We focus on 5 areas of Coaching:
Executive Coaching
Executive coaching is now recognised as one of the most effective ways of developing people’s competence and performance within the workplace. A recent survey by the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel Development) found that over 80% of UK companies use coaching as part of their people development strategy.
The fundamental principles that drive our coaching approach include believing that everyone has potential and can be developed if they want to be. Working collaboratively to help people arrive at their own solutions is known to create greater commitment, responsibility and change. This is core to our approach.
“Coaching is the art of facilitating learning, development and performance of another.”
Miles Downey – Coaching for Performance.
Why Clients Come to us for Coaching
There are many reasons why people want coaching:
- Needing support through a career/role transition
- Having a desire to further develop beyond the current role
- Taking on a leadership role for the first time
- Feeling a sense of isolation being in a senior role and needing a trusted confident and space for reflection
- Requiring space and a trusted colleague to make sense of the complexity of work
- Needing to handle conflict or challenging relationships
The Engagement Process for Executive Coaching
We’re passionate about coaching standards and adhere to the EMCC’s (European Mentoring and Coaching Council) code of ethics.
As such we believe it’s important that any engagement covers all the essential aspects of a professional and ethical contracting process. This is the process we follow:
- An initial chemistry session is held with the proposed coachee to ensure a “best fit”
- An initial 3 way contracting conversation is held with the engaging client and proposed coachee to understand and agree the desired coaching objectives and outcomes, discuss confidentiality and ethics, the proposed method of measuring success, costs and duration
- Assuming agreement is reached in all the key areas, the coaching contract is entered into. The coaching contract must be signed and exchanged before coaching can commence
- Coaching commences for an agreed period of time, usually for a minimum of 6 months extending to 12 months, and beyond, if required (can be tailored depending on client requirement)
- Regular, midpoint and final evaluations of progress against agreed outcomes are delivered
- Formal close of the coaching engagement, including reflection on progress made
Our coaching typically involves between 6 and 8 two-hour, face-to-face sessions.
If required, we can use Skype or telephone as an alternative medium for coaching after the relationship has been built face-to-face. Essentially, the coaching can be configured in a way that supports the specific assignment and client requirement.
We often use a range of diagnostics up front to accelerate the process of self-reflection. This also assists with fine-tuning the coaching objectives.
We include a feedback mechanism from the client and sponsor at the mid-point and end point of the coaching relationship and contract.
Common Outcomes and Benefits of Executive Coaching:
- Growth in leadership capability and capacity
- Developed ability and capacity to lead and manage change (for self and others)
- Enhanced stakeholder and relationship management
- Increased personal confidence
“Julia’s style allowed me to be authentic and I left each session feeling energised and with the self-belief that ‘I can do this’!”
Phillip Deppeler, Endoscopy Manager, London Bridge Hospital
Call or email us today to discuss your ideas and requirements:
Transition Coaching
Support through the first 6 to 12 months in a new role
Transitioning into a new leadership role can be one of the most exciting and challenging times in our professional lives. Success or failure during this period provides a strong predictor of overall performance in the role.
With this new responsibility comes increased expectations and challenges, a short time to make an impact, and the pressure to deliver the right things and build strong relationships with a diverse range of stakeholders. Each transition is unique and working with a Transition Coach during this period can provide essential support.
According to research by the Centre for Creative Leadership (2014) 20% of first time managers felt they were not ready to lead others to begin with and almost 60% said they never received any training when they transitioned into their new role. Julia Henderson has coached hundreds of individuals taking on leadership roles for the first time and those leading leaders for the first time who typically struggle with these transitions.
So when offering Transition Coaching to this population at 4wardfocus we adopt a structured approach to coaching:
- 6 sessions once a month for the first 6 months
- A further 3 sessions in the 2nd half of the first year. This provides rigorous support and a tailored coaching programme that supports the individual with the following:
- A 100 day plan
- A 12 month plan
- An opportunity to look at what previously made them successful, which might now be ‘getting in the way’
- A thorough review of leadership de-railers
- Support through a very significant transition period
- Year 2 face-to-face coaching every 2 months
Benefits of Transition Coaching:
- Space and time to think and reflect
- The opportunity to prepare and experiment
- Increased role clarity
- Time to focus on physical and emotional resilience
- The opportunity to look at thinking and the beliefs that drive an individual and how these help or hinder in the new role
“Julia was very effective in her coaching style as she was both disciplined and flexible depending on the scenario. She has the ability to tune in to motivating factors and with that equipped me with tools to prepare for discussions and presentations so I established myself quickly in the role. Julia challenged my thinking to ensure I created the space to think differently and explore new ideas to bring to my team and the wider business.
“Without hesitation, I would strongly recommend Julia Henderson to be considered for Executive Coaching for both individual benefit and the value to the wider organisation.”
HRBP Global Drinks Business
Call or email us today to discuss your ideas and requirements:
Group Coaching
Group Coaching is a powerful and inspiring experience. It is different to Team Coaching in as much as the members can come from a variety of disciplines, divisions or even organisations. They do however share a common goal, which is to use the coaching environment to learn and grow.
A Group Coach leads each session and provides tools to facilitate process and progress. The group provides each participant with a supportive environment for self-growth and learning. Working with a group brings new and fresh ideas and perspectives. Participants receive support from the Group Coach and from group members who are likely to face similar goals and challenges.
Benefits of Group Coaching:
- Group members:
- Hone their own coaching skills through observation and practice
- Experience others’ wisdom
- Gain different perspectives
- Gain the experience of others’ who may have handled a similar challenge
- Provides a business with an economical way to experience coaching with a professional coach
Typically, participants of Group Coaching also experience an enhancement of skills in the following areas:
- Effective questioning skills
- Appreciative enquiry
- Giving and receiving feedback
- Active listening
- Self-awareness
- Providing support
Call or email us today to discuss your ideas and requirements:
Coaching Clinics
Coaching is often focused on the most senior leaders in a business or the ‘top 100’ when in reality, managers at any level can benefit from working with an executive coach. Often the barrier is cost. At 4ward focus we don’t want cost to be the barrier to coaching any employees, as people at all levels can have the motivation and potential to progress. We’ve developed a Coaching Clinics concept, which helps an organisation manage its development budget and provides the opportunity for more junior employees to experience coaching.
How a Coaching Clinic Works
- The client provides an appropriate private coaching space
- A series of 4-6 pre-arranged, fixed dates are agreed in advance
- 4-6 time slots of 1 ½ hours are confirmed
- Coachees sign up for a minimum of 4 sessions, but typically 6 sessions
- The first meeting involves the Line Manager/Sponsor to ensure the coaching aligns with business requirements and priorities
- The last session involves the Line Manager/Sponsor to ensure the effective transfer back into the workplace and on-going development focus
- An Executive Coach works with each individual to provide coaching to work through their pre-determined areas.
Call or email us today to discuss your ideas and requirements:
Developing Leaders to Coach
Leaders and organisations understand how valuable coaching can be and the ‘ability to coach and develop others’ is included in the ever growing lists of skills all managers require.
According to the 2010 Executive Coaching Survey, conducted by the Conference Board, 63% of organisations use some form of internal coaching and half of the rest plan to. However, coaching still only forms a very small percentage of a manager’s work, so developing the skills to be an effective coach can be a challenge.
Research from the Center for Creative Leadership has boiled down the skills managers need to coach others into five categories:
- Building the relationship
- Providing assessment
- Challenging thinking and assumptions
- Supporting and encouraging
- Driving results
1) Building the relationship. It’s easier to learn from someone you trust. Coaches must effectively establish boundaries and build trust by being clear about the learning and development objectives they set, showing good judgment, being patient and following through on any promises and agreements they make. The trick is to do this whilst maintaining the professional distance required as a line manager.
2) Providing assessment. Where you are now and where you want to go. Helping others to gain self-awareness and insight is a key job for a coach. They need to provide timely feedback and help clarify the behaviours that an employee would like to change. Taking stock of the gaps or inconsistencies, on current performance vs. desired performance, words vs. actions and intention vs. impact are all important elements of the current situation.
3) Challenging thinking and assumptions. Exploring current thinking and beliefs is an important part of the coaching process. Coaches ask open-ended questions, push for alternative solutions to problems and encourage reasonable risk-taking. Spotting potential blocks is an important part of the coaching process.
4) Supporting and encouraging. Coaches support learning, listen carefully, are open to the perspectives of others and allow employees to vent emotions without judgment. They encourage employees to make progress toward their goals, and they recognise their successes.
5) Driving results. Effective coaching is about achieving goals. The coach helps the employee set meaningful goals and identify specific behaviours or steps for meeting them. The coach helps to clarify milestones or measures of success and holds the employee accountable for them.
How Developing Coaching Leaders Works
Our in-house workshop is an introduction to the skills, mindset and behaviours required to be a successful and confident Leader Coach. This has been designed to help Leader Coaches:
- Increase self-awareness and the impact they have when coaching others
- Utilise a simple and proven coaching model as they develop their own coaching skills and style
- Practice coaching, be coached and reflect on these experiences
- Discover alternatives to giving advice
- Learn when and who to coach
- Enjoy a sense of empowerment and satisfaction when teams perform at a higher level
- Develop a set of enabling beliefs, skills and behaviours to support them as a coach
We typically run:
- 2 workshops with 4 weeks in between the 1st and 2nd module, to allow participants time to practice their coaching skills
- This can also be interspersed by a Group Coaching session to provide additional opportunities to coach, be coached and accelerate learning and experience
- As with all of our offerings these can be flexed to meet specific needs or requirements
What participants said about the benefits of attending this workshop:
“I think the 2 days overall has given me great food for thought and also tools that are easy to use. I am now better able to build a positive, continuous improvement culture.”
“I had little understanding of the value of coaching, but can now see that this is something that I can do every day to some extent. I have also increased my confidence in handling difficult conversations.”
“This workshop has provided approaches that can actually be used in the workplace as opposed to just theory!”
“Good to get the practice in a safe environment! Really built my confidence in coaching techniques!”
In summary our Leader Coach training programmes help clients deal with situations where:
- A shift in leadership style is required, shifting to one that empowers, engages and develops individuals
- Talent retention is critical and maximising this talent and potential is critical to success
- Developing leadership coaching capability is a key element of the business and organisation development plan.
Call or email us today to discuss your ideas and requirements: