Coaching Culture: What is it? How Do You Adopt it in Your Organization?

You may use coaching to support employees in your company between whiles, but this does not necessarily mean that you have a coaching culture. Although this culture is adopted in organizations and among employees, it has great benefits for the organization and individuals alike.

Many leaders intend to adopt coaching in their organizations, but they are not sure that they personally enjoy coaching, or even realize what it is. This leads us to think about the following two questions: What is the culture of coaching? How do you know you really enjoy it? 

Professors David Clutterbuck and David Megginson, in their book “Making Coaching Work,” define the culture of coaching as the culture in which coaching is the way to manage and work together, and it involves instilling a commitment to the development of the organization, wth a commitment to employee development. This means that adopting coaching is very important in every area of ​​organizational life, starting from the mailroom and ending with the management meeting room. We also have to get rid of some of the unnecessary complications that permeate the work life, and we have to return to the basics if we are to apply them optimally.

Trade is all about providing services for a certain fee, and your earnings increase by repeating this activity over and over. Therefore, it will employ for this purpose an integrated team in work, service, management, and support. The better they do it, the more effective the work.

Therefore, coaching to help individuals achieve better performance will benefit the performance of the organization and the business as a whole.

It's not that simple, of course, and if it were, everyone would feel like they were immersed in the culture of coaching, but they must not lose sight of the barriers that must be overcome to adopt this culture, and managers must be subjected to a training plan to be coaches, without giving them the authority to train on their own just because they are managers.

Similarly, trainees need some coaching, or at least adequate information about what it is, its results, and how to do it. The members of the management team who are supposed to lead and encourage the coaching culture must become advocates and role models in word and deed. Every time the manager fails to attend the coaching workshop, it suggests lack of commitment or even indifference to it.

What is coaching culture?

In his comprehensive treatise on coaching across cultures, Philippe Rosinski gave the following definition: “Group culture: the set of unique characteristics that distinguish its members from any other group.”

Rosinsky's research mainly focuses on how to recognize and use cultural differences in coaching relationships. His definition satisfies our curiosity to understand the nature of coaching culture, as the characteristics that make up the culture contain both obvious and hidden elements. The obvious elements include language and symbols, while the hidden elements include beliefs and values.

Certainly, adopting the culture of coaching requires the inclusion of all these elements, and it is not sufficient to follow a systematic approach in coaching, or a rigorous performance review process if there is no tolerance for mistakes committed. In addition, celebrating success is a critical factor in instilling this culture.

The definition also mentions the influence of groups and the many dimensions of cultural groups, where nationality, religion, gender, and ethnicity are factors that define cultural groups. However, other groups can also be included, such as industrial, professional, educational, and union groups. We must realize that people can belong to more than one group at the same time.

The implications of establishing a culture of coaching relate initially to the group in question. That is, does it include all of the organization, or just certain sections? Does it include all employees, or only some?

You may wish that you and your colleagues all belonged to the same cultural group, but let's ask ourselves the following question: Which culture influences our behavior at work the most?

Perhaps this is essentially a revision of the common people's perception of the near and the stranger, but  in a work environment, no one will be able to interact if they do not feel that they are part of the culture.

Cultural indicators:

Gerry Johnson and Kevin Scholes put forward a model they call the “cultural network,” which includes a set of elements that characterize and analyze the structure of an organization. So, let's see how each of these elements can be observed in coaching culture:

Create a structure based on company culture: 

Company culture imposes itself as an agenda or structure within team meetings, focus groups, interviews, or training sessions in which organizational culture is discussed, where you must understand your organization's business plan or services and plans for the coming years. So, you can determine the nature of the coaching culture required to support the team.

Here are some helpful tips for adopting coaching:

1. Get training:

Coaching culture requires hiring or training some ready and capable coaches, even if you have to train them yourself. This is a result of the difficulties involved in creating Coaching’s culture by relying on outside help.

2. Be sure to appreciate the fruits of effective coaching:

Individuals involved in the coaching process should be valued, and coaching goals should be included in performance management plans. These plans may be about how much coaching is done, but as you gain experience you can begin to develop more specific measures that value and reward the results of your coaching interventions.

3. Celebrate success:

It is important to celebrate success in order to consolidate the culture of coaching. Evidence of success includes practicing coaching naturally outside formal sessions and outside the administrative chain, improving communication at all levels, and practicing more learning on the job away from formal coaching sessions.

4. Involve the management team:

The most important goals of coaching focus on promoting the adoption of the concept of coaching by senior leaders and their full participation in it. The determination to create this culture is the way to implement it, by making senior leaders an example for everyone in the organization to follow.