The Professional Partner

Improving performance is the goal of every forward thinking organisation. It's therefore of little surprise to learn that in the last ten years the coaching industry has grown very significantly.

Membership of the International Coach Federation has more than tripled.  A report by the market research firm IBISWorld at the end of 2014 said coaching is a $1 billion industry in the U.S. alone. That's almost 5 years ago and the trend has increased rapidly since then.

Why is coaching in such demand today? The answer is, it gets results.  When an organisation retains the services of a coach it embarks on a programme of improvement.

An organisational coach is a professional partner whose task is to improve 'role performance.'

Role performance yes, but is the context of achieving organisational goals and not just individual aims and aspirations.  An experienced coach will use expert people skills to enable a thinking space.  It also provides an opportunity for the person being coached to step back from the coal face to reflect and consider challenges.  The coach will share insights and bring fresh perspective to problem solving.  They will provide focus on potential solutions and appropriate actions.

Coaching and mentoring in an organisational context specifically refers to working with middle or senior managers to provide a sounding board, and be an experienced thinking partner to work through the immediate challenges faced on the job.

The professional partner provides an opportunity for a middle or senior manager to meet 'one-to-one' in a privatised quiet place to reflect on issues in a fast paced workplace dominated by activity.

Through coaching and mentoring support, middle and senior managers grow in confidence, decisiveness and decision making, not to mention improved people awareness.

The engagement of a 'Professional Partner' provides stability and a level of reassurance to managers as they deal with what can be sensitive and challenging issues on the job.

Whether a company is going through a growth phase, uncertainty, change or crisis, the professional partner can help navigate management teams by providing role support to individuals, yet staying closely aligned to organisational objectives