This article builds on the ideas I examined in my ’Coaching as a manager’ where I concluded that a manager could not truly be a coach to someone they manage, regardless of the fact that they can use coaching techniques to help them. Let’s look wider than the manager/coach relationship and examine the organisational situation they work in.

According to the government sector’s learning division (accessed 8th November 2019) it has a coaching website page, which states upfront:

“Successful organisations need to create an environment where colleagues can show initiative, take responsibility and feel comfortable taking measured risks. Having coaches and mentors who can help develop these skills and behaviours is a critical part of creating that environment and can help boost organisational effectiveness”

Benefits of an internal coaching program

As coaching and mentoring become more popular with organisations the demand for competent coaches and mentors grows. Professional coaching fees vary but generally run from £300 to £500 per hour. And with a complete programme for one person taking, say ten sessions, the costs will soon mount up. So, a more effective alternative, like any opportunities that can have economies of scale, is to develop an internal coaching programme. Cost is not the only benefit for an organisation. Coaching also develops the coach, including improved interpersonal skills, improved listening skills, greater confidence, a broader view of the organisation and a sense of personal achievement. For the organization it helps with supporting and retaining the right talent needed for the organization during change and growth, and broadly identifies some of the organizational trends that could influence their ongoing strategy. So there are benefits for both sides of the arrangement.

Managing the realities of an internal coaching programme

Next, we need to consider what the purpose of an internal coaching/mentoring programme can be. It’s got to have a business purpose, with proven or expected business benefits. Because coaching/mentoring is all about developing people, the business benefits will necessarily be medium to long-term benefits. They will be difficult to measure in a quantifiable way, although qualitative measurement processes are readily available and, with a little thought, can be devised to suit the particular circumstances of each programme, to demonstrate its worth.

Demonstrating the value of any development program is a challenge, but there are more direct obstacles and dangers that can impact the piloting/sustainability of any internal coaching programmes which they will face. These include;

• Confidentiality and Trust: these two vital elements of a successful coaching relationship can be particularly tested. Maintaining confidentiality can be difficult as the coach interacts with their co-workers. And the coach may find themselves under pressure from people further up the line-management chain, to divulge what has been said in the coaching sessions.

• A trusting relationship with the client: regardless of whether the coach succumbs or not these pressure on maintain confidentiality, their client may be concerned that they might succumb, and so trust is more difficult to build.

• ‘Boundaries’; internal coaches are there to provide business benefits, through personal improvement and development of the people working in the business. So there are limits on what the coach can do, especially as them may not have any professional coaching qualifications (yet). An external coach is there for the individual first, and the business second, even if the balance is a fine one, as the business may be paying for the coach! Whereas an external coach may well be able to range widely into personal issues affecting performance, an internal coach has not got that freedom. The boundary can be difficult to define and the coach must be alive to this issue so as not to step over that boundary.

These are just a few of the potential obstacles and dangers an internal coach can face from my observations. To strengthen the resilience of internal coaches, the programme must include strong elements of planning and training on such issues as ethics, the contracting process, programme policies and processes, Continuous Professional Development, and professional supervision.

Selecting ‘fit for purpose’ internal coaches

Recruiting who should become an internal coach from within the organization, it would appear to fit more naturally with Managers. Technical caseworkers and specialists do make excellent coaches, but for an organisation their specialised knowledge does lean them more to being mentors: sharing their specialised knowledge and expertise. So managers tend to become coaches by default, however they would need to undergo a strong and effective ethical training as a vital element of any internal coaching training programme. Afterall,

“An internal coach has a formal identity within the organisation and coaches people outside their management chain: a manager using a coaching approach with their own staff is not an internal coach.” *

Considering a number of key factors that can impact the success of an internal coaching program, it’s important to select internal coaches that are fit for the purpose and are unhindered by, or exposure minimized from, certain boundary conditions. And this reinforces my belief that managers can use coaching techniques with the people they manage, but they should not be a coach to their direct reports but from other, and ideally, non-related lines for a programme like this to survive, and then thrive.

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* The above quote and the ideas behind this article are derived from ‘The Complete Handbook of Coaching’ 3rd Edition, 2019. Chapter 20- Internal Coaching by Katharine St-John Brooks