What do you do when your organisation is facing major challenges and you don't have a budget to develop your people? How do you get people to step up to new roles without sending them on expensive training courses? The answer to these questions may lie closer to home than you think.

I've been speaking with a number of small businesses lately and this is exactly the situation in which they find themselves. Pressure to manage changes in legislation, develop new markets and anticipate the impact of Brexit on their current markets is eating up their energy. And with many people fearful of change and not always sure how they will cope it's a testing time for organisations of all types and sizes. Have you ever wondered how some businesses survive?

Learning by example, developing new skills on the job and asking for advice and guidance have been traditional ways of getting to grips with a new role. Experienced business owners and managers sharing their knowledge and encouraging less experienced employees to step up to new challenges is nothing new. These approaches are all forms of mentoring. And if you've ever asked someone how to do something and got a sense that they are drawing the answers from you rather than telling you what to do, then you've experienced coaching too.

The companies I spoke to work very much along these lines. Sharing knowledge, working together on problems, supporting each other and accepting a level of challenge from each other are the norm if they are to survive and thrive with little help.

However, once an organisation grows it may become more structured, less informal, more target driven and the Finance Director will have a keen eye on the bottom line. As structures become more rigid, some of the knowledge sharing, which the organisation previously benefitted from, can fall by the wayside. The "coaching culture" or mutual support, which was once so strong, can become less apparent as people compete with each other to succeed and improve their position.

So what is a coaching culture? How can it help your business? And how can you create it?

“Coaching is a predominant style of managing and working together, and where a commitment to grow the organisation is embedded in a parallel commitment to grow the people in the organisation”. These are the words of Clutterbuck and Megginson, in their book 'Making coaching work: creating a coaching culture'.

Here are some real life examples of situations in a business where there is resistance to change and where coaching and mentoring can help to grow people as well as growing the organisation:

The culture of an organisation

Where an organisation is generally resistant to change and does not see the value of it, sponsoring and committing to a coaching and mentoring programme will help to promote and encourage people to stretch and challenge themselves

Individuals feeling threatened by the need to change

This sometimes happens when those who are leading the change have not engaged people’s energies. These leaders are focussed on making things happen and can benefit from coaching and time to think about how they raise the energy of the colleagues and employees they depend on to make it happen.

Lack of understanding about why a change needs to happen

The nature of the change may be an issue or the process of change may be an issue. Employees may not understand the benefits and need to be engagedthrough coaching conversations and encouraging feedback. They probably have ideas which will help.

Lack of communication or trust

People inside and beyond the business aren’t seeing the benefits of making the changes, so confidence in the need for change falters. It's important to celebrate achievements and share success and get everyone involved.

Employees fearing the unknown

If successes go unrecognised it may reinforce a culture of being risk averse. Businesses take risks in order to evolve and grow and a well supported coaching and mentoring approach can help to raise skills and confidence in the ability of the organisation to adapt.

If any of these scenarios look familiar to you, perhaps you should consider encouraging and building a culture of coaching in your business? And maybe you can identify some people who are natural mentors in your organisation – those with influence and a way of supporting others and introducing them to new challenges?

At Blue Pebble Coaching we have experience of running workshops to help you get started on introducing a coaching culture into your workplace. A series of interactive, practical activities highlight the value of coaching and how it can get results, giving you the tools you need to get started.

During our workshop you will:

Discover what motivates different generations of your employees and why some people seem less engaged than others
Learn how the coaching process supports setting and achieving goals
Recognise the difference between coaching and mentoring and how to use them effectively in your business to get results
Understand how to lead a successful coaching session and follow it up

Investing a few hours to discover how a culture of coaching could help your business may be one of the best investments you make.

Contact info@bluepebblecoaching.co.uk to find out more or call 01473 625115 and we’ll be happy to visit you and talk about how we can help.

Izzy Ixer

Director and Principal Consultant, Blue Pebble Coaching Ltd

March 2017

New year, new you – and maybe you will be going on a training course or attending a workshop? This could either be for work or for your own interest and whichever it is you may find yourself feeling slightly apprehensive!

A couple of months ago I overheard two people talking about a training course they were traveling to. They were clearly both anxious about it and felt concerned about the course and what would be expected of them. They were worried about being on time and already nervous about introducing themselves at the beginning of the course, which is something many people fear.

If you only attend training courses occasionally, then there are some easy steps you can take to build your confidence by planning ahead.

Here are a 5 things you can do:

Dress correctly

The way you dress for training courses matters. We all know that first impressions count, so it’s worth getting it right so that you feel confident from the start. If the dress code isn’t stated, you can contact the organiser beforehand and find out what’s expected. Smart/casual dress is popular, but you may feel awkward dressed like this if everyone else arrives in suits or dresses down.

Plan your travel

Allow plenty of time for traveling. It’s better to arrive early and go for a short walk or have a coffee than to arrive late. Information about travel times is available from apps and websites and it’s worth checking if there are any events on which may impact these times. Allow plenty of time for finding somewhere to park and if you’re traveling by public transport check and re-check your journey times. Traveling with a friend is a great way to feel more confident. And if you are really uncertain about where you are going, it’s worth doing a practice run!

Find out more about the course facilitator or presenter

Learning works best when the group shares knowledge and interacts well. Your joining instructions may provide more information about the course content and the course facilitator. Go online and see what else you can discover. This gives you a chance to check on any technical terms or professional “jargon” and work out beforehand what it means. You can learn something interesting about the subject and maybe even prepare a question, so if you find you are on the spot you have something prepared which you can say or ask.

Decide what you want from the course

We all have different reasons for attending courses. Apart from learning new skills and gaining knowledge, there are opportunities for networking, friendship, professional development and a host of other benefits. You may find it helpful to think about what you would like from the course or workshop yourself. This could be specific information, clarification on something you’d like to understand better, an opportunity to study further or a desire to connect with others in order to gain support. Thinking about your own aims will help to shape the way you interact in the sessions and will keep you engaged during the course. And you may be asked at the beginning of the course what your own personal objectives are, so it’s another bit of preparation which will help you to feel in control and confident on the day!

Prepare your introduction

Sometimes known as the “creeping death” the start of most group sessions includes the opportunity to introduce yourself. Some course facilitators are kind and pair people up then ask them to introduce each other. But whichever way it goes, you’ll need to have a few things to say by way of introduction. You may not have too much difficulty with your name, but a job title and role can be a little trickier, especially in a mixed group where your words and descriptions may not help others to understand what you do. Think about this beforehand and decide how you want to be known and practise a clear way of describing what you do. And you can always add in something interesting like an unusual hobby to spice things up!

And finally

Confidence can be a fragile thing. When life is going well and we feel on top of our game, then we achieve the things we want and this builds our confidence for the next challenge. It’s a good feeling. However, if a few things start to slip, if we run out of time, if we don’t prepare adequately then we can get caught out and this make a dent in our confidence. Stay positive! It happens to us all. The question is what to do about it?

My clients tell me that setting aside time to reflect and prioritise what is really important in their lives is one of the most rewarding things that they can do. Clarity comes from giving yourself space in your busy life. We believe that “doing” is important. And it is. But "not doing" for short periods of time is even more valuable. So maybe one of the small changes you can make for 2017 is sometimes to do a little less. Now there’s something to reflect on.

Izzy Ixer MCMI. Blue Pebble Coaching Ltd

Coaching and Mentoring in Woodbridge, Ipswich, Saxmundham in Suffolk

Face your business challenges head-on with coaching!