Finding a coach to work one-on-one with can be a challenge, but the bar is raised even higher when an organization is looking for a coach to facilitate companywide coaching for employees and teams at all levels. As beneficial as such an initiative can be, there’s a lot to consider when seeking a coach to fill such a position to ensure it’s an effective and productive effort all around.
Here, 15 members of Forbes Coaches Council discuss how leaders of an organization can find the right fit for their organizational coaching needs.
Forbes Coaches Council members share ways organizations can find the right fit for companywide coaching needs.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.1. Identify Needs And Expectations First
It will sound obvious, but the company needs to identify the needs and expectations of a coach first. If their conditions are unclear to leaders, the “right fit” should help them identify their problems during the interview. Besides being a great strategist, the coach needs to focus on organizational values, have empathy, establish trust with employees at all levels and have teaching skills. - Aina Alive, Bee Agile
2. Craft A Strategy And Measures Of Success
The starting point needs to be crafting the strategy and measures of success aligned to the purpose of coaching. Companywide coaching can be catered through a combination of multiple methods such as team coaching, group coaching, leader-as-coach training, mentoring and individual coaching. Depending on the size of the organization, the coaches aligned to its niche can be selected to achieve the desired outcome. - Jaya Bhateja, Abhyudaya Consulting Services
3. Do A Pilot Test Before Committing
I always suggest doing a pilot before committing to companywide coaching. Find one to three reputable coaching programs and test them out on smaller groups, then broaden the scope to the rest of the company after selecting the most effective one. - Luke Feldmeier, Online Leadership Training - Career and Leadership Accelerator for Engineers
4. Identify Fit Based On Desired Outcome
Identifying the right fit for a coach depends on your desired outcome. Coaches address issues ranging from cohesive strategic planning, motivation, diversity training, interdepartmental communication, crisis management and team building to fundraising and development. The list is endless, and a highly experienced coach in your specific area of need can be more valuable than one with domain expertise. - Joanne Valli-Meredith, BeyondAdmissions, Inc.
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5. Examine The Scalability Of The Approach
To scale workplace coaching successfully across the organization, a systemic structure that provides coach mentoring and practice is required. In selecting an external partner, examine how scalable the approach is and whether it has a robust design that allows for iterative learning through a community of practice. - Thomas Lim, Singapore Public Service, SportSG
6. Get Referrals From HR Talent Leaders
As an executive coach, I am “found” by a board member/C-suite referral or by HR talent leaders through their LinkedIn or International Coaching Federation search. A referral made by talent leaders who demonstrate a keen understanding of the company’s focus, culture, leadership challenges (executives, people managers and high-potential employees) and the amounts budgeted to invest in each is most often a smooth fit. - Cheri Bachofer, Forwarding Leaders
7. Find A Coach With Industry Experience
Coaches with work experience within your industry should be something to consider. These coaches have insight and background information about the industry that helps them be more empathetic and effective with company teams. Having an understanding of what the team may be going through goes a long way to developing specific coaching strategies that raise the level of all team members. - Jarret Patton, DoctorJarret PLLC
8. Find A Coach Who Can Build Rapport
Leaders must look for a coach who can relate, engage and build rapport with employees throughout the organization. That coach can also quickly understand the organization’s business and can adapt their coaching to be a fit for how that company operates both technically and culturally. Leaders need to look for an action-oriented coach who can clearly measure progress and results. - Michele Cohen, Lead to Growth Coaching
9. Partner With An Enterprise Coach Specialist
Partner with an enterprise coach specialist who is able to provide a systemic implementation lens through which they co-create the outcomes and intentions for companywide coaching with the leaders. The coaching specialist should understand how to help the company align with its values and vision while supporting organizational learning at the same time. They should also create a pragmatic and realistic time frame for developing a coaching culture. - Jedidiah Alex Koh, Coaching Changes Lives
10. Conduct Introductory Coaching Sessions
Conduct introductory coaching sessions with the prospective coach or coaching team and different levels of individuals and teams across the organization. Gather feedback thereafter from the coachees on who they felt most comfortable with, based on specified needs around the coaching. This can then be assessed further in other scenarios, such as peer coaching facilitation and group coaching, before selection. - Arthi Rabikrisson, Prerna Advisory
11. Look For Appreciation Of Core Values
In addition to finding a coach with an appealing methodology, organizational leaders should look for a coach who appreciates the organization’s core values and can implement coaching that will expose and further those values at every level. Coaches with a values awareness and a system view of an organization can help connect the “values dots” across the organization, creating a more cohesive team. - Jakob Franzen, The Modern Coaching Company
12. Consider Strategic ‘Coaching Cohorts’
A cost-saving option that too many companies miss is group coaching. Creating strategic “coaching cohorts” across levels, job functions, geography or business lines is a fantastic way to scale the benefits of coaching. When done right, group coaching has a high impact, maximizes budget dollars and enables employees to develop both their leadership skills and meaningful peer-to-peer relationships. - Randi Braun, Something Major
13. Use A Standardized Assessment Test
Make sure your coach has some kind of standardized and accepted assessment test that helps drive understanding of what people need. This will give the organization a baseline template to cater coaching to everyone, from hourly employees to executive performers. Then, you can work with the coach to identify the needs of each person and group. Without some assessment test or uniform survey, it will be hard to organize companywide coaching. - John M. O’Connor, Career Pro Inc.
14. Seek Similar Experience And An Approach You Buy Into
I think there are two important criteria (phrased in the form of questions): First, do they have experience in your industry, working with leadership teams like yours? Second, do you buy into their approach and philosophy? If you get these two things right, you’ll probably be very happy with your outcomes. - Randy Shattuck, The Shattuck Group
15. Find Someone Who Has A Team Of Diverse Coaches
The right fit is a coach who comes with a team of diverse coaches. You will save time recruiting, build a system so that managers and employees have different coaches who coordinate to strengthen the team, and benefit from the thematic cultural wisdom that will emerge from your coaching team. - Felice Tilin, GroupWorksConsulting LLC
