Thought Leadership

When an organisation invests in coaching, they want to know that they’re getting bang for their buck.

The first step towards achieving this is for the organisation to have clear strategic objectives for investing in coaching.  Where are you hoping for coaching to have an impact? Organisational performance?  Talent development and succession planning?  Innovation and collaboration?  Change management?  Equity and inclusion?

So far, so obvious (although, if it’s not, give us a call as we can help you with this!).

Having clarity on your strategic objects will go some way towards ensuring that the money you invest in coaching has an impact.

But it won’t go all the way.  For that, you need to openly explore the link between the public and private goals for each coaching assignment.

And this can cause a sharp intake of breath.  Private goals???  There’s some scary stuff in there about difficult conversations … transparency … and the unpalatable truth that some of our top talent may not be fully engaged and motivated.  Eek!

The public goals of a coaching assignment

Ideally, every coaching programme that is undertaken within an organisation will be set up with some public goals in mind.

Now, believe me when I tell you that this is not always the case.

Some organisations invest in coaching because they think that it’s a nice thing to provide for their colleagues.  Because they think it will show people that they care.  Because it will mean that they won’t really need to manage people or to have tricky conversations, because the coaching will take care of everything, like a giant sticking plaster.

But I know that you want to be more strategic about this.  So let’s talk public goals.

Public goals are agreed between the sponsor of the coaching (commonly the line manager, sometimes HR) and the coachee.  In a way, they are an acknowledgement that the organisation is investing in coaching with some specific desired outcomes in mind.

If these public goals can be traced back to the organisational strategy, then even better!

Public goals tend to be developmental goals that are aimed at supporting individuals to develop in their role and / or progress in the organisation.  Rather than being ‘remedial’ they are set with a positive intent of moving individuals from good to great, building on their strengths and boosting their engagement and motivation.

Common themes for public goals are:

Communication: enabling more impactful and emotionally intelligent communication to enhance profile and reputation as well as boost influencing capability.

Leadership: creating self-awareness and capability in leadership, particularly those new into the role.

Promotion / progression: supporting an individual through a promotion, such as a business case for partnership, or to develop the competencies needed to progress further in the organisation.

Public goals are discussed and agreed in a triangulation meeting between the sponsor, the coachee and the coach.  They need to be as specific as possible, with consideration to how they will be measured at the end of the coaching programme.  This can be a key factor in demonstrating the ROI of coaching at an organisational level.

The private goals of a coaching assignment

The private goals of a coaching assignment are, quite simply, the goals that the individual personally wants to achieve from the coaching.

Some of these might ‘accidentally’ align with the public goals.  The individual may well want to improve their communication and influencing, develop their leadership style and capabilities and be equipped for promotion and progression in the organisation.

This is the best case ‘accidental’ scenario.

The worst case ‘accidental’ scenario is that the individual is disengaged and demotivated and wants to leave.  And no matter how big your coaching sticking plaster is, without a more considered approach to aligning public and private goals, this individual is likely leaving your organisation.

So what can you do to have a bit more control over whether we’re looking at accidental scenario 1 or accidental scenario 2?

How to get more aligned on public and private goals

Step One: Get those public goals clear, communicated well and (ideally) agreed

As we can see, the absence of public goals makes the coaching programme like a game of roulette.  You may or may not win and the odds are stacked against you.

The set-up of the triangulation meeting is key to getting good public goals.

It is essential that line managers understand their role in the set up and support of coaching programmes for their team members.  Make sure they are clear on expectations and have support and training on goal-setting and communication.

I have frequently been in triangulation meetings where a line manager, who has privately articulated their aspirations for the coaching programme to me (the coach) with great clarity, suddenly clams up and does not mention any of them when sat opposite their team member.

As a coach, I find that the most successful triangulation meetings occur when all parties are prepared in terms of expectations and expected outcomes.  I will always meet with both parties beforehand to ensure that there is as much clarity as possible about what coaching is (and isn’t) and that each person understands the purpose of the triangulation meeting and their role within it.

Things can still go awry (humans are involved after all!), but if there is a well-equipped line manager, a well-informed coachee and a professional coach, it’s way more likely that public and private goals will align.

Step Two: Openly acknowledge that there will be private goals, and that’s OK

In order for coaching to be effective, the content of the coaching sessions must remain confidential between the coach and coachee (apart from in some exceptional circumstances).  This means that there will frequently be private goals that the coachee brings to coaching and that are not divulged to the sponsor/line manager.

It is important that this is acknowledged and normalised by all the parties and particularly by the organisational sponsor.  This means that the coach and coachee can get on with the important and transformational business of coaching without distraction.

It is only natural that an organisation would want these private goals to be aligned with the public goals which should also, in turn, be aligned to the organisational strategy.

But there is no guarantee.

The desired alignment will be somewhat down to organisational culture: Is there a culture of constructive feedback?  Are individuals skilled in open and transparent communication? Is there psychological safety?  Are relationships healthy such that development objects are discussed openly?

And the rest is down to the effective implementation of Step One.

Conclusion

The truth of the matter is that there will always be private goals in coaching.  Coaching is set up in such a way that individuals get to work on their personal development needs with a trusted and skilled partner.  Organisational sponsors of coaching need to accept this fact.  It’s normal.  Individuals have personal aspirations that they don’t always share with their line manager.

In order for coaching to work well for the organisation as well as the individual, the set up of each individual coaching programme is key.  Do this bit well and it is more likely that the public and private goals will be aligned and that all parties will benefit from the intervention.