Coaching for success in the East Midlands

From March 2010, aspiring executive coaches were required to undertake a robust quality assurance process through a one-day passport accreditation, which was designed and run through Cedar Talent Management.

“Scheduling time in the diary was challenging due to what was reported as a ‘meeting culture’ in many organisations”

They attended a locally led half-day workshop to be briefed on the context for coaching and to highlight NHS East Midlands’ strategic priorities. The region-wide programme was monitored on an ongoing basis with Cedar providing additional support and development in a supervisory role.

External coaches then find themselves in a position to notice any emergent organisational themes arising from insights gained from the coaching engagement. These insights can potentially provide useful information on systemic learning, leadership, culture and behaviours linked to strategic performance.

Emergent themes may include key organisational strengths and areas of effective functioning, encompassing processes, culture and behaviours relevant to supporting the developmental agenda of the coaching programme and, in this respect, the wider organisation and region.

Themes

The following themes emerged from the East Midlands programme:

The strategic health authority and academy ensured that the role and purpose of the coaching initiative was effectively communicated to leaders. Fully briefed coaches were able to engage effectively in setting the wider context for the coaching, clarifying expectations and laying the foundations. This confirms the importance of effective multi-stakeholder briefing and involvement to get the best from large scale coaching interventions.

The opportunity for coaching was particularly welcomed by leaders new in role where this provided a structured induction process to accelerate and support development.

The coaching process

• Where sponsors were involved in the tri-partite contracting process, this was highly valued and often provided additional insights, confirming the benefits of internal sponsorship.
• Line managers demonstrated varied levels of commitment in supporting talent development across the NHS system, indicating an opportunity to further engage and involve all senior leaders.
• Coachees demonstrated a real interest and passion in some cases, for improving and developing their leadership skills in ever dynamic environments in order to make a difference to service delivery.
• Coaching provided the “glue” for integrating and making sense of other parallel developmental initiatives, e.g. the aspiring directors development programme in an individual and highly customised manner.
• Those leaders receiving coaching welcomed the challenge, support and stretch experienced and valued the external nature of the coach relationship, feeling free in some cases to express professional vulnerability and to work on addressing this.
• The coaching relationship provided a safe, confidential reflective container for time to think and plan.
• The external position of the coach and their cross-sector experience in many cases provided an opportunity to benchmark best practice in the leadership service chain, illustrating openness to new, alternative ways of operating.
• Leaders experienced a significant challenge in effectively managing their time and capacity, finding ways to adopt a more pro-active means of identifying and focusing on key priorities.
• Scheduling time in the diary was challenging due to what was reported as a “meeting culture” in many organisations.
• Many of the coachees were experiencing high levels of stress and some were working on gaining a greater balance in work and life through the coaching engagement.
• The coaches noted the high levels of commitment to the NHS and the strong sense of overall purpose the leaders expressed in their roles, reflecting motivations based on values.
• The coaching provided an opportunity to voice frustrations around the challenges experienced in the delivering key objectives and searching for new ways of working in order to achieve performance targets.

Further opportunities

The coaches identified further opportunities for leadership development:

• The further development of social and emotional intelligence among highly qualified technical experts in their field to improve leadership and the engagement of others through change and transition.
• Further cross silo knowledge share and collaboration across both the business functional areas and also the many different professions operating within the health service.
• Support in letting go of a more operational orientation encouraged by the complex and dynamic nature of the environment and external regulatory setting, and engagement in a more strategic focus across the organisation commensurate with leadership at this level.
• The importance of raising the profile for the individual and organisation across the wider, integrated regional and national health economy through stakeholder identification and the development of strategic influencing skills.
• The investment in the development of political astuteness and “savvy” to operate most effectively in highly complex environments.
• Further development of tools and techniques to develop the leadership capability and capacity for leading change and transition.
• Developing and sustaining the personal qualities involving the building of confidence, self-belief, resilience and tactics to work effectively and lead others in dynamic, uncertain and increasingly turbulent environments (managing the emergence of “impostor syndrome” under stress).
• A coaching and mentoring culture where senior leaders are role models for style and behaviours is likely to drive complex cultural change across the region to empower and engage staff at all levels.

The overlap with key areas on the NHS Leadership Qualities Framework: Institute for Innovation and Improvement is noted.

This process reflects best practice in collaborating with partners working across the system in order to better inform future decision making around leadership development in the East Midlands region and the wider NHS.

A second year of funded coaching for leaders has been provided through the East Midlands Leadership Academy and will further inform organisational learning at this pivotal time of NHS transformation.

Christine Champion is an executive coach and supervisor at Cedar Talent Management