How personal coaching helps keep managers focussed

Paul Snell, acting chief executive of the General Social Care Council (GSCC), recently pointed out in Society Guardian that the nature of leadership development in the public sector has changed. Alongside formal leadership development programmes, he argued, it is the process of coaching and mentoring that has become increasingly linked with organisational effectiveness, personal transformation and a return on investment. How does this translate into real leadership experience at the frontline? John Fraser, interim head of strategy for the GSCC, has experience of personal coaching from a previous position in another regulatory body. At a highly-pressurised time, when the organisation was going through a merger, Fraser says personal coaching was immensely useful. "I was trying to manage the transfer of business into the new framework and there was a lot of uncertainty about people's jobs," he explains. "Personally, I had taken the decision not to join the new organisation, but my focus was on business continuity, and helping the new team establish a way of working." Fraser was put in touch with a personal coach through a scheme run by his employer. "It forced me to find some space to think about what I was dealing with," he comments. "It helped keep me focused on the critical things that needed to be done for a smooth transition and the business benefited as a result." Dyllis Faife agrees. Now regional programme director for personalisation and transformation of adult social care in the east of England, a job she believes she owes to personal coaching, Faife says the outcome of three personal coaching sessions were very specific for her: "I got the job I have now, which I really wanted and absolutely love doing," she comments. "I believe the coaching sessions helped me prepare better for interview and perform better, because I was clearer in my mind about what I wanted, more comfortable about the whole process and therefore about to connect in a more relaxed, thought-through way." Emotional intelligence For Faife, personal coaching is about emotional intelligence: "The more one reads about what makes good leaders, emotional intelligence is so important," she comemnts. "I believed in it anyway, but may not have been practising what I preach, so it was good to thing about both personal fulfilment and ways in which to have a more positive, sustainable influence." Both Faife and Fraser used personal coach Lynn White, of consultancy WDI, who has also worked with leaders in the private sector, including David Batchelor, chief executive of risk and insurance company Marsh. Batchelor says that one of the benefits of using an external personal coach is that it provides a valuable method of personal brainstorming difficult work issues. "I've always been someone who looks at my own personal development, and that can either be done through one's own organisation and through external resources, such as professional exams and so on, but as I have moved up in my career, I have found that while leadership programmes are value, personal coaching is much more intimate in dealing with things at a practical level," he says. "Whether it is about an issue with colleagues, or a business issues, of something that's affecting your organisation, a good personal coach can help you organise the way you would tackle that issue. They won't give you immediate answers, but they develop a route map for you, and give you some objective, pragmatic views. When you move to the top of an organisation, it can be more difficult to openly discuss issues internally." Batchelor says good coaching is applicable equally well to both the public and private sectors, and is valuable not just in outlining ways to tackle issues, but also to challenge leaders' existing ways of thinking. "Sometimes you can get a bit too narrow-minded," he says. "Coaching can open your mind to the impact of what you are proposing, in a confidental environment."