Best Methods for Workplace Coaching

A new TrendWatcher is here, this time focusing on coaching in the workplace. No, I'm not talking about leadership coaching or even peer coaching, but rather workplace coaching in general. Only 32% of respondents in a recent AMA/i4cp survey had found that peer coaching worked to any effect, and there appears to be no correlation between using internal coaches and coaching success. So what's a company to do when it wants to harness the full potential of an employee, especially a high-potential (HiPo) employee?

The business coaching survey found that "sending potential coaches to external development programs was more strongly correlated with overall coaching success than more internally focused methods ." Perhaps not surprising, considering the added costs this method requires, this is one of the least used methods by companies. Other common tactics and best practices were:
  • Realizing coaching as a value-add within an organization
  • Selecting the right coach for the right employee and issue
  • Interviewing the coach before letting him or her loose (surprisingly, only 54% of respondents say their companies do this!)

The TrendWatcher covers several other tips that can be used to enhance coaching in the workplace - read the full workplace coaching article here.
Erik Samdahl
Erik is the head of marketing at i4cp, and has nearly 20 years in the market research and human capital research industry.