In House Coaching

    "In House Coaching at Buckinghamshire County Council"

    Stepping Up David has continued working with Bucks County Council on a range of Workforce Development projects this year, part of which was the introduction of an in-house Coaching programme. It has been designed to offer both Managers and staff the opportunity to train as in house Coaches, and allow the organisation to take advantage of a low cost approach that has a high impact, not only on those being coached, but on the coaches themselves.

    Since its inception, the Coaching programme has grown considerably in size and scope, with 30 active coaches who have or are coached 75 people, not only in Buckinghamshire County Council, but in Mencap and the Fremantle Trust.  Evaluation of the programme has identified significant impact on the performance and effectiveness of participants.

    Coaching Training and ongoing Action Learning


    Internal coaches were interviewed to ensure that they had specific skills and experience that would help them to be successful coaches.

    In the first instance they attended a two day internal training course on coaching skills and processes supported by Crowe Associates, so they had a sound understanding of the principles of Coaching, the principles of effective questioning skills and giving constructive feedback.  They also got the opportunity to practise coaching, compile an individual learning plan for their ongoing development as a Coach, and understand how the Coaching framework would work at their organisation.

    Beyond the initial Coaching training, all trained Coaches were expected to keep a continuous professional development log and attend quarterly Action Learning sets facilitated by David, on issues they were facing as Coaches, along with additional coaching resources and articles to read.

    Since the start of the programme, 5 cohorts of Coaches have been trained, 3 within the Council, providing over 30 Coaches. The success of the scheme has meant that Private and Voluntary organisations have also wanted to get involved, and additional in house programmes have been run for Mencap, and the Fremantle Trust.

    Coaching clients

    CoachingThe availability of Coaching was promoted throughout the Council, and people asked to express an interest. Coaching could be identified as an appropriate development option during appraisals or 1:1s. In some cases the coaching focussed on the development of skills like performance management of staff, presentation skills, assertiveness or project management,  In other cases the focus was on job performance, career development.  The key was that the coaching was driven by the specific needs of the individuals themselves.

    Reviewing the success of the programme

    The HR Department have completed an evaluation of the scheme for Senior Managers every 6 months which includes feedback from the coaching clients, Coaches and Line Managers on the effectiveness of coaching in improving performance and increasing effectiveness.

    To date, the feedback from Coaching clients has been excellent.

    “It helped me to focus on areas where I may have difficulty or areas where I need training to accomplish my goals. It’s space to reflect. My coach challenged me which enabled me to thing why & why I don’t do things”
    “It was good to be able to discuss matters with someone not directly involved but who understood the processes and was able to make comments and suggestions. This helped in clearing my thinking and in terms of the actions I took in managing and contributing to the process”
    “The main benefit to me was confirmation that I wasn’t going mad, but that I had lost focus, and needed to realign myself to my job and my role. I had time to discuss my anxieties and fears, and work out strategies for dealing with them, that were realistic and achievable. I also had the opportunity to reflect on what was real and what was perceived, with someone who is both skilled and objective, who helped me to deal constructively with each situation”

    Plans for 2010

    Continued growth of the internal scheme is expected, with more staff participating in Coaching programmes, and there are plans for more external training with partner agencies in the private and voluntary sector.

    You can find out more about Crowe Associates' coaching approach by clicking here.