Coaching skills for Managers - how much training is enough?
Organisations need to have managers that can coach and converse with their teams. Communication skills are pivotal with what is going on right now. Recent events have taught us that there are many challenges that rely on managers coaching their teams remotely and through the unknown. Even performance management processes now rely on continuous conversations.
Organisations that are talking about using coaching as the default style of management and employee engagement have the best intentions. However, putting this into practice and building up managers’ coaching skills takes time, interest, money, energy, understanding and openness.
Does a half or full day of coaching skills training really work for managers?
So many organisations and managers I speak to struggle to use coaching techniques with their teams after attending a one-off half/full day of training. Learning the GROW model within in a few hours and having a quick practice with peers isn’t really enough in my opinion! I know from experience that L&D budget and resources can be tight, but is this an area that is under-invested in? If it is a crucial area then why are we not investing more in our managers? It takes confidence, constant practice and feedback to get good at coaching - so managers could be better supported.
What insights can we glean from high impact learning that we can apply to coaching skills training?
Quite often organisations focus on the training itself in isolation rather than the system it is part of, e.g. what happens across the business context. It is so important to think about what you do before and after a training event as well as the training event itself. This is no different to coaching skills training which requires a lot of experiential practice. Far more time is needed to plan for what happens before and after the learning experience not just the training itself; for example coaching skills training which includes:
BEFORE: prime managers to learn; communicate why managers are being selected and why the training is important to them; encourage conversations with their managers to be intentional about learning
DURING: provide a multifaceted approach to support different learning styles across managers
AFTER: provide managers with time, space, tools and reinforcement so that they feel supported to practice, experiment and apply their coaching skills.
Coaching Skills Training Programme for Managers
The great news is that there is so much more we can do to add value to managers. I run a two month coaching skills training programme for Managers and Leaders who are keen to develop a foundation overview of coaching skills and a coaching style of interaction. This programme has been designed based on best practice learning design - supporting managers in the before during and after elements of their development so that they can apply what they learn with their teams. It is a best-in-class blended learning programme consisting of:
Four 2.5 hour virtual workshops - includes action learning sets, case studies, mindset awareness
Two 2 hour rounds of coaching pods (peer practice, feedback and mentoring)
Resources (coaching action planner, pre and post-reading, questionnaire, reflections)
Experiential learning that is contextualised to the participants' organisation.
Next Steps
An important part of reviewing your organisational coaching landscape is really looking at your coaching skills training for managers. Is there enough learning there for them to be curious and confident to role-model it across the business and be a coaching advocate?
To discuss the two month coaching skills programme for managers or to discuss challenges you may be having in your organisation, book in an intro call here: Contact Me — Nicola Butcher Psychology.