Lately, Internal Coaching has taken the corporate world by storm, with several of the big names in IT as incorporating it as part of their learning and development strategy. Now several organisations are curious about building an Internal Coach Training Program to be able to harness the benefits of Internal Coaching.
What is Internal Coaching?
Before we talk about the benefits, it is important to define the term Internal Coaching Program. Internal Coaching is when the coach and the coach are employees of the same organisation. Internal coaches can be managers, supervisors, HR personnel or CXO’s. This is different from external coaching, where the external coach is not an employee of the organisation but is brought in for a specific time period or coaching program. Internal coaches are employees of the organisation, often in areas where coaching is part of their day-to-day profile like Human resource personnel, Managers and CXO’s.
What are Internal Coach Training Programs?
Internal Coach Training Program is training on coaching skills for employees who are already employed by the organisation. With the deployment of an Internal Coach Training Program in an organisation, existing employees become skilled as coaches. As a result, coaches become an integral part of the organisation and are not seen as external agents who need to be hired to coach employees.
Organizations who are interested in helping their current leaders, Managers or HR personnel become coaches can enrol them for the Internal Coach Training Program. The program can be extended to any employees who may be interested in becoming a coach. It is best if people are allowed to volunteer to be part of this program.
Internal Coach Training Programs have benefits both for the organisation as well as the individual. The Organisation gets internal coaches who are scattered all across the organisation and can build an on-going coaching culture in the organisation, while the individual is able to add an additional skill and accreditation to their resume.
Benefits of Internal Coach Training Program
Developing a Coaching Culture – Internal Coach Training Programs allow coaches to be placed across the organisation at all levels. This provides coaching access to all employees, junior or senior and develops a culture of coaching. People are able to connect with coaches for individual problems or for problems within teams. The impact of a coach fosters a culture of collaboration and growth.
- Building a collaborative approach – In today’s day and age an approach of giving directions and expecting to be followed, is no longer viable. Building an Internal Coach Training Program allows for teams to work with coaches on working in a collaborative manner. Internal Coaches are familiar with team dynamics and are able to get team members to work towards solutions as a cohesive unit, rather than only following the directive of a leader. Internal Coaches are also able to work with authoritative leaders and move them towards becoming more collaborative.
- Improved ownership and Productivity – Internal Coaches work with employees to enhance their ownership of their behaviour and its outcome. When an individual takes complete ownership of their work it often leads to more productivity for them as well as for others in their team.
- Internal Coach Training Program allow organisations to coach and develop their employees on an on-going basis. Internal Coaches are available whenever roadblocks are faced by an organisation. The availability of Internal coaches also reduces the cost an organisation would face if the same coaches were to be deployed from an external organisation.
While Internal Coach Training Program have tremendous advantages for the organisation, it is important for the organisation to think of internal coaching as a long-term pathway. Internal Coaching only sees success when an organisation commits to it over a substantial period of time. The organisation also has to encourage employees in roles that involve guidance and coaching to become part of the Internal Coach Training Program.