Why create an internal coaching function?
If, like many organisations, yours does not have a strategy for coaching – or a function to manage whatever coaching is happening – it can cost the organisation not only money, but lots of opportunity costs too:
- not aligning to the business strategy
- not gaining economies of scale
- not measuring the quality of the results achieved
- not harvesting the learning about the systemic changes needed
- not necessarily securing the latest coaching or coaching supervision best practices
Creating an internal coaching function, or one that is part of your leadership development or learning and development function therefore makes a lot of sense.
That function might also go to another level, by certifying an internal pool of coaches – either full time or on top of their day job. I already wrote about how to enable managers to use a coach approach to managing people. So let’s focus today on using full-time internal coaches.
Advantages of using internal coaches
Research by Marshall Goldsmith of 86,000 people across 15 global organizations found that internal coaches could produce the same positive results as external coaches.
The advantages of using internal coaches are plentiful:
- Culture – internal coaches model a company’s values. A ripple effect, leading to a coaching culture that engages people to perform at their best. As leaders start to coach, they experience a reversal of power stress (Boyatzis)
- Costs* – internal coaches are lower in cost, as long as they are utilised well
- Context – an understanding of the obstacles in the system that get in employees’ way, that need to be addressed at the organizational level
- Confidentiality – internal coaches have signed a code of ethics, and as such hold confidentiality just as strongly as external coaches
- Connections – Deeper trusted personal networks across the organization for people to call on; and people’s performance is connected to the quality of relationships
Coaching supervision for internal coaches
It is important to provide internal coaches with coaching supervision to support them with the pitfalls of coaching internally, such as keeping confidentiality sacrosanct when you work with people who work together; questioning assumptions that an internal person often doesn’t query because they are part of the same system and don’t see it as an assumption; finding themselves hearing about aspects of the organisation that lead them to personally not want to work at the organisation any more etc.
Credibility of internal coaches
You can ensure the credibility of your internal coaches by:
- Staffing with Professional Certified Coaches (or equivalent) and above
- Adhering to the code of ethics of a coaching body
- Receiving coaching supervision
- Neutral coaches, with no functional allegiance, therefore no conflicts of interest
- Contracting for and guaranteeing confidentiality (excluding unethical conduct)
- Meeting or exceeding coaching goals that align to business growth
- Acting as change agents in ways which aren’t possible for an external individual
- Managing the wider community of managers as coaches out in the business, to ensure consistency and groom future coaches
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*David Rock identifies the costs that you should consider over and above the salary/coaching rate:
| Hiring
External Coaches |
Sourcing
Internal Coaches |
|
| Sourcing Coaches | High Cost | Low cost |
| Business Understanding | High Complexity | No cost |
| Cultural Fit | High Complexity | No cost |
| Screening | Medium Cost | Low cost |
| Orienting to the organization | High cost | No cost |
| Staff Retention of those Coached | High Derailment Risk | Increased Retention |
