Select Page

Bongi had taken the task of identifying the right company, right coach, and ensuring a sound business methodology within those choices very seriously. The company she selected seemed to be correct. It was stable, flexible to her business environment, and had clear experience in organising coaching sessions for individuals on the managerial and executive levels that Bongi needed.

Overall, she felt that she had succeeded in her choice of Business Coaching partner. Her main measurement was watching behaviour change in the coachees, as well as receiving feedback – both positive and negative from the coachees’ superiors, peers, and subordinates. This was an open process as Bongi’s Business Coach had advised her to keep communication channels open, and the process transparent so that there was no negative feeling towards being coached going forward.

Bongi plotted the feedback that she received for each coachee on a bell-shaped curve. Most of her curves were positively skewed, showing that the results of the business coaching had been positive.

The results indicated that the original coaching outcomes had been achieved and overall, the process was appreciated. Many coachees asked if they could continue being coached, and many requested coaching for their departments. 9 out of 12 coachees reported having an exceptional coaching experience.

Bongi was upset that a quarter of the coachees did not report a positive experience. She sat with her Business Coach, Margi, and the coaching company to find out what went wrong. Prior to this meeting she had run discussion sessions with each coachee to understand what they felt they did not gain benefit from in the process. Combining the discussions, Bongi learnt the following:

  • Without buy-in on the coaching process, and a desire to change, coaching will be ineffective, as some people are deemed to be ‘uncoachable’, meaning that at this moment in time, they cannot be coached. They are not open to change.
  • Although there are many benefits to being coached by a like-minded or demographically similar Business Coach, there are also numerous benefits to being coached by someone who is diametrically different to the coachee. However, some coachee’s felt that they did not ‘click’ with their Business Coaches and therefore, they did not engage fully in the process.
  • Finally, there was some scepticism about the confidentiality and feedback process to the company on the Business Coaching discussions. As a result, some of the coachees did not fully engage in the sessions for fear of saying something that would be a career limiting move.

Margi told Bongi that these were areas that would arise and complicate most Business Coaching interventions in a management team. Therefore, Bongi needed to

  • Accept that some managers are not coachable at the present time.
  • Be crystal clear about confidentiality and transparency; and
  • Monitor the coach-coachee compatibility throughout the process so that the Coaching Intervention does not fail at the end, without any form of remediation.

Bongi wanted to prepare herself for potential future issues with Business Coaching interventions in her company, so she read SA Business Coaches’ Blog from July 2020 from the Business Coaches’ perspective on “Talking about Difficult Session”→

Feeling like she had gained experience and an insight into why Business Coaching will succeed in a corporate environment, and why it may not, Bongi moved her team into the next phase of Business Coaching with confidence and optimism.

To work with a coach who comes from a Business Coaching company that ensures credible and experienced coaches please visit our Corporate Executive Coaching page→