the quote beow: When you create a cuture of coaching, the resut may not be directy measurabe in doars. But we have yet to find a company that can t benefit from more candour, ess denia, richer communication, conscious deveopment of taent, and discipined eaders, who show compassion for peope (Sherman and Freas 2004). However, we need to acknowedge that there might be organisations for which investing in a coaching cuture doesn t make much business sense, at east not at the moment. In Making Coaching Work (Cutterbuck and Megginson 2005), there is an exampe of a ca centre with a high turnover of staff, which might decide that short-term incentives, work ife baance and effective recruitment are a more rationa and viabe strategy. Determining whether a coaching cuture is the right fit for an organisation is a key step. We offer guidance on how to do that in Chapter 3: Getting Set and Ready. A very common request that we get from organisations, which are contempating introducing a coaching cuture is to share some data and statistics that woud iustrate how deveoping a coaching cuture heps organisations thrive. Whie we understand the need to vaidate the assumption that a coaching cuture can be beneficia for some organisations, we aso want to stress that an effective business case for a coaching cuture is never generic. Instead, it is firmy rooted in the individua circumstances of the organisation and identifies how a coaching cuture wi support it in achieving its mission, vision and strategic objectives. stories from the fied In this chapter, you wi find a sma coection of four stories narrated by organisations from the pubic, private and non-governmenta sector. They share their thoughts on coaching cuture and its perceived benefits. This sma seection of a arger number of organisations featured in this book is intended as a sampe of current views on what a coaching cuture is and why it is considered to be something worth investing in. PwC PwC (previousy known as PricewaterhouseCoopers) is a mutinationa professiona services network. It is one of the Big Four auditors, aong with Deoitte, EY and KPMG, providing assurance (incuding financia audit), tax, consuting and advisory services to companies. PwC has aways been focused on deveoping its peope to deiver on its brand promise and coaching has ong been acknowedged as one of the most powerfu ways to enabe peope to rise to their potentia and pay an increasingy bigger roe in the firm s success. 2 65% of empoyees from companies with strong coaching cutures rated themseves as highy engaged. 3 60% of respondents from organisations with strong coaching cutures reported their 2013 revenue to be above average, compared with their peer group.

14 16 Buiding and Sustaining a Coaching Cuture The purpose of coaching in PwC is to hep the business and those who support it to acceerate the deveopment and recognition of PwC professionas in the context of working and earning so that the firm may be distinctive as an organisation and deiver on PwC s brand promise. The phiosophy, mindsets and skis of coaching are part of the Whoe Leader and Reationships areas of PwC Professiona (the firm s competency framework) and have a key roe in strengthening PwC. PwC defines coaching as a reationship-based productive conversation in which peope earn. It sees coaching as an authentic diaogue that takes pace both with peope within the firm and its cients. PwC considers a coaching cuture to be one where coaching is: seen as an essentia day-to-day business ski to be used both with peope within the firm and with its cients, thereby heping bring the PwC Experience to ife recognised and rewarded as a core business ski. EY UK & Ireand EY (previousy known as Ernst & Young) is a goba professiona services organisation with over 200,000 peope. They are a purpose-ed organisation and the deveopment of a highy skied and motivated workforce is a foundationa strategy to fufi their purpose: buiding a better working word. To support the deveopment of a highy skied and motivated workforce, EY has a unique goba career deveopment framework caed EYU. This stands for EY and You, refecting the mutua commitment EY has to support its peope and the ownership each individua is expected to take over their career. Coaching is a key piar of EYU and is a fundamenta part of the way EY peope work, both internay and in deepening their cient reationships. Coaching brings together the earning and experientia eements of EYU to hep its peope achieve their potentia and buid an incusive, performance-based cuture that demonstrates its vaues. At EY, coaching is defined as any meaningfu conversation that heps the individua deveop new skis and insights and transforms earning and experiences into practice. Coaching occurs formay through one-to-one interventions with defined goas, timeines and sponsorship, and informay through the everyday use of coaching skis in meaningfu conversations with EY peope and their cients. EY invests in coaching based on the findings from research conducted internay and externay on positive, anticipated outcomes and return on investment (ROI): Creating a cuture of on-the-job coaching heps attract and retain the younger generations. Coaching maximises the benefits of forma earning by heping peope embed earning and deveop their skis. Providing on-the-job coaching boosts engagement of those aready having vauabe experiences. Coaching heps eaders adapt to new chaenges and deveop the skis and capabiities they need to succeed. Coaching heps peope understand how to effectivey adapt to organisationa change. Using coaching skis in cient interactions heps deiver better service to our cients. Coaching eads to significant financia benefits for organisations.

15 So, What is a Coaching Cuture After A? 17 Save the Chidren Internationa Save the Chidren (SC) is a chid rights organisation with a mandate rooted in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Chid. As part of the goba Save the Chidren movement, it works in 120 countries wordwide, funding programmes and advocating to change chidren s ives. Their work spans both ongoing deveopment programmes and emergency responses, incuding in the UK. The organisation aims to inspire breakthroughs in the way the word treats chidren and sets an ambitious goa of doing whatever it takes to ensure that a chidren survive, earn and are protected by Because of the scae of this ambition, SC needs to find the best ways to support its eaders to grow and deveop, to have a hands on deck and everyone work to their fu potentia. Coaching was introduced in 2009 as part of this effort and now SC has a poo of over 100 vounteer executive coaches who work with the organisation s eaders. When asked about her definition of coaching cuture, Shoa Awoesi, the Goba Leadership Deveopment Manager and the person responsibe for coaching within SC, tod us that a coaching cuture is a cuture which encourages two-way diaogue, where managers, staff and peers are abe to have open conversations that hep peope to think and that create the time and space for peope to come up with their own soutions. A coaching cuture is one where peope understand what coaching means and what it can achieve and where the organisation ensures that there are processes, systems or resources that make that possibe. Municipa Genera Education Schoo No 5 Krasny Suin, Russia Genera Education Schoo No 5 in Krasny Suin in Russia is the first schoo in Russia which is impementing systemic coaching in the educationa process in a areas of pedagogica interaction. The schoo has 25 empoyees (15 of whom are teachers) and seven quaified interna coaches. According to Victoriya Evtuchova, the Director of Genera Education Schoo No 5 in Krasny Suin in Russia, the main purpose of education is supporting chidren to grow and be capabe of sef-deveopment and sef-reaisation in the rapidy changing society. This cas for major changes in how schoos operate and particuary to how teachers professiona and persona deveopment is approached. Victoriya beieves that the most important ski in terms of student-oriented education is the teacher s mastery in impementing innovative approaches, such as coaching. She describes a coaching cuture at her schoo as one where coaching mindset, phiosophy and toos are reguary used to: manage the schoo and its projects support teachers in their persona and professiona growth and deveopment bring innovation into esson pans stimuate pedagogica interaction in cass prepare students for state exams manage schoo projects support student personaity deveopment work with parents to faciitate the creation of supportive environment at students homes.

16 18 Buiding and Sustaining a Coaching Cuture summary Cuture matters because it is a powerfu set of forces that drives individua and coective behaviour and, utimatey, performance and resuts. However, there is no universay right or wrong cuture the ony way to evauate it is to ook at whether it supports or hinders the organisation in fufiing its mission, reaising its vision and meeting strategic objectives. In many cases, a coaching cuture does provide that support, but not aways. For a coaching cuture to take root, it s not enough to make sure that there are coaching conversations happening peope aso need to start thinking differenty about things such as probem-soving, coaboration and deveopment. Moreover, the organisation s ecosystem has to be friendy enough to support this new way of thinking, feeing and acting. The way a coaching cuture manifests itsef wi argey depend on the individua circumstances of the organisation. What a coaching cuture ooks and fees ike in PwC wi be different from what peope experience in Vodafone. Finay, a coaching cuture takes time and effort to deveop. We ve identified four distinct stages of cuture deveopment and describe each at the cuture visibe manifestations eve. Refect on your organisation or an organisation you are famiiar with and answer the questions beow: fiedwork Are there any visibe manifestations of a coaching cuture that can be observed when peope work and interact with others? Are any of the core principes of coaching cuture widey accepted as true in the organisation? What mindsets seem to be prevaent in the organisation? How might the current mindsets support or hinder potentia efforts to create or strengthen a coaching cuture? What mindset shifts might be necessary for a coaching cuture to take root?