Coaching Plan for a Business essay

CoachingPlan for a Business

Nameof Student

Tableof Contents

INTRODUCTION 2

LITERATURE REVIEW 4

Developmental Coaching 4

The Expanding Popularity of Business Coaching 5

Creation of a Coaching Plan 6

Characteristics of a Good Business Coach 8

Coaching Increases as Focus Shifts to Leadership 10

Principles of Coaching 12

Personal Coaching Opportunity 15

The Developed Plan for Coaching 16

Outcome – Coaching Plan Resolution 19

CONCLUSION 19

References 20

CoachingPlan for a Business

INTRODUCTION

Differentinstitutions depend on coaching for the proper functioning of theiremployees. In the business world, coaching has been used as astrategy of ensuring that goals and objectives set are met in themost efficient manner. In the business setting, coaching has beenemployed as a tool for personal development. Business coaching mayinvolve the employment of services from an external business coach,or depend on an internal coach. Most of the employees depend on theexecutive managers, and the middle-level managers for coaching.Development of a proper coaching plan is essential in ensuring thatbusiness functions in the most appropriate manner.

Coachingprograms are important in different business settings. They help thecoaches formulate methods that will assist their clients to focus onachieving particular professional goals. Such goals includeinterpersonal and professional communication, performance management,and augmenting strategic thinking (Rostron &amp Rensburg, 2009).There are no legal certifications required for one to become abusiness coach.

Thecoaching plan to be developed in thispaper focuses on a sales and marketingmanager. The salesand marketingdepartment is a crucial organ within any organization. Thisdepartment attracts clients to the organization, and therefore, itrequires proper control and guidance, which originates from themanagement body, down to the other workers. With proper coaching onthe managerial tasks and conduct, the manager of the department caninfluence other workers to work in an efficient manner, thus theimportance of coaching. There is increased evidence that a goodcoaching program is a powerful way of helping individuals to performbetter in firms. Through a study on Fortune 1000 companies, a propercoaching plan has been reported to improve productivity by 53%,customer service by 39%, and reduction of costs by 23%. An excellentplan will ensure that the goals and objectives of the businessorganization are achieved in an appropriate manner, and within thecorrect time (Leimon et al., 2005). The plans can serve for a shortor prolonged period depending on the targeted business organizationor group.

LITERATUREREVIEWDevelopmentalCoaching

Developmentalcoaching is a common practice in most organizations. According toScoular (2011), most employees’ look upon their supervisors orsuperiors for guidance on how tasks need to be fulfilled.Developmental coaching happens as a regular activity, where theemployee and supervisors interact. The directors offer constructiveand developmental feedback, help the subordinates come up with bettermethods of handling stressful situations and challenges (Hargreavesand Fink, 2012), and provide opportunities for the employees topractice complex procedures before applying them in the daily workingof the organization.

Theknowledge of developmental coaching is based on the feedbackmechanism of an organization, and can be traced back to theexposition of supervisors’ behaviors for managing employees, toensure that there is an improvement in their working. Coachingreveals a one-to-one method between the coach and the worker toexpedite personal learning and change of behavior, while putting moreemphasis on how a particular situation should be faced rather thanpointing out the actions that should be taken by the employee(Whitmore, 2010). The employees, therefore, develop and learn throughreflecting with the coaches, who can be their employers orsupervisors, on the ways through which they confront problems andchallenges in their daily practice at the workplace, and how suchapproaches can in help them achieve their goals.

Developmentalcoaching is a mechanism that helps the employees reflect and gaugetheir actions on a regular basis, and should therefore, not be lookedupon as an indirect interaction between the coach and the employee orclient. Due to its continuous nature, it has been suggested thatdevelopmental coaching can yield benefits in a far much better waythan traditional managerial training programs in the process ofdeveloping individual’s level of productivity (Iverson et al.,2012). Most organizations are however employing the aid of externalcoaches despite the fact that coaching has, for many years, beenregarded as a task that has to be done by the internal managers.

Today,developmental coaching for an improved employee performance andpersonal development is practiced in a mixed manner. The outcomes ofdevelopmental coaching are varied, as there could be a lack of theexpected results. The effectiveness of coaching could be limited byindividual and organizational behavior where the suitability of thesetwo lead to its success. The success of developmental coaching can beinhibited by a lack of a proper organizational behavior that is fit,or that, which promotes the coaching oriented practices. Behavioraland regulatory barriers can limit the success of developmentalcoaching (Kampa – Kokesch &amp Anderson, 2001). Organizations mayintroduce developmental coaching at their institutions without propersupport of the same plan at the institution thus, making itineffective. In such circumstance, the managers are more likely toconsider developmental coaching as a barrier rather than a channeltowards excellence.

Insome situations also, employees find it difficult to work as a groupor to follow the direction that the coaches necessitate. Forcing suchemployees to do what does not fit well on them may create chaosregarding performance, due to an increase in stress, pressure, andinsecurity. It is, therefore, an obligation of top leaders of a firmto determine if coaching properly fits, or is suitable for theirorganization to prevent wastage of time and other resources byinvesting in something whose results may be unsuitable (Starr, 2010).

TheExpanding Popularity of Business Coaching

Inthe past years, coaching in the business world was strictly employedin small businesses. Only 4% of small businesses used the services ofcoaches, and benefited from the coaching plans at their disposal.Today, 20% of small businesses use coaching plans as part of astrategy for their growth. The same has been employed in largeorganizations and middle-level companies. The use of coaching plansis increasingly being utilized in small enterprises because, suchbusinesses can have isolated managers, who may resolve to seekbacking and challenge from an individual outside their immediate workenvironment. Such decisions come about in situations where nocoaching and leadership development is available within the businessstructure. Coaching also employs support for personal values topromote personal transformation and career role transition. A propercoaching plan also facilitates the creation of organizationalculture, which appreciates and encourages learning, creativity, andconstant improvement (Scoular, 2011). It is also useful for thecreation of a platform or steps towards problem-solving, or tacklingof challenges through the promotion of integrity, motivation, andadvocating for coordination.

Today,most companies employ the use of coaching plans. Such have been ofbenefit to most organizations through the promotion of workers’functionality, and giving proper guidance for the efficient runningof businesses. The popularity of these coaching plans has grown overthe years, and the plans have proved to be of great benefit.Currently, leaders of large organizations are looked upon by workersat the lower levels for guidance on how to perform. Coachingabilities are some of the qualities that help to determine if one isa good leader, and if they are fit to ensure that the organizationmeets its successes.

Creationof a Coaching Plan

Severalsteps are involved in the creation of a good coaching plan. One hasto develop an excellent piece while considering that the plan willdetermine the success of the respective organization (Starr, 2010).To achieve this, several stages should be regarded in the developmentprocess.

First,it is important to develop a proper tone. When one is initiating arelationship with their client, they should note that it is not asign that the customer lacks the critical skill, or that whateverthey do is wrong. The coaching plan should consider that the clientpossesses an untapped potential, and should therefore, invest more onthe successes of the other person (Rostron &amp Rensburg, 2009).

Second,the plan should seek to establish goals for the relationship assuggested by Rostron &amp Rensburg (2009). Both the coach and theclient or employee should set the goals to be met. The coaching planshould clearly outline the goals that should be achieved by theclient. The coach should also interview the client so as to know whatthey want to achieve, and after how long. Having goals from bothsides guides in the creation of a coaching plan, which has higherchances of achieving positive results. It is worth noting that, abusiness-coaching plan is created to direct the workers of anorganization, or managers of a small business enterprise to achievesuccess in their operations hence, the importance of consideringgoals from both the coach, and those of the enterprise ororganization (Rostron &amp Rensburg, 2009).

Third,the business coach should set responsibilities to be accomplished byhis plan. In fact, both parties should establish theresponsibilities. The coach should model the type of behaviorsdesired for this particular scheme. The duties set by the coachshould be beyond what he or she agrees with the client, and they haveto ensure that the obligations set are met within the establishedduration of time. If the coach fails to model the behavior they wantto develop or achieve at the end of the process, then theeffectiveness and credibility of the process might get ruined (Leimonet al., 2005).

Fourth,the overall plan should define the process to be used to achieveindividual success. A coaching plan is meant to focus on encouragingindividual personalities in a business environment. It focuses onimproving performance at work. As a coach, one of the initial stepsto consider is how you will cooperate with the client without raisingconflict between the two of you. A proper coaching plan should alsobe designed in such a way as to address how conflict can be solved ifit arises (Leimon et al., 2014).

Lastly,one should identify the benchmarks. A coaching plan should includeclear measures of progress, and the schedule of how such measuresshould be met within the stated time. The plan should state the timesthe coach and the client should meet so as to evaluate the progress.They should also provide markers to determine how well the progressis (Scoular, 2011). It is, however, worth noting that failure toreach the stated benchmarks is not a sign of failure, but a sign thatmore input regarding effort should be put in, and that a correctionof the course should be considered.

Characteristicsof a Good Business Coach

Itis evident that every individual needs sound advice at one point orthe other. Business leaders are always in need of counsel to simplifythe life of stress and worry, which mostly develops from settingstrategies, achieving profits, and attending important meetings. Itis noted that most leaders find it difficult to achieve simplersolutions to problems (Iverson et al., 2012). With such situations,mentoring and coaching such leaders is the most helpful step inhelping the business leaders achieve maximum results in the shortesttime possible, without interfering with their lifestyles. A businesscoach should always consider helping draw out leadership abilities inan individual he is coaching. The coach should develop ways ofhelping the business executive learn how to design, and particularlink leadership challenges that he or she come across, taking totalresponsibility for the problem, and eventually overcoming thechallenge in a favorable manner (Wise &amp Jacobo, 2010).

Mostcompanies employ the use of a coaching plan to improve on thefunctionality of the team, and that of specific individuals. Theprogram should help the executive have a better cognition of anindividual’s and organizational behavior. The executive should beable to acquire knowledge on changes that will assist him or hertransit from being a manager to being a leader. The same also appliesto other employees in the organization. As such, for one to make agood business coach and be able to develop plans that will aid inimproving performance in a business scene, they should have thefollowing characteristics as suggested byDahlgren&amp Öunpuu (2012):

• They should possess a strong belief, a proper vision of the future, and a positive approach to problems that might arise. They should also have a better understanding of themselves. These are the skills and qualities that they need to pass to managers and other workers, hence the importance of possessing them at the first place.

• The coach should be optimistic. When creating a coaching plan, it is necessary that the coach develops something, which he or she believes in. Optimism is a quality, which every leader should possess for effective dispensation of leadership responsibilities. A business coach is no doubt a leader, and should therefore, be optimistic that the plans laid will work for the better of his or her client or organization.

• Proper preparation. A business coach should always prepare himself or herself well enough before presenting himself or herself to the customer. The preparation process includes the development of a coaching plan, which he or she is exceedingly optimistic of its effectiveness. The content of the program should always cover all facets of the matters to be considered. The coach should develop a plan that focuses on core competencies of personnel in the organization, to scheming and enactment of leadership ideas.

• A business coach should also focus on teamwork. They should develop a plan that encourages collaboration. This is a paramount aspect for the success of a business, and it is, therefore, a primary responsibility of a business coach to develop ways, which guide the business leaders, and managers on how to create or promote teamwork within their organizations so as to achieve suitable results.

Elementsof good leadership should also be considered in the development of acoaching plan. The plan should constitute of strategies needed toguide the leadership of an enterprise or organization, to achieveresults that will boost the performance of the institution in thebusiness field. The weaknesses and successes of the organizationshould also be noted to know the right point to major on. This can beachieved by a SWOT analysis, to examine the state of a businesscritically.

Coachingincreases as Focus Shifts to Leadership

Accordingto the survey conducted in 2002 by Lee Hecht Harrison on four hundredand eighty-eight human resource professionals, leadership andmanagement development receives more focus on executive coaching. Inthe early years, coaching was viewed as the processes, or a termreferring to the course of helping employees solve their problems.Due to more sophisticated workforce management systems, coaching hasbeen oriented more to help in developing employees who the company ororganization is willing to retain. In the present times, a largenumber of human resource professionals comprehend coaching as anengrossed, one-to-one procedure aimed at maximizing the managementand leadership prospectives, or alter the personal behavior ofemployees in the working environment.

However,some companies still look at coaching in a more traditionalperspective (Lee Hecht Harrison, 2002). The survey indicated thatcoaching was substantially perceived as a tool employed byorganizations, firms, and enterprises as a tool for employeedevelopment. However, a significant number still considered coachingto be a form of personal counseling, assistance in fashioning, orassistance on speech preparation. In the present working environment,coaching has had a greater meaning.

Despiteclaims that coaching is a fad, over eighty percent of the executivesinterviewed in the survey suggest that they would greatly benefitfrom the implementation of coaching. Coaching has and is, therefore,growing in both popularity and credibility within, and away from theworking place. Ninety-six percent of managers suggested that coachingshould not only be based on the top executives and mid-level managersbut also to other employees, irrespective of seniority. By devolvingit to the lower hierarchical levels of employment, the organizationgreatly benefits from improved performance, as all the staff willpossess leadership qualities such as better problem-solvingabilities, time management, optimism in their work, and enhancedinteraction and collaborations within themselves, so as to improvethe quality of work.

Thereis also an increased popularity of informal learning methods. Thevalue of learning and development as a source of competitiveadvantage has increasingly been acknowledged over many years. Thishas therefore, led to an increase in the number of professionals inthe business world who seek to coach. It has also indicated therelevance of coaching as a way of achieving managerial or leadershipexcellence.

Inaddition to the attainment of other leadership skills, coachingimproves team morale at the workplace in a significant manner. Italso helps the learner to develop a sense of responsibility. In someway, coaching can also revive the decreasing performance by anindividual through restructuring and creation of change within afirm.

Thesurvey also indicated that the coaches need some form of training soas to deliver the expected results in a more appropriate way.Coaching also requires the use of critical skills in the developmentof a plan that is meant to work.

Principlesof Coaching

Accordingto Wise &amp Jacobo (2010), seven principles govern coaching in abusiness environment. The principles lead to the development of ahighly efficient team, which eventually leads to the promotion of theorganization’s performance standard. These include:

First,coaching involves human interaction and development. It is based onthe knowledge of emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and developmentalintelligencies. It is centered on the most respectful ways in whichpeople interact with each other. It is, therefore, this interactionthat wistfully utilized to create beneficial change in the characterof the other person or persons.

Second,coaching is about coming up with a fundamental philosophy of humangenius. It is through the application of collective abilities thatindividuals in different ranks in an organization can producehigh-quality products and services. It is also through anorganizational culture that individuals get to know that risk takingleads to empowerment, learning, and production of better results.This principle ensures that both the organization and the individualsbenefit in gaining skills that enable them to improve on performanceand personal character.

Third,coaching is about the person or the teams being coached. It targetsthe singular form that has been identified for the process. Each iscoached to develop themselves to maximum potential bothprofessionally, and at a personal level. The process majors on theconversion of potential to real results. A plan prepared by a coachhelps individuals identify their full potential, talents, passions,strengths and genius so as to make them achieve the goals set by theorganizations and those by themselves.

Fourth,the coaching process and plan focus mainly on the individual beingcoached and not the coach. The coach mainly concentrates on theindividual being coached through asking questions, which are relevantin helping to find the major areas, which require emphasis. He alsolistens to the clients as a way of finding answers to the assignmentsincluded in the coaching plan. In this manner, coaching is,therefore, more distinct from consulting, managing, and teachingwhere an expert gives expertise in the form of directives to thepeople he or she is responsible for managing. Although it isnecessary for a couch to have some background information on theresponsibilities of his or her client, the coach should beindependent, and should not offer solutions to any problem faced inthe working environment, but should only provide a platform for whichthe client will be able to solve the problems by themselves.

Fifth,coaching involves the creation of a suitable environment forproductive development. It is the responsibility of the coach todevelop trusting relationships that will encourage honesty (Dahlgren&amp Öunpuu, 2012). The atmosphere created should also contain asense of mutual respect and purpose. It is the obligation of thecoach to create a conducive environment suitable for coaching bysetting aside their agenda, and focusing fully on one individual. Thecoach also uses language that is easy to comprehend. The use oflanguage should be used skillfully to create distinctions, whichoffer room and space for increasing awareness and allowing forbehavioral change.

Sixth,coaching should aim at achieving desired business results from thepeople side of business. With the presence of coaching, people aremore likely to make greater advances in reaching goals in areas ofachievements, development of feedback, team management, learning, andmotivation.

Seventh,the success of coaching is measured by an individual’s progress,growth and hastened development of the individuals under the coachingprogram. Coaching is a process and should have multiple stages atwhich development is examined (Whitmore, 2010). The changes inperception of the individual, or team being coached are used as theindicator of achievement. The indicators demonstrate whether thegrowth and improvement of the people have a direct impact on theperformance of the organization, firm, or business entity. Whenpositive change is experienced, there is a greater likelihood thatbusiness will improve regarding performance.

PersonalCoaching Opportunity

Ihad the opportunity of coaching at a small business enterpriseconsisting of three executive managers, four junior managers whowere all supervisors at the sales, marketing and human resourcedepartmentsand twenty workers. The company was performing too poorly due weaklinks between the three levels. The mid-level managers were reluctantin the jobs thus, influencing a demotivated state of the juniorworkers. The executive managers were busy with managerial tasks andwould only spend limited time bothering on how the other workersconducted their jobs. The junior employees seemed to be demotivatedby the kind of working environment hence, not producing their best.My major focus was, therefore, to coach the two levels of managementfor self-development, and the general improvement of performance atthe enterprise.

Thebiggest problem in the organization was poor coordination, which wasmostly attributed to lack of communication between differentdepartments. Excellent leadership requires one to possess the powerof influencing their subordinates, and such can be achievedefficiently through the acquisition of proper communication skills.Coaching should, therefore, aim at improving the manager’scommunication ability with the goal of improving the organization’sperformance.

TheDeveloped Plan for Coaching

Outcome– Coaching Plan Resolution

Thefirst session was meant to initiate the process by discussing thegoals, baseline rules and starting the assessment process. It wasalso the best point of ensuring that the clients are fit for thecoaching process, and that they will be willing undergo the coachingprocess. The assessment process in sessions two and three would pointout the areas in the clients that require emphasis so as to ensurethat the coaching program is beneficial and rewarding. This is basedon the principles of coaching, and is also aimed at evaluating theleadership qualities of the organization’s executives. The datacollected from the assessment tools used in the process will helppoint out the weaknesses of the manager. The data will then be usedin behavioral coaching. The review of the tools will be continued soas to ensure that the strengths and leadership qualities areimproved.

Inthe entire process, the client and I will be setting track goals,make any corrections needed within the course, and celebrate theoutcomes. The follow-up plan is designed to ensure that the newbehaviors and attitudes developed fully adopted.

CONCLUSION

Businesscoaching is an advantageous process aimed at improving personalvalues of an individual in an organization. Through the improvementof such, the level of performance in the organization is improved. Aproper coaching plan is essential in ensuring the client realizestheir potential and build onto it for the success of the company. Thecoaching plan includes assignments and assessment tools to gauge theleadership ability of the client and develop a baseline onto whichcoaching starts.

References

Dahlgren,B., &amp Öunpuu, H. (2012). Businesscoaching: An integrated dialogue methodology in four steps: Daring tobe clear is an art.Våxtorp: Light Perspective BPC.

Hargreaves,A., &amp Fink, D. (2012).&nbspSustainableleadership&nbsp(Vol.6). John Wiley &amp Sons.

Iverson,C., George, E., &amp Ratner, H. (2012). Briefcoaching: A solution-focused approach.London: Routledge.

Kampa-Kokesch,S., &amp Anderson, M. Z. (2001). Executive coaching: A comprehensivereview of the literature.&nbspConsultingPsychology Journal: Practice and Research,&nbsp53(4),205.

Leimon,A., Moscovici, F., &amp McMahon, G. (2005). Essentialbusiness coaching.London: Routledge.

Leimon,A., McMahon, G., &amp Moscovici, F. (2014). Business-Coaching.Paderborn: Jungermannia.

Rostron,S. S., &amp Rensburg, M. J. (2009). Businesscoaching: Wisdom and Practice: Unlocking the secrets of businesscoaching.Randburg, South Africa: Knowles.

Scoular,A. (2011). TheFinancial Times guide to business coaching.Harlow: Financial Times/Prentice Hall.

Starr,J. (2010). Thecoaching manual: The definitive guide to the process, principles, andskills of personal coaching.London: Prentice Hall Business.

Whitmore,J. (2010).&nbspCoachingfor performance: growing human potential and purpose: the principlesand practice of coaching and leadership.Nicholas Brealey Publishing.

Wise,D., &amp Jacobo, A. (2010). Towards a framework for leadershipcoaching.&nbspSchoolLeadership and Management,&nbsp30(2),159-169.