Organizations, both for-profit and not-for-profit, have realized that many challenges can be met with coaching.
"Coaching in Organizations: Best Coaching Practices" by Madeleine Homan and Linda J. Miller (John Wiley & Sons, Inc) is a how-to coaching manual written to support organizational service professionals with simple and easy tools to plan, implement and manage coaching interventions. The first few chapters are devoted to a board overview of coaching in organizations--literally the basics. The book then examines the key elements to keep in mind when considering the attempt to create a coaching culture in an organization, including offering some mechanics on how to structure, implement and manage the coaching experience.
Part One concludes with an overview of the various ways of measuring return on investment (ROI) for any coaching implementation. Regardless of how ROI is determined, more and more organizations are interested in measuring the impact and success of training and developmental activities, including coaching. ROI data is useful and important, especially today during periods of economic downturns and reduced variable expenses.
Part Two of the book offers a more detailed handbook for the active practitioner of coaching. Coaching is a broad tool--a means to various ends. Four separate chapters are devoted to an in-depth investigation into different kinds of coaching: their methodologies, tools, and potential results. The various ways that people in organizations are using coaching are divided into categories for the sake of discussion. These are simply areas in which coaching can be deployed to help organizations achieve their strategic business goals:
Coaching to Support Learning
Coaching for Performance
Coaching for Leadership Development--often referred to as Executive Coaching which can take anywhere from six months to a year or more, depending on the leader's commitment and motivation and his or her goals and objectives. Executive coaching today is regarded as an investment by an organization in its emerging and senior leaders.
Team and Group Coaching
Madeleine Homan: Coaching in Organizations: Best Coaching Practices from The Ken Blanchard Companies
"Over the years, I found that everybody was excited about The Ken Blanchard Companies' leadership training, but too few were putting their new knowledge into practice in a way that really made a difference in their lives and the lives of those they touched. When we began to incorporate coaching into our training, the feedback and results were remarkable. People were actually using what they'd learned. For companies that agree to give follow-up coaching to their people after training, the benefits far outweigh the cost. That is why Coaching in Organizations is a welcome and timely addition to business literature." Ken Blanchard, Co-author of The One-Minute Manager and Leading at a Higher Level
In 2005, The Ken Blanchard Companies conducted a survey with leaders who had received coaching in the previous few years. Survey participants were asked to describe the expectations that executives have of the coach during the coaching process. The number-one answer was that they wanted to receive objective feedback. Other responses: to challenge me, to give me a different perspective, to serve as a sounding board and to tell me what I was missing [as an executive].
