individual coaching

Executive coaching is one of the primary ways of improving performance at work. Anyone from new front-line employees to experienced top executives can benefit from coaching. Each has different starting points and needs, but with the same outcome - overall performance improvement and increased personal and job satisfaction.

The approach taken to developing an individual needs to be related to the willingness and ability of that particular individual. In general, coaching will work best where the person feels motivated and shows a moderate / high level of ability:

Coaching can be defined as:

"a form of on-the-job training using work to provide planned opportunities for learning under guidance"

The key words / phrases in this definition are:

on-the-job choice of environment - there is sometimes too great a reliance on off-the-job courses which do not always work with the individual's needs.

work - the actual work can be a powerful learning activity in a real situation.

planned - a systematic approach is needed, but not the formality which would inhibit the activity. Planning is a discipline with time implications.

opportunities - there are limitless opportunities in any job; the key skill is to recognise and use them, these can be highlighted by an experienced coach.

learning - developing / improving is all about learning from the rich experience of an experienced coach.

guidance - relates to the key role and skills of the coach; providing guidance when necessary, not only when asked, and taking the initiative as well as responding to it.

The power of choice
Most businesses ignore the superb opportunities which exist to tap into people’s natural motivation. For most people there are two main types of activity in life:

Have to - the things I have to do but don’t really enjoy.
Want to - the things I don’t have to do but choose to, because I enjoy them.

We enjoy the things we choose to do and the things we have to do we don’t get very excited about. One major reason why people don’t enjoy their jobs is that their choices at work are severely limited. Generally at work:

we are told what to do and how to do it
we are given little choice about when it can be done
we are told who we will be working with
there is little opportunity for making work fun or enjoyable.

In comparison, where recreational activities are concerned there is greater freedom of choice. Naturally no business can allow its staff to choose what they do, when and how they do it, and who should be involved, but opportunities do exist for staff to exercise the power of choice.

Our experienced coaches will encourage an individual to identify all the alternatives available and then guide them through a process of selection to arrive at the best solution. The greater the degree of personal choice for the individual the more likely it is that they will have a sense of ownership and empowerment.

Accreditation
Our coaches are fully accredited by the few Universities who accredit coach training programmes in the UK and most have a degree in Psychology or Social Sciences or another related business degree. All coaches have a business background and have experience of working in Public/Private sector organisations before becoming full time coaches. They all have supervision from accredited Supervisors after every 25 hours of coaching.


Case Study

When we were asked to form a coaching community for the fast track employees of a global pharmaceutical company there was a huge and expensive day to celebrate this fact. It was solely for these people who were to ask for help to enable them to become even better managers. But what did the HR department do? They ‘sent’ several fairly senior managers who needed help! These were people who had had their self esteem knocked out of them by their own company! What did it do for the rest of the company and the ‘fast track’ people? Well, they certainly did not want to come for coaching as it was rapidly seen as remedial, even if it had wonderful effects.

Manager A is a marketing manager who had extensive experience in the Middle East and had been seen as a ‘high flyer’ and someone to watch. Unfortunately, he came across a less than ethical customer and it was this person who managed to get Manager A repatriated to the UK with no back up from his International HR director, and a bad report.

Thankfully the UK HR Director had a long chat with Manager A and recognised that he was extremely down and needed help. We met up for an initial meeting and he agreed to complete a Personality questionnaire and a Thinking Style questionnaire before our next meeting. After six 2 hour sessions, he had learnt a lot about himself and started to believe in himself and his excellent thinking skills again, and had grown in stature. He challenged the International HR Director to a meeting which was frank and forthright but gave the HR Director a good deal more information than he had previously asked for, and having been ‘managed’ by Manager A probably will not make the same mistakes of blaming before understanding again.

The UK HR Director met me on the stairs of their HQ building a few months later and asked ‘what have you done to Manager A?’ My response ‘Why’. ‘He is fantastic now, he has come forward with some great new ideas which we shall certainly implement’. My thoughts were, well, all I did was give him back his self esteem!
 

One board director of a FTSE 100 company announced:

I have never before been taken apart and put back together in such a sympathetic but clear way! I now know the way forward for my career. Thank you Freya.

A Director in the public sector said:

I have gained the following from your coaching Freya:- increase in energy and enthusiasm (improvement in health?) increase in confidence and self esteem better self-knowledge better understanding of others’ personality types and thinking styles clarification of personal objectives addressing some perceived areas of negativity: i.e. cynicism, defensiveness, non-participation, coldness practical support/coaching in dealing with real-life work (and some non-work) issues re-learning some basic lessons: i.e. thorough preparation, working with other people’s styles/agendas, appropriate and effective challenge, avoiding indecision, the role of the leader in inspiring and motivating focus for continuing development: openness, inclusion & appropriate control. Can you help my team now!

Geoffrey M. Davis, INVESCO Continental Europe, said:

Freya’s strong analytical and interpretative skills and her ability to move seamlessly through many different scenarios, including understanding my management style and how this can be linked to my personal experience and psychology were key to what I feel was a very successful outcome of our coaching sessions. Her methodology, choice of analytical tools and sense of process during the three months of coaching made our sessions very rewarding. I believe Freya has, perhaps, the most important skills required for making individual coaching successful - listening, relevant questioning and deep sensitivity.