Coaching with 360¹

There is an alternative to coaching skills workshops for managers, and it seems to work really well. Not that there is anything wrong with coaching training, but every approach has its pros and cons. Our alternative could be described as “hands-on with help” – it utilizes any programme or initiative in which managers are expected to coach their people.

At the National Housing Federation the core programme was 360 Feedback. Every Federation manager, including its Chief Executive, had a responsibility to provide 360 feedback and coaching for all their direct reports. Hands-on coaching was something every manager did.

That element of gentle coercion might lead some managers to coach when they would prefer to avoid it. In other organisations managers (especially senior managers) seem to have all kinds of reasons why they haven’t tried coaching. Apart from the ubiquitous “I’m too busy” excuse there is “HR does it better”, “it’s a difficult relationship”, “he/she doesn’t need coaching”….

Of course requiring managers to coach doesn’t mean they are going to do it well. Some managers might try to reduce coaching to a “box ticking” exercise by giving it minimal time and effort. The Federation had two answers to that. Firstly, there were standards, coaching was expected to produce a clear, practical action plan for every individual.

Secondly, the Federation evaluated the programme and published its results. Evaluation was anonymous, but it told the management group as whole how they were doing, and it set standards for future initiatives.

Almost all the individuals and managers responding to the Federation’s online evaluation said their coaching meetings were really useful. In particular, coaching seems to have produced good decisions and plans for individuals. The project has been a real success for the Federation, and evaluation has enabled HR to demonstrate that.

The practical “with help” the Federation provided to its new coaches was built on a coaching workbook; a helpful sequence of questions that invited written answers. The workbook made coaching easy – the manager’s role was to help the coachee complete the workbook. It created an agenda for the coaching session, and a record of what was decided and why. Here’s an overview of the Workbook’s sequence of questions...

The 360 feedback also helped the Federation’s managers, by providing coachees with better information about themselves. Information that often provided new insights, questioned assumptions, and occasionally challenged the manager’s perceptions. And, much (but not all) of the 360 feedback was positive and motivating. 360 feedback gave the coaching sessions material and ideas to work with. For inexperienced coaches, that’s a big help. Bob Wilson, the Federation’s Head of Market Intelligence and Regions, describes the whole 360 coaching programme as “a really positive experience”.

“Hands on with help” doesn’t mean managers are thrown in at the deep end. The Federation used a three-hour briefing to introduce the programme to managers. It covered…

The Federation’s managers seem to have really valued the practicality and relevance of the briefing. Bob admits that, prior to the briefing, he thought a three-hour briefing was “overkill”, but with hindsight believes it provided vital preparation for 360 coaching.

Perhaps, one of the most interesting things about the Federation’s project is the absence of traditional coaching topics. The briefing contains nothing on questioning, listening, building rapport, contracting, etc… Clearly those things are important, but if you have just a few hours of managers’ time other things might be much more important, such as a workbook and online resources.

If you are doubtful about the value of coaching skills workshop, or looking for an intervention with quicker visible benefits, think about “hands-on with help”. It might not be right for your organisation, and it’s certainly not the most elegant of solutions, but its practicality might work well.

More information

Please click here for an introduction to the coaching process, workbook and on-line resources used by the Federation.

¹ Based on an article written with Chris White, Head of HR at the National Housing Federation