In Equilibrium are able to provide corporate coaching for managers and employees throughout the UK.  If there is someone in your organisation you think may benefit from one-to-one coaching please don't hesitate to contact us to discuss how we may be able to help. 

• View details of our corporate coaching in pdf format here
• View case studies on our website here

"Training can improve performance by 22%. Training accompanied by coaching can improve performance by 88 %" The International Personal Management Association

Robert Dilts, a leading behavioural skills trainer, coach, and consultant, describes coaching as "the process of helping people and teams to perform at the peak of their abilities. It involves drawing out people's strengths, helping them to bypass personal barriers and limits in order to achieve their personal best, and facilitating them to function more effectively as members of a team."

Top Ten Reasons for Using Coaching

• Improving individual performance
• Dealing with under-performance
• Improving productivity
• Career planning and personal development
• Growing future senior staff
• Fostering a culture of learning and development
• Motivating staff
• Accelerating change in the organisation
• Demonstrating the organisation's commitment to staff
• Improving staff retention
  

Benefits of coaching

In a recent study by the International Coach Federation, quoted by the CIPD, individuals reported a range of benefits from those who use coaches in the world of work:

• Increased self awareness 68%
• Improved quality of life 43%
• Better goal setting 62%
• Enhanced communication skills 40%
• More balanced life 61%
• Lower stress levels 57%
• Enhanced self discovery 53%
• Increased confidence 52%

Why Coaching?

Coaching has seen huge growth in recent years.  According to a recent Chartered Institute of Personal Development press release, almost 90% of organisations now use coaching. The 'Taking the Temperature of Coaching Report,' which surveys over 500 companies, finds 51% consider coaching as a key part of learning and development and consider it 'crucial to their strategy.'  It is being used at all levels to build on good performance (23%), improve poor performance (20%) and it forms part of leadership development (23%).

"It is not surprising that so many are turning to coaching and mentoring to improve performance," says Dr John McGurk, CIPD Adviser, Learning and Talent. "When budgets are tightened, it's a relatively inexpensive way to develop staff and it also has the benefit of being tailored to an organisation's specific needs.  As well as this, coaching has great scope to improve employee engagement, empower people and boost morale at a time of great uncertainty."

The HSE stress management standards identify Support as one of the 6 key conditions influencing health, well being and organisational performance. The standard requires that:-

• Employees should receive adequate information and support from their colleagues and superiors; and that
• Systems are in place locally to respond to any individual concerns.

For stressed senior executives, this support can be hard to find. As the leaders of the organisation, they can feel that they should be providing rather than receiving support. And since they tend to have fewer immediate colleagues and superiors to turn to, life at the top can be lonely and isolated. Executive Coaching is a way of responding to this problem.

Coaching has become a key resource in the toolkit of modern, learning organisations. It can represent a major investment of resources and therefore it is essential that organisations are clear about what it can - and can't deliver.

Coaching can take place with an individual or within a group and an organisation may want to introduce a "coaching culture" into its everyday ways of working.

"Coaching is likely to play a major role in leadership development activities for UK organisations. A recent CIPD survey showed that 93% of respondents using coaching believe that a coaching culture is either very important or important to the success of their organisation. Results show that improving individual and business performance are the main objectives for developing a coaching culture."       

(Source - Jarvis, Lane and Fillery-Travis, CIPD)

Examples of Corporate Coaching undertaken by our consultants:-
(Please note any names have been changed for confidentiality purposes)

Coaching in the Aftermath of Bullying (Fiona McLaren In-Equilibrium Consultant)

John, an accounts manager, reluctantly used the company’s grievance procedure after some few months of bullying by his boss, Phil, the Finance Director.  An investigation confirmed that Phil’s behaviour had been bullying and indeed there were indications that other staff had left because of Phil’s behaviour.

Throughout the process, Phil asserted his innocence of any unacceptable behaviour, and at the end of the investigation, both Phil and John were feeling ‘bruised’.  It is rare – particularly in small companies where there is little scope to move people into alternative areas – for relationships to be ‘mended’ sufficiently to enable people to work together in harmony going forward.  However, Elaine, the HR Director, wanted to put every effort into keeping both individuals together, and recognizing that the bully also needs support, suggested coaching for Phil..... click here to read the outcome

 Coaching for building positive relationships and developing people (Lynn McLeod, In-Equilibrium Consultant)

A Sales Director had requested coaching to help him build better relationships, deal with conflict, and develop his team to improve service and increase sales. Having agreed clear outcomes for the coaching, we explored his values, skills and strengths. We completed activities to raise his levels of self-awareness and understanding and appreciation of others. The client learned which of his beliefs were holding him back and replaced these with more useful ones that would help him achieve his goals. We invested some time developing skills and techniques to help him communicate more effectively and manage his own and his team's performance ............... click here to read the outcome

Coaching for career progression and life balance (Lynn McLeod, In-Equilibrium Consultant)

A client wanted to progress her career and maintain the quality of her family life. At the time she was Acting Head in a school that she loved. Her goal was to obtain the headship at that particular school. As a Deputy Head, she had applied for headships in the past and had been told that she was considered not quite ready. This was affecting her confidence and self-belief and she was wondering if she was in fact ready for such a responsible position. During the coaching, the client learned more about herself through personality profiling (using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®) and exploration of her values, skills and strengths. She also discovered how others are different and used this knowledge to develop her leadership capability. We prepared for a crucial parents evening which the client reported was hugely successful. She told me about her vision for the school and how she would like things to be ............ click here to read the outcome

Coaching at the start of a major project  (Carol Taylor, In-Equilibrium Consultant)

A headteacher was tasked with merging her successful school with a less successful neighbouring school. Through coaching she was able to identify the detail of the challenges faced, create a vision and action plan for bringing the second school up to standard.......... click here to read the outcome

A Stressed Team  (Lesley Jefferson, In-Equilibrium Consultant)  

Operations Director Suzanna's 360 degree appraisal had resulted in a very disappointing set of scores. Working in a complex, fast changing environment, she had been working long hours, close to burn out, and was inclined to blame her co-directors when things went wrong .......... click here to read the outcome

Click here to read more corporate coaching case studies from our experienced consultants

In Equilibrium's expert consultants can offer a range of flexible coaching solutions, tailored to the requirements of your organisation. For example, we can offer coaching by telephone, face-to-face and team coaching as well as individual coaching.

To discuss your requirements, please contact Alastair Taylor on 0131 476 5027, or e-mail: alastair@in-equilibrium.co.uk