The Workplace Coach

It used to be that when the boss said they were organising a coach for you there was a sense that there was something wrong with you, that you might be the problem, that some sort of deficiency needed to be addressed.  Assigning someone a coach was often part of a remedial performance improvement plan, and the boss was effectively outsourcing the issue for someone else to fix.

Thankfully, the thinking has evolved significantly since then and most organisations now have a much greater appreciation of what coaching is all about, and the value it can bring not just to the individual working with the coach but also to the whole workplace. 

These days executives and organisational leaders are hiring coaches not to address problems, but instead to build on and enhance existing capability. Investing in a coach for someone is now seen as a recognition of that person’s value to the organisation, almost a status symbol, highlighting the desire to retain this high performer and help them grow and develop even further.

Workplace coaching (also known as Executive Coaching or Leadership Coaching) takes a very personalised approach to building self-awareness and capability in relation to an individual’s leadership style, their impact on others, their individual values and personal strengths, as well as areas for further development. There are two main objectives of workplace coaching, and these are:

1. To help the individual become an even more effective leader, and
2. To help the individual improve business outcomes.

When organisational leaders start working with a coach and become more self-aware, more reflective, more attuned to the significant impact their words and actions have on others in the workplace, several things will start to happen.  Their approach to leading people and managing issues will change, resulting the workplace culture starting to shift, increased employee engagement and improved organisational performance improving. It’s a fact that organisational performance depends mostly on the quality of the organisational leadership. There is no downside to engaging a coach.

So why might some leaders still resist engaging a coach?

1. They feel like they already know their stuff and do not need to develop or improve.   
2. They fear that having a coach might be perceived by others as admitting a weakness.
3. They are worried about their own ‘Imposter Syndrome’ or being exposed.  
4. They might think they are too busy to take time out for coaching.
5. They are uncertain about the value or return on investment from coaching.  

Do any of these reasons ring true with you? 

You might now pause to recognise that all of these are about the leader’s mindset and preconceived ideas of what coaching is about, and the uncertainty around the value of the process.  Perhaps the best thing you could do is engage a coach on a short term basis and decide for yourself.

Your workplace coach is only there to help you become even better at what you do.  They are an impartial, external third party who will help you refine your leadership approach, better understand and leverage your strengths, challenge your thinking and offer a sounding board for some of the issues that you are dealing with both in the workplace and in your life outside of work.  They are a confidante, who’s only agenda is to help you succeed.

Nobody said you were doing a bad job but ask yourself… could you be doing it better? Let’s have a conversation to see if we might be the right fit for each other. Send an email to info@theworkplacecoach.com.au for more information about our services.

The Workplace Coach