COACHING IN TIMES OF CRISIS AND TRANSFORMATION
The COVID-19 is an unprecedented, global scale crisis that may be the greatest global public health crisis in history. As a movement, we know that the most vulnerable and deprived-are currently and will be impacted for months and years to come. In our globalised world, crises in more advanced economies can have wide-reaching repercussions further afield and as the global community moves into the next phase of response, questions of access and of capacity are being considered as part of our long-term strategies. As staff, leaders and partners navigate the rapidly changing landscape there is a critical need to focus on how we can leverage the specialist experience and skills that we already have across the movement and wider sector, so that we can respond with scale, quality and voice to the needs of millions of children and families caught up in in this crisis and others.
Coaching and mentoring are processes that support both individuals and teams to achieve their full potential and achieve transformational change. This has never been needed more than in our fast-paced environment, which is typified by uncertainty, disruption and competing demands.
DEVELOPING COACHING AND MENTORING AS AN ENABLER OF CHANGE IS ONE WAY OF COUNTERING THE CURRENT PACE OF CHANGE – NOT JUST THROUGH OUR WORK BUT ACROSS THE WHOLE SPECTRUM OF OUR LIVES.
Over the last ten years, we have seen coaching and mentoring become vital capacity-strengthening tools that have enabled individuals and teams to achieve their full potential and further develop their resilience. Our vision is to build on the success of our existing coaching and mentoring programmes and to work in collaboration with key stakeholders across the movement and sector to implement a wider integrated coaching and mentoring system as part of our broader learning offer, that can provide focussed support and achieve greater impact and scale as part of our response to this crisis and beyond.
By acting as a catalyst and by capitalising on our existing initiatives, we believe an integrated sector-wide coaching and mentoring system can transform working practices, enhance our internal and external learning offers and better utilise our people resources more effectively. By continuing to develop the core skills of coaching and mentoring, we can create a culture that supports the Movement and wider sector to deliver on its priorities and provide opportunities for support and the reframing of mindsets during periods of stress, fear and uncertainty such as we are seeing now with Covid-19; Through leveraging our pool of mentors and coaches, we are looking to provide the movement with fundamental resources that have the skills, experience and behaviours to act in an advisory and support capacity for individuals and groups as part of our wider response.
There is no intention to impose a uniform model. Instead, we are working in collaboration to align and develop good practice coaching and mentoring methodologies and resources. Strong capacity, locally generated and sustained, is essential to the success of the system. To achieve our ambition, we need to embrace and respond to the diversity of the Movement and wider sector, be innovative in our thinking, agile in our approach and responsive to changing demands and feedback.
The idea that we are all increasingly required to operate in VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) times seems to be widely accepted. However, it is often the safety of a reflective coaching space where individuals can review multiple perspectives and explore different options. Good coaching and mentoring provide a space for this reflection in which individuals or teams are encouraged to explore different angles that allow them to come to their own conclusions and develop their own solutions. Great coaching and mentoring go one step further and facilitates the power of transformative decision-making, as our coaches and mentors embolden resilience to change and encourage leadership and self-reliance rather than a reliance on a system of hierarchy.
Coaching and mentoring encourage innovative solutions to today’s problems. The relationship with a trusted, experienced coach and or mentor who both challenges and encourages can be a critical one that has been shown to be extremely effective in keeping people healthy and motivated in their work.
Research from Grant Thornton (“The surprising value to coaching in a crisis”) has shown that coaching is adding real value by providing leaders with time to think during this period of global disruption Senior leaders respond to the survey that the value they are getting from coaching now is 24% higher than pre-COVID. Research goes on to show that coaching and mentoring proactively supports developing the resilience of individuals through adopting a spirit of curiosity, space to think and deep presence. Creating a culture that encourages a coaching stance enables us to not only survive in a VUCA world but to ride the wave and turn it into an opportunity to innovate and leverage the talents of the people within. In that sense, coaching and mentoring is a perfect fit for a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world.
COACHING AND MENTORING ARE PROCESSES THAT SUPPORT BOTH INDIVIDUALS AND TEAMS TO ACHIEVE THEIR FULL POTENTIAL AND ACHIEVE TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE. THIS HAS NEVER BEEN NEEDED MORE THAN IN OUR FAST-PACED ENVIRONMENT WHICH IS TYPIFIED BY UNCERTAINTY, DISRUPTION AND COMPETING DEMANDS.
Constant change and unpredictability are a natural manifestation of the working environment and in this unstable VUCA world, providing a sense of control and stability can help prepare people for uncertainty. This document sets out how our vision of accelerating and increasing access to coaching and mentoring in times of crisis and transformation will support people to enhance self-awareness, develop resilience and work on their most important development areas. As leaders, managers and teams are expected to move away from more transactional, hierarchical relationships and exchanges, coaching and mentoring can offer opportunities to encourage innovation, ideation, and support cross team and intra-team building which are being highlighted as essential as we see the need for more agile and remote working practices.
COACHING AND MENTORING ARE PROCESSES THAT SUPPORT BOTH INDIVIDUALS AND TEAMS TO ACHIEVE THEIR FULL POTENTIAL AND ACHIEVE TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE. THIS HAS NEVER BEEN NEEDED MORE THAN IN OUR FAST-PACED ENVIRONMENT WHICH IS TYPIFIED BY UNCERTAINTY, DISRUPTION AND COMPETING DEMANDS.
Constant change and unpredictability are a natural manifestation of the working environment and in this unstable VUCA world, providing a sense of control and stability can help prepare people for uncertainty. This document sets out how our vision of accelerating and increasing access to coaching and mentoring in times of crisis and transformation will support people to enhance self-awareness, develop resilience and work on their most important development areas. As leaders, managers and teams are expected to move away from more transactional, hierarchical relationships and exchanges, coaching and mentoring can offer opportunities to encourage innovation, ideation, and support cross team and intra-team building which are being highlighted as essential as we see the need for more agile and remote working practices.
COACHING AND MENTORING ARE PROCESSES THAT SUPPORT BOTH INDIVIDUALS AND TEAMS TO ACHIEVE THEIR FULL POTENTIAL AND ACHIEVE TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE. THIS HAS NEVER BEEN NEEDED MORE THAN IN OUR FAST-PACED ENVIRONMENT WHICH IS TYPIFIED BY UNCERTAINTY, DISRUPTION AND COMPETING DEMANDS.
Constant change and unpredictability are a natural manifestation of the working environment and in this unstable VUCA world, providing a sense of control and stability can help prepare people for uncertainty. This document sets out how our vision of accelerating and increasing access to coaching and mentoring in times of crisis and transformation will support people to enhance self-awareness, develop resilience and work on their most important development areas. As leaders, managers and teams are expected to move away from more transactional, hierarchical relationships and exchanges, coaching and mentoring can offer opportunities to encourage innovation, ideation, and support cross team and intra-team building which are being highlighted as essential as we see the need for more agile and remote working practices.