Why should I send my employees to a Coach?

If you ask yourself this question, great; you are already considering it! It’s not strange you have come to consider this. Many organisations have strategies to attract people and some also have programs to work on staff retention. Many of these programs have to do with education, trainings, incentives, courses etc. And let’s be honest, these are great things to be offering. The only thing is this tends to all be quite generic and doesn’t really zoom in on the individual needs and desires of an employee. As a matter of fact, it might even have a counter effect and prevent people to become aware of and gain focus on their real needs. And sure, it is easy if one of your direct reports comes to you with the desire to grow and develop and direct them to a workshop, training or course. “Sure, go and work on your leadership skills!” or “I agree for you to do the course on delegating so you can spend more time on your management development!”. There might be nothing wrong with these intentions, the questions is however, to what extent does this really serve the development of this particular individual? If that is not evident to you or your staff member, how can you be sure this course will add value to this person, thus to your organisation?

Can I do a course on Assertiveness?

Many people working in organisations that I coach initially state to have an issue that appears to be pretty much at the surface: “if I would only be better at planning, then I’d be more efficient, have less stress and perform better”. In such a case you could say it would be most appropriate to provide the staff member with a course on ‘planning & control’, right? Well I would say it has got more to do with convenience, than it particularly being appropriate. It’s an easy solution to an often more complex issue. If you are not really aware of what is at play with this employee, how can you tell that the solution you provide to ‘fix’ this matter, will serve its purpose? So, just stop and think twice next time an employee walks up to you and asks you “can I please do a course on assertiveness?" 

So should I start sending everyone to a Coach then?

Well it would be good for my business if you’d do so! But no honestly, don’t just send anyone that poses you a development or issue related question to a coach. It would be useful for you or you HR business partner to first try to assess what is the underlying situation to the question that is posed. Because this could show what the actual need of the employee is, thus reveal the approach that would be most appropriate to support in this case. Should the outcome be that working with a coach could add great value, it would only be useful, if the person it concerns is fully willing and committed to take this road. Just to refresh your memory; coaching in this context is a series of conversations, in which the coach supports and challenges the coachee to increase his awareness and gain insights in how things work for him. That can lead to deconstructing restricting beliefs, conditionings and behaviours. And this will drive the coachee to take actions and develop beyond this status and allow him to (again) tap in to his full potential (both professionally and privately). The coachee ultimately has to drive his development himself and the coach serves to support that effort and shape the underlying process. For that matter, coaching can only prove to be of massive value, if the concerning employee is really WILLING!

How tangible is it really?

In organisations we are all very much used to measuring everything. From the outcome of last week’s sales results to the conversion ratio of focused Social Media campaigns in a niche area of one of the company’s Emerging Markets. To that standard, it will be virtually impossible to measure the outcome of coaching programs. There are just too many variables at play. Does this mean you should refrain from measuring? No, you should just be aware of what is realistic to be measured and how. For instance, for all parties involved there should be clarity on the desired outcomes and how they align with both the employees and the organisations goals. And these outcomes can be fairly concrete (improved leadership skills, more effective delegating, stronger stakeholder management skills etc.). Throughout the coaching program all parties involved should be kept informed on the process and progress that’s being made. At the end of a program a three-way discussion between employee, manager/HR and coach can serve to assess the actual success the coaching program has had for the employee and how this links to his and the company’s objectives.

How long will this take?

Fundamental change in behaviour usually does not come overnight. However, once a coaching program has started and the coachee is keen and energized to develop and move forward, things can start changing quite rapidly. There is no strict guideline to the timing of seeing the actual impact of a coaching program. On average, career related coaching programs will take approximately 3 to 6 months, depending on the exact situation and desired outcome. What can be said though, is that coaching is no ‘quick-fix’. You can try to cure a dirty wound by quickly applying a band aid to it. A professional coach will however rip that band aid of, open up the wound somewhat further to allow it to be profoundly cleaned and heal in a stable and constructive manner. It may take somewhat more effort and time, though the outcome is much more effective, thorough and durable.

Author: Mark Volmerink

Mark Volmerink is a professional career coach and executive search consultant. With 15 years of experience gained in multinational environments as well as with his own business, he has supported hundreds of people in achieving their envisioned career goals. He is a true believer of the inseparable connection between personal and professional goals and desires. His vision on coaching is that every person has potential and a coach can support in unlocking that potential.

Date: 16 March 2015

Hoe vind ik een goeie coach?

Gefeliciteerd! Als je dit leest heb je de overweging met een coach te gaan werken voor jouw ontwikkeling, hoe mooi is dat! Je bent dan al een stap verder dan velen, die vaak wikken en wegen, wel iets willen, maar niet de moed verzamelen om ook echt stappen te zetten. En de eerste stap is inzien dat het werken met een coach je ontwikkeling kan vergroten, versnellen, verdiepen en je meer focus, energie en daadkracht geven. Super, doen dus! De tweede stap is actie ondernemen en een coach vinden die bij jou en jouw uitdaging of vraagstuk past. Maar hoe doe je dat?

Een aantal factoren maakt het lastig een passende coach te vinden:

1. coaches werken vaak zelfstandig en zijn lastig identificeerbaar

2. het draait vooral om de persoon, aanpak, stijl en de klik en minder om 'harde' criteria

3. coaches vormen in Nederland geen beschermde beroepsgroep. Iedereen kan een kaartje laten maken met ‘Coach’ erop en vertellen hoe fantastisch hij is

Toch is er een aantal methoden om gericht de coach te vinden die goed bij jou past:

1. Via je netwerk

Dit is natuurlijk een open deur. In je overwegingen spreek je vast eens met vrienden en bekenden over je wens tot coaching. Dan blijken er vaak mensen te zijn die eerdere ervaringen hebben opgedaan; ook goed te weten, jij bent echt niet de enige die deze route bewandeld. Via je netwerk kan je vaak makkelijk een aantal coaches in beeld krijgen. Voordat je direct daarop ingaat, bedenk wel het volgende:

- een referentie is altijd (uitermate) subjectief

- in welke mate sluit jouw vraagstuk aan bij deze specifiek coach(es)?

- in welke mate sluit JIJ als persoon aan bij deze coach(es)

2. Via je werk

Afhankelijk van de omvang en aard van je organisatie (en de mens-cultuur) werkt jouw werkgever vaker met coaching in het kader van de ontwikkeling van haar werknemers. In dat geval zou je na kunnen gaan bij je HR adviseur of lijnmanager wat de mogelijkheden zijn. Vraag ook naar de mogelijkheden om (een gedeelte van) je opleidingsbudget voor coaching te gebruiken en maak concreet hoe jij coaching van toegevoegde waarde ziet in het kader van jouw persoonlijke ontwikkeling. Op die manier kan je je werkgever hoofdsponsor maken van jouw ontwikkeling. En daar is je werkgever uiteraard ook bij gebaat. 

3. Via beroepsorganisaties

Er zijn verschillende belangen en beroepsorganisaties, waarbij een coach aangesloten kan zijn. Voorbeelden daarvan zijn de NOBCO (Nederlandse Orde van Beroeps Coaches, www.nobco.nl) en de ICF (International Coaching Federation, www.coachfederation.nl). Je kan via deze organisaties inzage krijgen in de bij hen aangesloten coaches. Voordeel is dat je regionaal kan zoeken, een kort profiel te zien krijgt en weet dat deze mensen moeite hebben moeten doen voor registratie. Ze zijn dus als het goed is serieus. Niet iedere geregistreerde coach heeft bij inschrijving daadwerkelijk een opleiding afgerond. Kijk hier dus goed naar en bepaal wat voor jou belangrijk is. 

4. Via opleidingsinstellingen

Coaches die een (gecertificeerde) opleiding hebben afgerond hebben als het goed is een professionele visie, attitude en aanpak ten aanzien van coachen ontwikkeld. Een gecertificeerde opleiding kent daarbij objectieve en getoetste maatstaven, waar een coach per niveau aan moet voldoen. Hier geldt ook dat je weet dat de coach tijd, moeite en geld heeft geïnvesteerd  in zijn ontwikkeling tot professioneel coach. Het zegt niet alles, maar wel dat deze coaches werken aan hun eigen kennis, vaardigheden en ontwikkeling als professional en persoon in het vak. Je zou dus met een opleidingsinstelling contact kunnen leggen en vragen of zij je naar een passende coach kunnen verwijzen. Via deze link (www.nobco.nl/opleidingen/eqa-opleidingen) kan je bijvoorbeeld makkelijk instellingen in beeld krijgen die coaching opleidingen aanbieden met een keurmerk. 

Hoe bepaal ik of de coach passend is voor mij?

De sleutel zit hier in het woord 'passend'. Het is niet zwart/wit of je met een 'goede' of 'slechte' coach te maken hebt. Het gaat erom of de betreffende coach aansluiting kan vinden bij jou en jouw vraagstuk. En of hij/zij in staat is je te begeleiden op een manier die bij jou ontwikkeling teweeg brengt.

Een paar suggesties om je wat richting te geven:

• kijk of de coach een specialisatie heeft en in dat geval, of deze aansluit(en) bij jouw coach vraag
• bepaal hoe belangrijk jij het vindt dat je coach een opleiding of beroepsaccreditatie heeft; dat maakt de spoeling aan coaches meteen een stuk dunner
• maak een inschatting of de coach professioneel werkt of dat het een hobby is of iets voor erbij en bepaal dan ook wat jij daarin van belang vindt
• bepaal waar jij behoefte aan hebt (een scherpe assertieve coach of een meer ondersteunende) en kijk hoe de gevonden coach daarop aansluit
• gebruik je voelsprieten; bij een eerste kennismaking of telefoongesprek krijg je een gevoel of de coach je ligt. Zo niet, verder kijken.

Het vinden van een coach is dus eigenlijk ook meteen een eerste 'test' om te bepalen hoe graag je ontwikkeling en verandering voor jezelf echt wil, want je zal er moeite voor moeten doen. Als je echter bereid bent die te nemen ga je zien en ervaren dat dit waarschijnlijk de beste investering is die je in tijden deed. Succes en ‘enjoy the ride’!

Mark Volmerink is professioneel carrière coach en executive search consultant. Met 15 jaar ervaring binnen zowel multinationals en een tweetal eigen organisaties, heeft hij honderden mensen begeleid in het bereiken van hun carrière dromen en doelstellingen. Hij gelooft heilig in de onlosmakelijke verbinding tussen persoonlijke en professionele doelen en verlangens. Zijn visie op coaching is dat ieder mens potentieel heeft en een coach eraan bij kan dragen om dat potentieel vrij te maken.

www.markvolmerink.nl

What value can a professional Coach add to my career progression?

In over 15 years of working as an executive search consultant, I have supported hundreds of people moving from one job to another. While doing this, I have always had a more than average interest in what drives people to move away from one job and get enthusiastic about the other one. You see, many of these career moves are made based upon beliefs (true or false), ideas of how the next job ‘should look’ as an ideal picture, external influencers (partner, colleagues, friends) and driven by (financial) opportunity. There is nothing wrong with that. However, to what extent is it really YOU that drives this decision? Are you really intrinsically motivated and one hundred per cent aligned with what this new position entails for you both professionally and personally? This will ultimately be defining the satisfaction and fulfilment you’ll be getting from your next career step. It will also greatly influence the sustainability of this ‘next career move’.

What does that mean to me?

That’s a very relevant question to begin with. Many people just go from one job to another and from one company to another. Very often I meet with people that have come to a point where they know they are not in the right place (anymore) but they can’t really see why? And more importantly, when looking forward to what should or could be their next career step, it becomes even more silent…

So check again, what does your job mean to you? What aspects of it can you differentiate and how do you relate to and value them? And what does this tell you about yourself and how you manage your career? Indeed, many questions you could ask yourself. Though often you don’t take proper time to do so, right? And when you touch on difficult areas and maybe even areas that are pushed back to your subconscious mind, you will be the first to quit the questioning and just move on, why bother. And that’s a shame, cause that’s when you are about to gain relevant insights!

How to define Coaching

Asking questions, getting insights, enhancing development. In short that is what coaching is about. Coming from an advisory background, I quickly learned coaching is not about giving advice to the coaching client, the ‘coachee’. It is also not ‘teaching’ or ‘mentoring’ cause that would be more or less developing and learning skills. So what is coaching? In my professional course at Coaching Academy I learned and adopted the following description:

“Coaching is supporting and challenging a coachee, in a by the coachee self-directed and on the coachee’s experience based development process, with respect to a certain context’.

That’s a mouth full, but just look at that sentence and see what it means to you.

A superficial approach provides superficial result

In career related coaching there are coaches that tend to focus on competencies, skills and behaviour. You could call that coaching ‘above the waterline’. McCelland’s Iceberg model explains this clearly:

Coaching above the waterline can give you some insights and maybe also development in competencies or behaviour that suits to the next career step you envision. However, it does stay quite superficial and does not really touch on the core of drivers that determine your actual motives and alignment with who you are and what you really want in your life and career. Diving under this waterline through coaching can give you insights that really clarify who you are, what you want and what approaches would fit you best to actually get there. This approach is called ‘inside-out’ and refers to first looking what’s at play on the inside (under the waterline) and from there on, look outside and see how this relates and connects (above the waterline).

What does it take?

At the end of the day, coaching is all about you and not at all about the coach. The latter only facilitates the proper context in which you can get new insights enabling you to learn and develop. There must be, whether deep down or right at the surface, a desire to develop or learn about your self. Being confronted with ‘road blockers’, restricting belief systems and limiting behaviours is not always easy. It takes guts, persistence and commitment to get through this initial phase in coaching. But from there on, you will see there is a great opportunity to change and improve your situation, attitude, energy and results. You can shift from a more ‘conditioned’ state to a state where you are in ‘flow’ and things start to work for you automatically. You are the only one to decide if you are up for it and if you truly feel you are worth it. Take a moment to yourself to become aware of that feeling;

So tell me, how does that feel? 

What is the benefit for me?

Sometimes gaining or even regaining one important insight can drive you to take action and change your situation for the better. The insight is a starting point; you become aware of what is going on and how the things you are doing actually relate to you. From that point a coach will support and challenge you to create a clear perspective of your envisioned goals, ambitions and even dreams. And also support in defining what first steps you can take and how you can undertake specific actions to start actually realising your perspective. It is an integral approach starting from the inside and then working forward to create your desired situation on the outside.

And what about my career then?

Now how does this all relate to your career? As soon as you really know well who you are, what it is you desire and where your strengths are in realising that, the rest will almost follow automatically. A career development coach can support you also in that phase with several aspects of undertaking the right activities to your prospected goals, getting market insights and assessing what market approach fits you and your situation best. At that point however, you will likely discover that hard part of the work has already been done!

Author: Mark Volmerink

Mark Volmerink is a professional career coach and executive search consultant. With 15 years of experience gained in multinational environments as well as with his own business, he has supported hundreds of people in achieving their envisioned career goals. He is a true believer of the inseparable connection between personal and professional goals and desires. His vision on coaching is that every person has potential and a coach can support in unlocking that potential.