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Coaching Within the Workplace

Student Name

Department, Institution

Course Code, Name

Instructor

August 28, 2020

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Coaching Within the Workplace

Workplace coaching entails empowering employees to maximize their potential, and

setting them up for success through provision of tools and the necessary resources required to

enhance their knowledge, improve their skills, and cultivate the urge to work and excel. More

importantly, coaching can be viewed as a two-way feedback between a coach and coachee

with the aim of the coach being to improve and reinforcing strengths that sustain a coachee’s

performance. Coaching is an important pillar to effective teamwork, collaboration, and

success in any organization. One of the aspects that is required to become a successful coach

is to build a relationship, establish boundaries, and reinforce trust. This can be achieved by

being clear about the learning and development objectives, being patient, showing good

judgment, as well as following up on set promises and agreements. A coach should help

others to understand where they are and gain self-reflection and insight about their progress.

Coaches can achieve this through provision of timely feedback and constructive criticism into

behaviors that employees should change (Jones et al., 2016).

Effective Coaching

Determining effective coaches is crucial because coaching has a high impact on team

members and the entire organization. Identifying coaches at the workplace could be

implemented using assessment tests such as the one we conducted this week, which helps to

identify an individual's strengths and weaknesses. Upon identifying an individual's attributes,

the HR Department can choose who they want as a coach within the workplace. Reading is

vital in improving one's coaching ability. Having a HR team that is professional and

champions the operation of a business is crucial because it determines the coaching program's

success and longevity. Finally, identifying coaching needs in an organization is essential in

the workplace, which is a significant step in improving their coaching ability. The
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introduction of new skills to those being coached gives them the knowledge and the ability to

utilize them.

Individual vs. Team Coaching

The outcome of coaching is an important factor to consider. A productive employee

may have certain issues that they need to work on that are an impediment to their

performance. The coach would meet with each team member at designated times and work

with them separately. If the performance of a group needs boosting, then this may require

team coaching. Similarly, other needs such as team morale, coordination, efficiency or

corporate goal achievement may necessitate group coaching (Jones et al., 2019).

A business may also adopt coaching to meet the needs of its employees. It is an

organization’s duty to determine whether coaching is a necessary method for its employees’

needs; this task needs wisdom, knowledge, professional, and personal insights. Work

performance reviews, surveys, monitoring and general interaction can be a guide to what

issues employees are going through. Once a determination is made, coaching may be one of

several methods available to aid employees. The complexity of issues is another important

factor in choosing whether or not coaching is a viable option to optimize employee potential.

Employees are human, with complicated lives and problems that require appropriate

interventions (O’Connor, 2015). A highly productive organization may incorporate team

coaching as a necessary process of employee potential-building. To cement coaching in an

organization, it should be a part of the human resource policies/procedures pamphlet, and it

would be a requirement of maintaining employment. Additionally, periodic team coaching

around an important part of the business calendar, such as before/after busy seasons will help

maximize employee productivity.

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Feedback is essential to know what works and what doesn’t work. In the organization,

it will take the form of dialogue, reflection and action, a three-pronged interdependent

approach for improved organizational performance (Smith and Billett, 2006). Company-wide

communication will be encouraged and fall into two categories; primary and secondary.

Primary communication will be departmental concerns and will be directed to the relevant

superiors. Secondary dialogue will concern the organization as a whole and will welcome any

complaints, concerns, or solutions that affect general life in the organization via employee

surveys. The different avenues of communication will be directed to the relevant people in

the HR department. Department heads and executives will respond to the raised issues and

communicate solutions back down. Before implementation, select individuals from the

various departments will gather feedback from their peers and meet with upper management

to discuss the reception of the proposed ideas and amend them according to employee

insights and organizational realities. Once this committee reaches an understanding, it will be

communicated to the organization’s executives and employees. Once a go-ahead is given by

both sides action will be taken on the matters of interest. This strategy will enable meaningful

discussions of pertinent organizational issues and produce solutions, eventually resulting in

improved performance. (Kaseje et al., 2010)

Maximizing the potential of employees is in the company’s best interests and a task

that should be taken seriously. When employees can maximize their output, the value of the

organization and the employee increases exponentially. This means higher profits for the

organization and increased wages and benefits for the employees. The latter may also

experience professional and personal growth in the process. Team coaching is an effective

tool for achieving these goals and should be employed as needed to ensure the organization

and its employees reap the most out of the process (Thornton, 2010).
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The Ethical Coaching Process

The coaching process is about utilizing effective methods to aid clients in achieving

their potential. However, it must be guided by a set of moral precepts such as the G.R.A.C.E.

model or ICF Code of Ethics to ensure the process does not harm the client. Coaches are

leaders who have a powerful effect on the lives of their clients. (Wahl et al., 2013) Regardless

of how the coach chooses to approach this process, they must determine how it will benefit

the client. The acronym G.R.A.C.E. stands for Goodwill, Results, Authenticity, Connectivity,

and Empowerment. Powerful relationships emerge when all five of these elements are

implemented in the coach/client relationship and the desired results will be accomplished.

The coach has the responsibility of holding the client’s best interests above their own. It is the

responsibility of the coach to ensure there is trust and transparency in the relationship. That

way when difficult conversations must be held, the use of goodwill, authenticity, and

connectivity will make it a lot easier for the client/coachee to receive the information. Even if

the feedback from the coach is not desirable, the client/coachee will know that the coach only

has their best interest at heart. If a person feels safe and like they’re in a trusting environment,

difficult situations will become a lot easier to manage. In some cases, respect for coach/client

differences may offer new opportunities for learning and career development. Respect also

means that the coach must recognize the inherent value and dignity that people have;

regardless of how they may personally feel about them. Further respect means that the coach

should be aware of their perceived influence and authority on their clients.

Work-Life Balance

Work-life balance is defined as a state of well-being that an individual defines and

determines for themselves, as a set goal that will enable them to effectively manage a myriad

of communal, professional and personal responsibilities; it upholds community, family,

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emotional and physical health without negative impacts, stress or grief. (HRSDC 2005) The

benefits of a healthy work-life balance are numerous. For employees, they get to experience

less harmful stress, increasing their general levels of happiness and satisfaction. With the

correct level of work-life balance, an employee is content and can optimize their work output

and improve their professional career path. At home, the employee gets to enjoy their family

and give more of their time towards nurturing their families whose minds are not bogged

down with work stresses. (Bourne et al., 2009) For employers, employees with good work-

life balance are more productive, accountable, innovative and responsive in the organization.

Retention is also extremely high as employees have few reasons to seek alternative

employment.

One of the ways that work-life balance is compromised is by stress. One simple way

of mitigating harmful stress is to teach employees techniques that they can use to reduce such

detrimental situations. Employees will be taught to notice signs of stress, such as

deteriorating work output, panic attacks, irritability, and so on. Once recognized, they can

take active steps to reduce this. Simple methods such as disengaging with the stressor (such

as a supervisor or fellow employee), taking time off to walk and cool off, simple meditation

outside the office may come in handy. Employees will also be taught the value of developing

boundaries and when to say no. Many stressful situations result when the employee is tasked

with too many demanding tasks for which they fail to speak up and negotiate better terms.

Some employees find it hard to let go of work even when they are away from their

professional premises. This leads to unhealthy patterns that cumulate in work burnout.

Employees will be taught when to ‘turn off’ work mode. Weekends and hours outside of

these work times should not interfere with an employees’ personal time and life. The

employee must fit him/herself into multiple roles. When at work, they are an employee and

nothing else counts. But when work ends, they must immerse themselves into his/her other
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roles, of a father/mother, provider, spouse, and so on. This will reduce any conflicts brought

on by intersecting tasks that don’t belong in their respective spheres. These important lessons

will be included in the coaching program every six months. The coaching program will

feature seminars for practical lessons and elaboration on these concepts and techniques. In

order to ensure organization-wide support and implementation, management executives will

all be roped into the coaching sessions.

The coaching program will also identify and recommend work-life balance facilities

such as offering a free gym to work out at each worksite. The program will advocate for

walking, thirty minutes of daily exercise, offer partial work schedules for parts of the year,

offer reduced work hours, job sharing, compressed work weeks, and flexible work schedules.

Upper management will be responsible for balancing employee workload and intensity,

encouraging employee career development, sponsoring development and training programs,

maintaining or increasing employee benefits/incentives/bonuses, and maintain or increasing

salaries appropriately. These things collectively will allow for the employee to have ample

time to deal with personal and professional life events. All the options for employees will

ensure that the employer has a healthy and happy employee that will have a balanced life.

This will boost their sense of responsibility, ownership, and confidence (Deval, 2013), which

should make the financial progress of the organization more fruitful. Work-life balance

components of our coaching program will be looked over and addressed after every coaching

season to ensure that it is sufficiently meeting the needs of our employees

Solution-focused Problem Solving

Solution-focused problem-solving refers to a coaching approach that prioritizes

finding solutions as opposed to seeing problems. (Palmer and O’Connell, 2007) In structuring

solution-focus at the heart of the program, it is essential to organize the entire system around
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this paradigm. (Pemberton, 2012) in the form of positive queries. Surveys and questionnaires

are useful tools to uncover potential problems in a coachees life and their organization. Group

or individual sessions should be tailored to look for opportunities in a problem and enlist the

active pursuit of the answers by the coachees themselves. (Sharry, 2007) After conducting the

surveys, analyze the information received from them, then compare it with suggestions from

management and the coach’s own initial observations. As the program commences and the

coaching sessions begin, it is important for the coach to perform a “grounded assessment.”

(Wahl et al., 2013) This assessment will be the guidepost of the rest of the program.

The most crucial stage of the program is identifying a problem. Problem identification

can be guided by several elements mentioned earlier: the surveys and questionnaires

administered before, the group or individual sit-downs done at the initial session, managerial

concerns and the coach’s own observations. The coach presents all these to the coachee(s)

and allows them to sort them out, and determine the appropriateness, correctness, strength,

and order of the problems. The coach will then provide their input on the chosen matters and

gives direction on how to approach them. Other insightful ways may include the use of

humor, anecdotes, illustrations and hands-on exemplifications. (Robert and Wilbanks, 2012)

Group dynamic exercises may also come in handy. The greatest test of a coach is whether his

program has successfully enabled a coachee to maximize their potential. A smart approach is

to implement solutions incrementally in order of increasing the magnitude of problems. The

coach can then have follow-ups in subsequent sessions and, with the client, assess their

effectiveness in the situation. The advantage of this method is that the coach gets a clear

picture of the ability of the client early on, allowing them to tailor their approach before

proceeding. Second, the coach can provide valuable feedback that will maximize the

employee’s output even more. Third, strategies that don’t work are abandoned before they
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harm the coachee. Fourth, the coach builds a better practice and wealth of knowledge as this

retrospection gives them the necessary feedback that is not available in normal sessions.

Behavior Modification

At the heart of the coaching process is the goal of maximizing an individual’s

potential. An effective coach must employ behavioral change techniques to affect any lasting

habits that sustain optimized performance in employees. Behavioral modification is possible

when the correct delivery mechanisms, techniques and methodology are applied to effect

beneficial, and dramatic, impacts on employee performance (Goldsmith, 2000). Opportunities

for behavioral modification within the organization can present themselves as employee or

managerial complaints, poor performance statistics, observed issues with one or several

individuals (such as social withdrawal), and so on. The successful completion of any process

needs an action plan that articulates the general objectives of that endeavor. In the

organization, this will entail coming up with the goals and objectives that will ultimately lead

to employee optimization. (Croffoot et al.,2010) These goals must be formulated with the

collaboration of the coachee(s) and in line with professional requirements. This means that

the coach and coachee must formulate objectives that are strictly designed to improve the

employee’s performance in their job capacity.

The coach must consult management to determine the actual behavior that they wish

to be modified. The recommendations given will usually be job-related, however, the

mechanism that the coach goes about effecting this change is discretionary. A key element of

action planning is setting up the methods via which behavioral change is to be measured. The

start small and keep going method, and the four “threes” are two examples. In using the four

threes, the coachee is focusing on what change can be made within the next three hours,

demonstrating sustained commitment to the new behavior within three days, implementing
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the change in activities and relationships within three weeks, then finally after three months

making those changes become a part of their identity. Depending on the behavior changes in

question, the methods of measurability may vary, however they may comprise of the

following: (1) Managerial observations – where management notes a marked improvement in

employee behavior, such as group synchronicity, cooperation, and so on; (2) Performance

statistics – where the employee’s own work output increases as a result of the coaching

process; (3) Colleague feedback – where fellow employees give opinions on the improvement

of an individual. One of the most powerful ways to empower employees is to give them

adequate support that ensures they can sustainably work towards their goals and maintain

optimized levels of performance. In organizations, this means putting the employee in a

group that will empower their efforts. The group’s dynamics will depend on the individuals

being supported. An employee will have two sets of support: individuals who aid them in

attaining their respective goals, and are often affected by the employee’s actions, and

individuals who will observe (and/or measure) their actions and provide feedback. This

crucial step is what allows the coach and coachees to determine whether their efforts are

having any success.

The coach can initiate this feedback stage after a reasonable time in which the

foregoing steps have been in practice (Gregory et al., 2008). Feedback will comprise of

several elements: the coachees’ own opinions about the process, including what they feel

worked and didn’t, managerial observations, measurement data from employee processes or

work output, and the coach’s own observations. These elements work in a loop to

continuously allow the participants of the coaching to identify, analyze, understand, and

propose solutions to problems or successes experienced in the process. Feedback will give the

way forward, in terms of a re-alignment of objectives, abandonment of current plans, or other

pertinent issues identified. It is incumbent upon the coach to implement a feedback system
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that allows for sustainable and positive behavioral change. This can occur in several ways.

Where group dynamics do not allow for a cohesive atmosphere the coach can request

feedback concerning different groups with each group individually, or through anonymous

group feedback instruments such as questionnaires, and surveys. Feedback can also be

documented and stored to allow for future referrals and archiving of important elements and

suggestions. Further, the coach can create a positive atmosphere where coachees provide

feedback to one another, through in-person exchanges of ideas as to solutions and ways

forward. The last stage of behavioral modification in the coaching process involves follow-

up. A coach may typically implement a follow-up schedule with their coachees on a periodic

basis, such as monthly. It will involve a brief overview of the coachees’ current status, well-

being, performance levels, other pertinent matters, or impromptu issues raised by the

coachees. Follow-up will allow the coach to determine whether overall goals for the process

were met, the need to initiate further sessions, and provide valuable data for the coach to use

in future coaching. (Kombarakaran et al., 2008).

Behavior modification is a simple approach where the coach enables employees to

address behavior that does not lead to maximized productivity and professional well-being

and change it. The benefits of this process are many: employees who maximize their potential

and improve productivity will feel more fulfilled, gain the recognition and praise of their

peers and superiors, probably attract monetary benefits, and attract intangible benefits, such

as prestige. (Wasylyshyn et al., 2006)

Professional Development
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Succession planning is an integral part of any organization’s future. The role of

succession planning is critical in molding and preparing the next generation of a company’s

employees. One way to implement successful professional development is to incorporate it

into coaching. While, by no means the only leg upon which professional development relies,

coaching-facilitated professional development provides a crucial perspective and advantage

by focusing on the employee. (Wahl et al., 2013)

The coaching process can enable an employee develop an important perspective with

regards to professional development, namely, that he can maximize his capacities, and

abilities, as to put him on track to rising within the organization. As opposed to traditional

approaches to professional development where employees wait on management to develop

and implement plans that specifically spell a plan for the employee to progress within the

organization, here, the employee takes the initiative. The coaching process illuminates areas

where the employee has misconceptions to professional development, highlights areas where

there is room for improvement, and allows that employee to maximize their potential, excel

in their roles, and qualify for others. This proactive approach allows the employee to align

themselves with organizational goals, policies and culture as to be suitably placed when

planned or unplanned employee losses present gaps that the employee can then fill.

The coach can work with employees aspiring to boost their professional development

in many areas that pertain to the position they aspire to attain, such as confidence in public

speaking. The coach can also help to focus on aspects of the employee’s personal or

professional life that the employee may be blinded to that may require attention, such as

communication styles, and so on.

Finally, the coach can benefit the organization and employee by offering sobering

insights about the professional development plan. Coaches are in unique positions to interact
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with both management and employees and learn their desires as relate to their respective jobs

and goals. The smart coach provides both management and employees key insights that allow

them to work towards their respective goals. Such insights could include the need for

simplicity in processes, the need for realistic plans concerning professional development, and

so on. (Goldsmith, 2009)

When coaching is embedded into the organization’s culture, it is possible for the

‘resident’ coach to better understand and facilitate employee professional development. This

coach knows the direction of the company, as well as key elements about it, such as values,

and evaluation criteria. Such knowledge allows the coach to aid employees of all rank in a

manner that, not only improves their professional development career path, but aligns them to

the company’s strategic vision. In a sense, the coach aids in aligning employees to the

company’s vision, an action that saves time, and resources in trying to actualize company-

employee linearity of goals. When coaching, or particular coaches, are made a mainstay of

professional development, management is able to utilize the coaching proves as a tool to

achieve the company’s objectives at relatively few costs while reaping the benefits of

employee maximization.
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