June 2006

How can HR Professionals best support a successful coaching programme?

Coaching is fast becoming a service every successful organisation wants to provide for its senior executives. The reason for this is its results, which clearly speak for themselves.

The process of Executive Coaching is where a coach will meet the client one to one, and will provide the space and security for the client to able to think with absolute clarity and focus their minds on the all important development issues relevant to their personal and organisational success. There are, some key factors which are absolutely integral to its success that the best HR professionals have deployed to create the most outstanding outcomes

Key fact one

• The coach needs to be external and independent of the organisation: so the client can explore the full extent of their potential, avoiding any association with the history and any preconceptions regarding the organisation or hierarchy which creates limitations.

Key fact two

• The coaching should take place in a confidential environment: only when the client can be absolutely sure of this can they explore their true beliefs and values and the real work of coaching can be done. For the internal coach this is impossible as they are themselves part of the organisation.

Key fact three

• It is important that the coach has no vested interest in any outcome: senior executives need to explore options, consequences, thoughts and feelings about sensitive Board level issues and high impact decisions. With an internal coach this process is compromised.

HR professionals may believe that they should be providing an in-house coaching service. However, this would undermine the most valuable development tool available. The best HR professionals have shown that their role is to provide the coaching culture, in which executive coaching can thrive.

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