At IECL we teach people to become confident, competent and ethical organisational coaches.
We’ve taken to calling it organisational coaching to include all kinds of people at all sorts of organisations, and avoid the “but I’m not an executive, can you still coach me?” question.
Organisational coaching means that the organisation sponsors (and pays for) the coaching, and so (most commonly) it’s a three-way relationship between the coach, their coaching counterpart or client and the sponsor.
So who’s the actual client?
This three-way relationship can make organisational coaching a little more complex than “life coaching” or “business coaching” as often the sponsor, representing the organisation, has their own reason for employing the coach (ideally it’s to enhance an individual’s performance but it can sometimes be seen as a way to fix someone’s behaviour, or even to “fix” the person themselves). In most cases, org coaching is an investment by the organisation in a senior or high potential talent which enhances both performance and wellbeing and enables the individual (or team) to achieve their desired business outcomes.
What about Business Coaching?
Traditionally, a business coach is someone who works with you on the nitty-gritty of your business. They look at your business plan, your budget, and your strategy, and they help you make a forward plan for the business. All of this is good, and it can be more like talking to a consultant. The business coach needs to have subject matter expertise (budgeting, planning, strategy and marketing for example) and will tend to give their client some advice as a way of adding value.
Isn’t that what a coach does?
A good organisational coach, on the other hand, doesn’t give advice, suggest strategies, or need to have subject matter expertise, beyond being an expert coach. A good coach adds value by asking challenging questions to get you thinking differently, helps you decide what options to pursue, and holds you accountable to carry out the actions you have decided are right for you. There’s no advice giving, and no subject matter expertise being relayed. The coach helps you reduce the interference that gets in the way of achieving your full potential by asking powerful questions.
Just make sure that the coach you hire is well educated (in coaching skills), well regarded, and highly recommended.
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IECL recommends that you look for the blue IECL Coach Supervisor Training Credly badge, which means the supervisor has been trained by us.
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