Coaching Culture

NGP. First of all, what is a coaching culture?
JM. When people at all levels of the organization consistently participate in goal focused, solution oriented strategic conversations that lead to faster decision making and better results.

NGP. What advice do you give executives who are interested in establishing a coaching culture in their organization, especially in light of the recent changes in the industry?
JM. My first piece of advice is: do it! Our research clearly indicates that companies with embedded coaching processes quickly see results on the bottom line, in some cases upward of 15% growth in productivity and/or direct sales. This is especially important when you consider companies are becoming leaner and expected to achieve more with fewer people. 

Once a company makes the decision to create a coaching culture we generally focus on three things: First we want to develop the managers' skills and ability to coach. Second we want to make sure that coaching takes place at every level of leadership. And third we want to have in place a solid process to ensure sustainability over time. I have seen several examples of pharmaceutical companies that went so far as to proclaim 'the year of the manager,' but after much fanfare very little changed because they had no system in place to pull through and reinforce the transformation.

NGP. Can you tell us first about the work you do to build managers' coaching skills?
JM. We begin with an assessment based on four broad categories for coaching: commitment, focus, skills, and approach.

In the commitment part of the assessment, we look at the amount of time a manager invests with his/her people. Most believe that they spend enough time on coaching. In fact, 9 out of 10 employees want specific job skill coaching, but less than 4 in 10 receive it.

Next we look at manager focus. Has the manager worked with his/ her employees to identify critical areas to work on that will have the greatest impact on the business? In sales organizations this often means increasing sales call effectiveness. Is the manager aligning the employee's goals, objectives and development plans directly to the key initiatives of the organization and the overall strategy?

In our assessment we target 7 skills. We have found that managers are least proficient in what we call 'clarify success.' Most managers make assumptions and give only general direction when it comes to coaching their employees and it is based on the managers' own personal style. Seldom are they effective in jointly developing action steps and plans to achieve them. We are able to clearly see this need when we conduct audits of written correspondence. 

In assessing coaching approach, we look at how the manager builds a relationship with employees. Managers need to recognize that the people they have more transactional relationships with, versus high value, are generally those who most need and can benefit from their coaching. Each manager receives coaching themselves that not only exponentially improves their own skills, but gives them a visceral example of what good coaching looks and feels like.

NGP. Is coaching more applicable in certain areas of an organization? How about in different cultures and countries?
JM. We have implemented our coaching programs around the world and have seen them transform business relationships and create better collaboration - even across multiple foreign cultures. Certainly there are some minor differences. For example, in China the manager is more likely to ask fewer questions of their employees and therefore do more telling, but even that is changing as coaching takes hold. 

Organizations today demand cross-functional collaboration and coaching can help cut across party lines and silos pretty much throughout the entire company. Creating a coaching culture opens and expands pathways to dialogue and debate among competing peers and helps to align support for the objectives everyone is trying to achieve. Creating a coaching culture improves business on every level.

John Miller is the President of Velocity LLC, an international coaching and training firm specializing in supporting the pharmaceutical industry. In this article, he describes how and why to establish a coaching culture in sales organizations.