Right context, right participants: How to optimize your workplace coaching programs

An employee on your team has requested a coach to support their growth and development.

Exciting news! However, before you plow ahead with obtaining coaching services, it’s important to understand:

• What coaching is (and what it is not)
• The personal characteristics that can improve coaching outcomes
• The circumstances that best lend themselves to coaching

Let's build that understanding and examine the hallmarks of (and barriers to) impactful coaching programs.

Coaching vs counseling: What’s the difference?

The International Coaching Federation (ICF) defines coaching as a partnership with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential. The process of coaching often unlocks previously untapped sources of imagination, productivity, and leadership.

ICF distinguishes between coaching and counseling based on focus, purpose, and population. Coaching focuses on the present and drives toward future success outcomes with vision and purpose. The objective of coaching frequently is on performance improvement, learning, or development in some area of life. Coaching is most effective with well-functioning individuals.

Therapy emphasizes psychopathology, emotions, and the past to understand the present. Therapy often works on developing skills for managing deep-seated emotional issues to promote personal healing or trauma recovery. Therapy benefits those individuals with some level of dysfunction or disorder.

The impact of personal characteristics on coaching outcomes

Coaching isn’t magic. The participant in the coaching process does the hard work. This engaging and, oftentimes, humbling experience isn’t the right intervention for everyone. Participants who embody certain characteristics maximize their chances of successful outcomes from the coaching experience:

• Openness to feedback: Receiving and acting on constructive feedback is crucial. This openness allows the participant to learn and grow from the coaching experience.
• Self-awareness: Understanding one's strengths and weaknesses helps the participant focus on areas that need improvement and effectively leverage existing talents and abilities.
• Commitment: Showing dedication to the coaching process, including attending sessions regularly, engaging with the coach, and completing assigned tasks, is essential to making progress.
• Growth mindset: Believing that one’s talents can be developed through hard work, good strategies, and input from others reflects a growth mindset. Individuals with this mindset tend to achieve more than those with a fixed mindset (i.e., those who believe their talents are innate gifts). With a growth mindset, individuals worry less about looking smart and put more energy into learning.
• Resilience: Recovering from setbacks, such as wrong decisions and undesirable outcomes, and persisting through challenges, such as strained relationships, drive the participant through their development journey.
• Curiosity: Exploring and learning from new ideas, perspectives, and feedback can lead to deeper insights and more meaningful development.
• Accountability: Taking responsibility for and learning from one's actions, mistakes, and progress helps maintain focus and drive throughout the coaching process.
• Communication skills: Clearly articulating thoughts, feelings, and experiences allows for more effective interactions with the coach and others.

Coaching for the right person in the right context can unlock individual potential

Context counts in coaching

Coaching can be a powerful development tool, but only when applied in the appropriate context.

When coaching is appropriate:

1. Career development: Coaching can produce a custom roadmap to help an employee develop toward their next role and advance in their career.
2. Performance improvement: If an employee is struggling with specific aspects of their role, such as communication, delegation, or relationship management, coaching can help identify areas for improvement and develop a targeted action plan.
3. Entering a new organization: Coaching can help an employee onboard to a new organization by building their network, establishing their professional brand, and designing their short-term goals (e.g., 90-day plan).
4. Transitioning to leadership roles: When an employee is transitioning into their first leadership position – or advancing through the leadership ranks – coaching can prepare them for new responsibilities and challenges and ensure a smoother transition.
5. High-potential employees: For employees with high potential, coaching can unlock their untapped talents and strengths, accelerate their development, and prepare them for future leadership roles.
6. Change management: During times of organizational change, coaching can support leaders in managing the transition while maintaining team engagement and productivity.

When coaching is not appropriate:

1. Lack of commitment: If the employee is not committed to the coaching process, has a fixed mindset, or is resistant to change, coaching is unlikely to be effective.
2. Lack of foundational skills: When performance issues are rooted in a lack of basic knowledge or skills, training or mentoring might be more appropriate than coaching.
3. Organizational misalignment: If the organization's leaders, culture, or structure do not support the changes advocated in coaching, the impact may be limited.
4. Legal or policy violations: For performance or behavior that violates laws, rules, regulations, or policies, coaching is not a suitable intervention. Instead, these circumstances typically require an immediate response, such as corrective or disciplinary action.
5. Lack of sponsorship: Without support from a sponsor, such as the participant’s leader or an accountability partner, the participant may not invest in the coaching experience. Additionally, a dearth of feedback and accountability may cause the participant to languish throughout the experience.
6. Personal issues: If the employee does not have the capacity to function in daily activities, needs help coping and managing deep emotions, or experiences difficulty addressing past harm, then counseling might be a more appropriate intervention.

While coaching can be a transformative experience for personal and professional growth, its success hinges on understanding its purpose, the participant's readiness, and the context in which it is applied. By carefully considering these factors, organizations can ensure that coaching investments yield meaningful and lasting benefits for both the individual and the organization. Whether it's for career development, performance improvement, or navigating transitions, coaching for the right person in the right context can unlock individual potential and drive success.

Tony Gigliotti, MHRM, PHR, ODCP, RCC, is a thought leader with nearly 30 years of experience in talent and change management, organizational development, leadership and executive development, strategic HR planning, and corporate coaching.