Research Paper Assessment Name: Shakti Ghosal Date: 8th June 2012 Student ID: CPCP Program Email:

Shakti.ghosal@gmail.com

Complete your 2000 word research paper and insert it in the space below. Then email this document as an attachment to assessment@icoachacademy.com

Efficacy of Coaching concepts in a non-coaching organisational environment - An empirical study

International Coach Academy- Certified Professional Coach Program, Research Report

Student Name: Shakti Ghosal

8th June 2012

No. of words: approximately 2000

Table of Contents
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Section1- Introduction 4 Section 2 - Study Objective and Research Questions.. 5 Section 3- Methodology 6 Section 4 - Study findings and Results.. 8 Section 5Conclusion. 12 Section 6 Recommendation 14 Section 7- Study limitations.. 14 Bibliography and References 16 Annexure I- Workshop Details and Sequencing.. 17 Annexure II- Survey Questionnaire. 19

International Coach Academy, CPCP Research report By Shakti Ghosal, student

June2012

Section 1 : Introduction 3

Organizations are increasingly finding that traditional "command and control Management style is no longer effective in todays post industrial, knowledge based environment (Hirschhorn, 1990) signifying increasing complexity, flatter organisation structures, networked information flows and just in time development ( Peter Webb, 2006). The requirements are individual empowerment, creativity and performance coupled with rapid response and resilience.

It is largely accepted that Coaching intervention improves employee and organizational resiliency and effectiveness, especially during rapid environmental changes.One of the well known studies reported in The Manchester Review concludes that the Organisational return on investment (ROI) is 5.7 times the initial investment in coaching (Joy McGovern, Michael Lindemann et al, 2001)

However there are certain aspects which detract from a widespread use of Coaching.

1. Organisations often approach a coaching intervention to fix weakness, because weakness can result in risk and cost. Yet the agenda of the coaching client

International Coach Academy, CPCP Research report By Shakti Ghosal, student

June2012

(deputed employee) is more concerned with how he can develop and play on his 4

strengths. This can become a difficult dynamic for perceived effectiveness and acceptance of Coaching within the organisation. ( Steven Axelrod, 2006)

2. Organisations may also lack access and availability of accredited and effective Coach resource specific to the needs of its business and environment.(CIPD Survey, UK, 2009)

3. While coaching concept is well understood in developed economies, this is not true in the developing world. Ironically, it is this latter space which today faces significant business challenges and is possibly in need of urgent coaching intervention. Unfortunately Managements lack understanding of what coaching signifies and its delivery potential. This problem is further exacerbated by lack of availability of experienced executive coaches in sufficient numbers.

Section 2 : Study Objective and Research Questions This study is based on the Hypothesis that use of coaching skills and tools outside a formal coaching process can be beneficial on a wide scale and in a cost effective manner.

International Coach Academy, CPCP Research report By Shakti Ghosal, student

June2012

The study proposes the following research: 5

(a) Determine effectiveness of Coaching concepts and tools in Organisations when the concerned participants are not involved in a formal coaching process. (b) Explore the extent to which use of coaching methodology can catalyse fresh perspective to allow personnel to upgrade their own competencies and organisational effectiveness.

Section 3 : Methodology The study is based on the following: 1. Workshop Series: The author is part of the Senior Management team of his organisation, Saud Bahwan Group (SBG) based in the Gulf region He has conducted a set of three workshops themed, Management perspective shift for our times -a Workshop for self discovery.

The participant target group was Mid level Managers and Supervisors of diverse educational, work and nationality backgrounds from within the group. A total of 87 participants were spread over three sessions. The stated objective was to catalyse fresh thinking and perspective with relation to how Managers and supervisors perceive and utilise their own competencies. Are

International Coach Academy, CPCP Research report By Shakti Ghosal, student

June2012

their learnt and re-enforced behaviours and responses producing optimal results in todays fast changing environment? There was no mention of the use of Coaching process or concepts.

Workshop details and sequencing is given at Annexure-1

Participant feedback was collated through observations during the workshops as well as post workshop (after a period of one month) face to face sessions to ascertain the extent of perspective shifts and take-aways from the earlier workshop.

Since no formal exposure to the Coaching process was available to the participants, their feedback was without any preconceived bias and solely on their own experience and perception of the various competencies and skills showcased in the Workshop as also their implementation subsequently.

2.

Management Survey: This was using a structured questionnaire (Annexure- 2).The scope of survey was senior management personnel in business associate and client organisations based in Oman, U.A.E., India, United Kingdom and Germany and known to the author. For locally available participants, survey was conducted through face to face sessions. A total of 26 questionnaires were implemented.

International Coach Academy, CPCP Research report By Shakti Ghosal, student

June 2012

Here also, any mention of Coaching process and methods was avoided. The survey urged the participants to base their feedback on past experience alone with no opportunity to specifically try out any of the competencies indicated.

Section 4 : Study findings and Results

The study has attempted to assess the perceived efficacy of identified skills and tools closely aligned to ICF Core Competencies in a non-coaching environment. (http://www.coachfederation.org/icfcredentials/core-competencies/) The following is the summary of key findings. 1. Participants and surveyed individuals accepted the importance and effectiveness of the following skills.

Skill Set

Score (%)

(a) Planning & Goal setting (b) Managing progress through accountability (c) Creating trust and connection (d) Enquiring and Learning attitude (e) Acknowledging inner qualities& achievements (f) Empathetic and intuitive listening

93 93 87 84 77 64

International Coach Academy, CPCP Research report By Shakti Ghosal, student

June 2012

However majority of the respondents gave significantly lower weightage to the remaining skills viz.

(g) Creating awareness (h) Asking powerful / inspiring questions (i) Holding other persons agenda in designing actions

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Predictably, there existed unanimity about the high importance in areas of planning, goal setting, and managing accountability-(a & b).These are considered as straightforward and critical management competencies with high confidence towards implementing. Further there appeared no measurable improvement arising from the workshops.

Regarding Creating trust and connection and Enquiring and learning attitude (skill sets c & d), there existed high level of perceived importance amongst participants and respondents. Interestingly, there seemed to be confused thinking about their implementability. While the Workshop significantly improved clarity, subsequent feedback sessions indicated low success rate of adoption. Reasons given were a non-supportive organisational culture, inter-personal issues, excessive fire-fighting and difficulty in changing leadership styles. Our study indicates that many Managers perceive it easier to use their organisational power to push through their agenda (short term results) rather than invest in building trust, connections for long term leverage.
International Coach Academy, CPCP Research report By Shakti Ghosal, student

June2012

Acknowledgement (e): There was marked improvement in its understanding due to the workshop. Post workshop feedback sessions also indicated better appreciation of this skill. More than 50% participants indicated that they have consciously implemented this in their day to day interactions and have observed benefits. Also there was clear difference in the scores between the workshop participants (who had developed better awareness of this perspective) and the survey respondents. Another interesting result was that acknowledging the intrinsic qualities seemed to have a significantly positive impact on Managers/ Supervisors as compared to more junior staff. Also it seemed to work better with immediate subordinates in the reporting hierarchy than with staff who were below by multiple layers.

Empathetic and Intuitive listening (f): While majority of respondents appreciated its importance, post workshop feedback and the questionnaire survey results showed divergence in views. The workshop clearly created an awareness of this skill. Most participants took this new perspective into their work area and reported significantly positive results in terms of staff motivation and Ownership & risk taking attitude. However perspective of the questionnaire respondents (who did not have the benefit of workshop inputs) had a much lower score. This in fact pulled down the overall weighted average score above.

International Coach Academy, CPCP Research report By Shakti Ghosal, student

June2012

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Creating Awareness (g): The perceived importance of this competence was low on overall basis. While workshop participants attached higher importance during the session, interestingly the score came down appreciably in the post session feedback. Further the interview respondents also attached low scores. Reason appears to be a tendency of Managers and Supervisors to hold onto their power base, restrict information on need to know basis. Somehow the need to create awareness as a way to empower subordinates holds low priority.

Asking Powerful / Inspiring questions (h): Significantly, there continued to be low appreciation for this even after the workshop. Predominant perception of this competence was as esoteric and theoretical, more suitable for psychological intervention but with little usefulness in Organisations. It is felt that Goals and action plans work best when they follow a top-down approach and vetted by Management. Strategy and tactical actions need a uni-directional and time specific focus with very little room for opening up of issues based on questioning. In spite of workshop inputs, there appeared very little attempt to change ones style from giving decisions and judgments on issues to that of asking questions.

Holding other persons agenda in designing actions (i): Most participants failed to see how this competence could be implemented. The argument was that the

International Coach Academy, CPCP Research report By Shakti Ghosal, student

June2012

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Organisational objectives and systems would allow only certain limited ways to implement requisite actions. While there was the realisation that individual empowerment might necessitate certain flexibilities in allowing individual agenda, most respondents felt it would be impractical to hold and support such agendas, especially if they are significantly removed from accepted processes.

On an overall basis, it is found that discussion and support in use of Coaching methodology and concepts does enhance thinking and improved perception of several competencies. Especially there occurs better awareness of the EQ related skill set. There exists a clear difference in the feedback/scores of the workshop participants and the questionnaire respondents. It can be postulated that systematic and periodic exposure would lead to improved thinking and performance.

Section 5 : Conclusion The study hypothesis that Coaching competencies can be beneficial in non-coaching environment if supported through periodic training, stands validated to a large extent. Use of in-house resources makes this initiative costeffective. Following are the conclusions: 1. Many of the coaching core competencies are amenable for use in non-coaching environment. (a) Planning & Goal setting (b) Managing progress through accountability

International Coach Academy, CPCP Research report By Shakti Ghosal, student

June2012

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(c) Creating trust and connection (d) Enquiring and Learning attitude (e) Acknowledging inner qualities & achievements (f) Empathetic and intuitive listening

Workshop and training interventions improve the awareness and applicability of some competencies viz. acknowledging and powerful listening.

In case of competencies like Creating trust / connection and learning attitude, it is possible to build up awareness and perceived importance through workshops and training. However, serious blocks exist in their application within organisations due to diverse reasons. It is however felt that with sustained support, application and improved performance thereof can be achieved.

Over-arching competencies in areas of Planning, Goal setting and Managing through accountability align with managerial perceptions and enjoy the highest level of perceived importance. They are thus less amenable for further improvement through Workshops.

Three of the ICF Competencies seem to attract low scores in non- coaching environment. These are Creating awareness, Powerful questioning and Holding the other persons agenda. Possible reasons are in the findings above.

International Coach Academy, CPCP Research report By Shakti Ghosal, student

June2012

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Section 6: Recommendation Organisations need to support leadership development through synergising personal attributes and business effectiveness. This can be achieved by improving awareness and efficacy of several Coaching competencies, specially the EQ related skill sets, through Workshops and allied training. Such an initiative has the potential to yield positive results in day to day non-coaching situations towards better performance.

Section 7: Study limitations As indicated above the study is limited to a small sample size. Further, the workshop participants were from a single corporate group and this could skew the results depending on influencers like organisational culture, leadership perspective and internal systems. Respondents to the questionnaire similarly were selected from known individuals from known organisations from a mix of countries. The basis for selection was solely to elicit a response rather than use of a sampling technique. More importantly, the know each other factor both for the Workshop and external survey could lead to suppression of frank and neutral feedback. All these aspects are liable to introduce a bias and associated error in the findings. The author recommends a more representative study encompassing a larger sample size of individuals from multiple and discrete organisations over larger geographical

International Coach Academy, CPCP Research report By Shakti Ghosal, student

June2012

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territories and markets. Further, the study should allow for a series of workshops (3 to 5) for each of the participants to allow deepening of learning, reflection and greater accountability and ownership.

It would be further worthwhile to undertake a cost-benefit and time line analysis to compare the proposed initiative of implementing coaching competencies within the overall organisational non- coaching environment versus formal coaching intervention for managers on a more selective basis.

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Bibliography and References:

1. Axelrod, Steven (Nov. 2006) The essential core of Executive Coaching. Axelrod Consulting, 2 Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, UK (2009).Performance Management in action. 3. Hirschhorn, L. (1990). The Workplace Within: Psychodynamics of Organizational Life. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 4. McGovern, J., Lindemann, M., Vergara, M., Murphy, S., Barker, L, & Warrenfeltz, R. (2001) Maximizing the impact of executive coaching: Behavioral change, organizational outcomes, and return on investment. The Manchester Review. 5. Webb, Peter, (Feb. 2006). The Impact of Executive Coaching on Leadership Effectiveness. Intentional Training Concepts Pty Ltd.

International Coach Academy, CPCP Research report By Shakti Ghosal, student

June2012

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Annexure I Workshop Details and Sequencing

The author conceptualized the structure to build awareness and move the participants from known Management concepts and competencies, their familiar terrain of strengths and behaviours to a not so familiar zone of alternative competencies and changed behaviour patterns. The workshops further invited the participants to apply these in the workplace.

Sequencing: Start with the following familiar concepts:

1.

Ownership attitude: Participants look into their own past

experience to pull out situations. Share. 2. Objective & Goal Setting. 3. Managing through accountability: Participants look into their own

past experience to pull out situations. Share.

Self Awareness Module: determine (1) Own strengths (2) own values. Explore how these could be matched with (1) Organisational objectives, current responsibilities (2) Organisational values.

International Coach Academy, CPCP Research report By Shakti Ghosal, student

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Finally, make the foregoing workshop concepts and discussions flow into some of the Coaching behaviours proposed as part of the desired Management perspective shift for our times.

1. Creating Trust- Openness, being on the same page, empathy. 2. Powerful listening- facilitative, collaborative, engagement of others in addressing complex issues. 3. Learning attitude- Passion, energy, humility. 4. Inspiring questions-open up thinking about possibilities rather than continue on the tried and beaten path. 5. Acknowledgement- shift from praising visible efforts to acknowledging intrinsic positive qualities and behaviour. 6. Holding other persons agenda: Empower members to take initiative from a position of energy and competence.

A set of exercises, visualisations and role plays are used to encourage participants to Think out of the box, to explore, to visualise, to deliberate on the above issues.

Expected Session take-aways: A better appreciation and willingness to embrace the above attitudinal and behaviour changes

International Coach Academy, CPCP Research report By Shakti Ghosal, student

June2012

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Annexure II Survey Questionnaire

Dear Respondent,

I have undertaken a research to determine the competencies and skill set that are needed to navigate todays fast changing corporate environment which increasingly require individual empowerment, creativity and performance coupled with rapid response.

As a senior management professional with long years of experience in the business and corporate arena, your thoughts and inputs would add great value to my study. Could I therefore ask you to take a few minutes to reflect and fill this questionnaire?

I highly appreciate your support in the matter.

Yours Sincerely

Shakti Ghosal ***************

International Coach Academy, CPCP Research report By Shakti Ghosal, student

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Sr. No.

Competence Area Strongly Disagree / Not Relevant 1 2

My Rating Strongly Agree / Very Relevant 3 4 5

1 Transparency, genuineness and accessibility -qualities linked to Trust and connection can achieve better results than systems& controls. 2 Changing your approach to listen more with empathy rather than offering advice can empower and improve team performance 3. An enquiry and learning based organisation culture achieves better decision making and goal achievement than an instruction and system based approach. 4. Asking Inspiring Questions is superior than managing by top- down direction & control 5. Acknowledging strengths and achievements achieves better performance than appraising and supporting areas of weakness/ shortfall. 6. Holding the other persons agenda can be a great alternative to objective based advice towards achieving organisational goals.
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Sr. No.

Competence Area Strongly Disagree / Not Relevant 1 2

My Rating Strongly Agree / Very Relevant 3 4 5

7. Creating awareness can influence opinions and motivate behaviour of team members in a better manner than communicating on a need to know basis.

8. A comprehensive planning and goal setting ideas in a decentralised manner to achieve organisational objectives.

9. Managing organisational progress through task accountability achieves better results than a more freedom of choice approach.

Name: Organisation: Date:

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