Organizations who are in the Casual phase of coaching maturity generally do not spend a lot of time thinking about coaching nor do they consider including coaching in developmental programs. These organizations don't usually perceive the need for coaching and consequently may not be aware that coaching can have positive business impacts.

Casual organizations typically offer coaching to deliver basic leadership skills and it is used to focus on specific areas of poor performance. Coaching is typically assigned by the business unit leader or by the HR department. If executives find their own coach, they generally do not advertise the fact. Success is defined if the coachee is happy and the boss feels the situation is improving. Where multiple coaching engagements are taking place at the same time, these assignments are typically tracked in a document or spreadsheet.

Biggest Opportunity: The biggest opportunity is to help the organization successfully reframe coaching as a proactive development tool that delivers business results, helping managers to use coaching strategically and proactively instead of only using it reactively to address negative performance.

Where to start: Education on the value of coaching is the best starting point. Identify tangible business scenarios where there are performance issues that impact efficiency or overall results.

Explain how improved team or leadership performance could impact results. Identify potential champions of coaching within the organization and look for opportunities to trial a coaching engagement. When coaching happens, share information about any positive business impacts.

How CoachSource helps organizations in the Casual phase: CoachSource is often called on as a resource to help organizations learn more about the value of coaching and showcase where it has impacted business performance. Whether it's an individual or a team in need of coaching, CoachSource can implement a cost-effective coaching engagement that can demonstrate tangible results.

Companies that have a coaching function in the Conditional phase might still be a bit ad-hoc and one-off in nature. If others are aware that someone is receiving coaching, it sometimes is seen as negative consequence of poor leadership behavior.

Coaching assignments are typically one-off initiatives where executives who want a coach must find one themselves or to ask HR to locate one, and nobody is necessarily expected to measure results. There may be limited centralized oversight (or none at all). Some standards for coach selection are in place, but not necessarily at all times.

Biggest Opportunity: Organizations in the Conditional stage have the biggest opportunity to recognize the benefits of coaching and consider how it could become a solution to improve performance.

Where to start: Most companies at the Conditional level will need to spend the most effort on resetting the organization's expectations about what coaching is. These organizations will need to overcome internal skepticism that defines coaching as a negative thing.

Education and patience can help reframe coaching as a proactive resource for development. It may help to identify areas in the organization that could benefit from coaching and to encourage those already engaged in coaching to see coaching as an investment in their future, rather than a corrective action.

How CoachSource helps organizations in the Conditional phase: CoachSource is often called on as a resource to help organizations learn more about the value of coaching and showcase where it has impacted business performance. Whether it's an individual or a team in need of coaching, CoachSource can implement a cost-effective coaching engagement that can demonstrate tangible results.

At this stage of development, coaching is generally seen as a positive investment applied to key leaders and selected emerging high potentials. The coaching function in these organizations is often used to enhance a well-supported leadership development program and can sometimes be accompanied with internal coaching as well.

Integration of the coaching with leadership development initiatives often establishes clear criteria and standards for coach selection. Coaches may include professional executive coaches (external) and coaches may also be internal coaches who may work more often with high-potential, lower-level employees.

Because of the many moving parts, companies in the Centralized/Coordinated level will often use some form or software that is designed to track and manage coaching engagements. These organizations typically measure success at the end of the engagement using assessments that collect feedback from multiple stakeholders. Leaders of coaching functions at the Centralized/Coordinated stage meet with their coaching team regularly to share learnings to continuously improve the program.

Biggest Opportunity: Ironically, despite the sophistication of a Centralized/Coordinated coaching function, the biggest opportunity for these companies is to drive coaching down and across the organization. By integrating coaching into every function at every level, organizations can more organically capture the benefits that coaching can provide.

Where to start: Leveraging the power of internal coaches and showcasing the impact these coaches have on their teams and on the culture can help create momentum and drive interest in building a leadership style that engages every employee, at every level.

How CoachSource helps organizations in the Centralized/Coordinated phase: CoachSource has helped many organizations to more efficiently coordinate and manage executive coaching programs. With over 1100 coaches in over 100 countries with a wide range of experience and backgrounds, CoachSource can offer turnkey coaching solutions that make managing the coaching function easier. Also, CoachSource CLOUD™ software gathers critical coaching data, tracking coaching and measuring results.

Organizations that have achieved a Coaching Culture leverage coaching as part of their everyday business practices. As a result, coaching and its benefits are widely known and embraced at every level of the organization. Coaching cultures regularly utilize a wide range of coaching approaches including Team coaching, Group coaching, Peer coaching, and have often hired professional coaches on as staff. While coaching takes place at every level of the organization, Formal coaching programs are managed centrally through a Coaching Center of Excellence (CCoE).

Coaching Cultures, often develop aggregated company-wide coaching dashboards and work to link coaching to business results, using sophisticated return-on-investment measures. Whether working with internal or external professional coaches, coaches are considered strategic partners who are critical to the business and are expected to meet clear quality standards.

How CoachSource helps organizations in the Coaching phase: CoachSource has helped many organizations to more efficiently coordinate and manage executive coaching programs. With over 1100 Coaches in over 100 Countries with a wide range of experience and backgrounds, CoachSource can offer turnkey coaching solutions that make managing the coaching function easier. CoachSource Cloud software gathers critical coaching data, tracking coaching and measuring results.

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