Professional coaching: a potential booster

In our private lives as much as in the business world, coaching has, over time, become a common practice in response to an ever more demanding professional environment. Whether you are an employee, a manager or at the helm of a company, the approach is appealing because it makes it possible to deploy the right resources at the right time, drawing on each person's interpersonal and technical strengths.

What objectives does coaching pursue?

It is of course about boosting performance, encouraging the development of targeted skills and achieving ambitious objectives, but also about ensuring that the person being coached can realise their full potential, with respect and a supportive spirit. The main appeal of this type of approach lies in shedding light on the resources, perhaps still untapped, that the coachee can draw upon and, of course, in becoming aware of their genuine areas for improvement, the key elements on which they will be called to work in depth.

Here are some types of objectives that can be defined on a tripartite basis (sponsor, coach and coachee):

• Adapting your communication to different personality types

• Identifying the sources of conflict and managing delicate situations

• Determining the managerial positioning to adopt in order to align with your team's culture

• Cultivating your leadership and securing your team's buy-in for the changes to be carried out

• Managing your priorities, with the aim of creating a more stable balance

In concrete terms, how does it work?

At the heart of any constructive coaching journey lies a relationship of trust, which needs to be established from the very first minutes of the collaboration. Hence the importance of holding a calibration meeting to refine expectations on both sides and to ensure compatibility between coach and coachee.

Delivered on a bespoke basis, this type of support generally forms part of a targeted tripartite approach that responds to the needs of both the company and the coachee. Deployed jointly, this approach fits perfectly into the professional reality of a manager or employee, provided there is mutual commitment.

Divided into several sessions spread out over time, the regular follow-up that is put in place, together with the methodology and tools used, makes it possible to correct deviations quickly, to identify levers for action and to remove obstacles, generating added value that is a source of observable results in the short and medium term.

From a methodological standpoint, the coach's experience and the resources at their disposal enable them to adopt a range of postures while moving between phases of introspection, role-play exercises, the sharing of good practices and the definition of measures that can be directly applied to the coachee's operational reality.

Beyond the objectives set at the start of the engagement, coaching also makes it possible to provide a concrete response to more sudden professional events, for which an external perspective is welcome.

For example: a specific analysis to deliver to one's management, a crisis situation to handle between two colleagues, or a presentation to give before an extraordinary meeting are all situations that can be resolved by drawing on the rich experience of a certified professional coach.

In practice, a coaching engagement unfolds over time, generally over a period of 3 to 6 months, and is structured as follows:

1. Calibrating the need with the sponsor, defining the objectives and clarifying expectations

2. Confirming coach-coachee compatibility and scheduling the sessions

3. Conducting the coaching sessions with a mid-point review, and the implementation by the coachee of concrete actions within their professional setting

4. In-depth work between sessions

5. Closing the engagement and debriefing

In what context is coaching recommended?

Requested by human resources, the line manager or the coachee themselves, drawing on the expertise of a coach is beneficial in many situations. To illustrate this, here are a few scenarios that faithfully reflect the reality observed within companies:

• Challenging existing practices and placing the emphasis on efficiency, because the objectives set by management are proving difficult to achieve

• Encouraging the development of skills and the deployment of key methods, in a spirit of continuous improvement and the establishment of good habits

• Supporting change and the adoption of the right managerial posture, in an internal mobility process for example

• Valuing the employee by cultivating their potential

• Offering a neutral and confidential perspective on situations that call for sometimes delicate decisions

What are the benefits of this type of approach?

Through an approach that allows people to step back and gain perspective, coaching helps to strengthen the bond of trust and the support given to teams; it also helps to drive employees' success by giving them the means to develop their potential to the full extent of their abilities, with a positive contribution to the life of the company.

More generally, coaching is a lever that helps to cultivate a positive employer image that genuinely cares about the fulfilment of its teams.

Finally, also available as an à la carte option, coaching offers an ad hoc response to more specific needs, with complete flexibility.

As you will have understood, the consultants at Valeur Plus can move between two postures: that of coach and that of consultant. The coach asks questions and helps coachees find their own answers to their challenges. The consultant advises, provides tools and helps to resolve practical cases. In short, it is the strength of this dual approach that enables coachees to achieve the expected results.

Now that you are aware of the many tools that can be deployed to boost your employees' potential, take the plunge and call on the expertise of Valeur Plus to envisage high-quality, tailor-made support.

Written by Johanne Ciccarone, Managing Director