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Business Coaching and the HR Professional – Try it before you buy it

The Story so Far

A growing number of companies are now using executive coaches for developing their leaders and retaining their top performers. The HR Director (or Head of HR) is often charged with managing the coaching programme and ensuring the business gets best value from the investment. The process involves identifying the people who will be coached and also selecting the ‘right’ coach for the individual and for the organisation.

But how many HR Directors see themselves and their senior team as part of the coaching initiative and put themselves forward to be coached? And are their needs different from the rest of in the business?

The HR Dilemma

HR works with the business in times of stability and planned growth and also in times of transition and unexpected change. The relationship between the HR function and the rest of the company is critical to how much HR is valued. This varies from company to company. Nevertheless, HR Directors often struggle with gaining credibility at a business level – essentially proving the value of HR to the bottom line.

Companies experiencing massive organisational change – takeovers, mergers, downsizing – rely on HR to manage the people aspects of change and also act as a key source of support for the workforce. This additional and sometimes sudden pressure can stretch the HR Director and the senior HR team. And yet it is during these times of change that a talented HR team can truly demonstrate its worth

Why do Companies Choose Coaching?

This is an area that is well researched and three consistent themes recur every time a new survey is published. Companies employ coaches to:

• Support leadership development
• Improve team effectiveness
• Develop and retain top talent

So, three questions follow on from this?

1. Should HR professionals be an integral part of a company’s leadership development initiative?
2. How important is it for the HR team to perform at the highest level in a successful business?
3. Should the top people in HR seen as part of the company’s talent pool

Hopefully you answered Yes, Yes and Yes! Therefore it would be a natural conclusion to arrive at to say that HR Directors and their team could and should have the same access to business coaching as other leaders and top talent in the company. And it is up to HR to make this happen!

Walking the Talk

For companies that support executive coaching and rely on HR to promote the benefits to the individual and the business, how much more effective a selling job is it if the HR Director (and their senior team) have experienced coaching first hand?

If HR professionals have had the benefit of 1-1 coaching for themselves, they will have greater credibility with their customers if they can relate the value they have gained both personally and from a business perspective. Coaching can then be introduced as a practical and beneficial business tool and not just another HR fad.

Coaching for the Business and HR!

HDA offers a range of executive coaching services to companies. Here are some that HR Directors and their teams have found particularly valuable for both the business and for themselves:

• Coaching to become a Business Partner
• Coaching leaders and top talent
• Coaching successful teams
• Coaching for Change

Your Next Step

Enhancing credibility at the strategic level, business partnering, team effectiveness and talent management are just some areas where coaching can be highly effective for the HR Director and their team. HDA will show you how this can work in practice. Try it before you buy it!

More on Dennis Preston

Dennis Preston is Senior Consultant with HDA, with a focus on developing HDA’s business coaching and organisational change capabilities - and a special emphasis on thought-leadership - and the development of new consultancy solutions in these areas.

Dennis has been involved in business for more than 30 years and most of his roles have included some responsibility for change, including accountability for both the commercial/strategic and people elements of change. He has worked at director-level for a range of large multinationals, in roles ranging from Head of Training and Development, to Director of Strategy and Planning, and Director of Management Services. He has held key roles in the London Stock Exchange, Bank of England, Abbey National, Orn Capital, Stiell plc, FT Knowledge Ltd, William M Mercer, Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and Marsh Insurance Services - and has delivered human capital projects in the UK, Japan, Hong Kong and the USA.

He is a member of MENSA and is non-executive director on a number of Boards.

Says Preston, ‘’I find it helps tremendously to be able to relate to the business issues and challenges that clients are experiencing – as someone who has been there and felt the pain already’’.

 

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