1. www.trainingjournal.com January 2009 TJ 65
COACHING
Introducing a
coaching culture
Janine Waldman explains how to introduce coaching as an everyday
management tool and outlines a framework for a solutions-focused approach
I
magine a manager who
takes every opportunity
to praise what’s going well
and always recognises
and appreciates the
contribution that each
individual makes. Any time
a member of his team is in
difficulty or feels ready for a
new challenge, he is promptly
available for a supportive and
inspiring coaching conversation
that enables the team member
to take useful action. What
impact would this have on the
performance of individual team
members, the team and the
organisation?
It’s easy to see why adding
coaching skills to managers’
repertoires is an attractive
proposition, particularly in these
challenging times.
By equipping managers with
the knowledge, skills, attitude
and confidence to coach others
effectively – and encouraging
the use of coaching as a key
management tool – organisations
can help individuals enhance
their effectiveness and learn
faster by sharing knowledge and
experience. This, in turn, enables
the organisation to achieve high
performance and to engage and
retain its valuable people.
the idea of coaching because it
recognises that managers need a
flexibility of style and approach to
bring out the best in their people.
Coaching is a very effective
developmental intervention,
as it can improve a person’s
performance exponentially.
However, using the ongoing
services of an external coach can
be expensive; that’s why cascading
the approach internally offers good
value for money.
By adopting a coaching style
– and incorporating coaching
The demand for coaching
Most people are familiar with the
concept of coaching. Once used for
remedial reasons (and bracketed
with other services such as
counselling or therapy), coaching
has come of age, by focusing
on improving performance and
results.
Today, coaching is often
regarded as a badge of honour. Just
as no self-respecting athlete would
be without their high performance
coach, the business community
has grown to accept and sanction

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COACHING
conversations – a manager can
get the best out of individuals
in his team. This may mean
helping people with issues such
as performance management,
time management, delegation or
project planning. It may also mean
helping someone to overcome
a problem at work, settle into a
new role or reach the standards
demanded by a particular task or
project.
Positioning the
coaching culture
Some managers may feel they have
enough to do without being asked
to coach their teams. It is therefore
important that the organisation
sends out the right message. By
offering coaching, the organisation
is really saying that it believes its
managers have ability and it wants
to develop them further and give
them extra skills.
It should be explained to
managers that using coaching
techniques is in their best
interests. Managers will always
want their teams to perform
well and they’ll use a range of
methods to encourage, help
or force people to get results
– because if the team does well,
the manager gains a degree of
kudos. Also, if the team takes
on more responsibility, this frees
up the manager to move from
the operational to the strategic,
which is beneficial for them and
for the organisation.
So, the manager has a stake in
the coaching process and in the
outcome. This is different to an
external coach, who may have a
desire for their client to do well,
particularly in terms of self-
development, but whose future
does not hang on the results.
Coaching involves an important
change for many managers, some
of whom believe that strong
leadership is about developing
their people as followers. In fact,
a good manager is someone who
can develop his people as leaders
– individuals with knowledge,
skills, drive and confidence. Using
coaching conversations is a good
way for them to create leadership
attributes in their people.
It is important to be clear that
you are not expecting managers
to become professional coaches.
Essentially, you are just providing
them with another weapon in
their armoury. If they see the value
in drawing out the abilities and
skills of others, they should be
motivated to learn.
Selecting an approach
A wide range of coaching
approaches and models are
available. It’s worthwhile spending
some time trying to identify
exactly what you want from
coaching and then reviewing the
market to see what’s out there.
Some organisations start
with an issue or an identified
business need that they would
like to resolve using coaching.
This may have been prompted
by an employee survey; it may
stem from a change in pace or
size, prompted by rapid growth
or downsizing; there may be a
demand for better performance
management conversations. If
there is a desire for something
to be different – and a desire
to do something about it – that
could be a good place to begin.
Whatever the starting point, the
organisation will benefit from
having an internal champion who
supports the cause.
Solutions-focused coaching
Coaching is essentially about
having better conversations. One
approach that may be worth
considering is solutions-focused
coaching – an empowering
approach that stimulates
positive energy, enthusiasm and
cooperation.
While some conventional styles
of coaching involve an analysis
of ‘the problem’, the solutions-
focused approach sidesteps the
causes of trouble and heads
straight for the solution. The
guiding principles involve helping
a client envisage his desired future
and move swiftly towards it, by
identifying what is working and
using this to engender more of
what’s wanted.
The solutions-focused
philosophy has its roots in 1970s
family therapy in the United
States, when leading-edge
therapists realised that you don’t
have to analyse a person’s problems
in order to help him improve
his life. Using this fundamental
insight, the therapists asked
individuals to describe their
preferred future and helped them
take steps towards it.
The solutions-focused
methodology is now an
internationally-recognised
approach that has been firmly
embedded in organisations
worldwide. As well as being used
in coaching, it has been applied to
complex people-related problems
such as managing change, making
quality/service improvements,

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COACHING
for solutions. Ideally, the manager
wants to find out when the
‘solution’ happens already. He
should keep the conversation
focused on what works, looking
for opportunities to give and share
credit and to find out what the
coachee wants now.
While any progress is welcome,
the challenge for the manager
is to make actions personal and
context-specific for the coachee.
The OSKAR framework is
straightforward and action-
orientated. It can be applied in a
five-minute conversation to help
someone, who is stuck, make
progress. Because it builds on
strengths, people become more
aware of what they’re good at
and they do more of those things.
Managers can use it to signpost to
people what they are doing well, so
they start to do more of that.
When people are encouraged
to play to their strengths, it can
make a big difference. They grow
in confidence and ability, and they
become more optimistic and more
comfortable about change because
they feel equipped to deal with it.
Because it’s a positive approach,
OSKAR is particularly relevant in
challenging times, when employees
can be ensnared by negativity.
By focusing on solutions, not
problems, the approach encourages
people to pay attention to what
can be achieved and gives them
something to work towards,
enabling them to put their skills
and resources to good use. They
take small steps, make progress,
review their actions and start the
process again.
Once managers experience
OSKAR, they often find that they
can use solutions-focused tools
outside of coaching, for example
in project management, appraisals,
running meetings and having
difficult conversations.
Training in this approach
To implement this framework –
or any other coaching approach –
trainers should start by outlining
coachee has a clear sense of what
he wants to do, the main purpose
of the coaching session has been
achieved. Subsequent interest
will be in what is better and what
progress has been made.
Scaling involves the coachee
considering where he would
currently sit on a scale of nought
to ten, with ten representing the
perfect scenario and nought the
worst it has ever been. The point
chosen on the scale will admittedly
be subjective but the idea here is
simply to implant the possibility of
progress in the coachee’s mind.
The manager should be aiming
to draw out the know-how of
the person being coached. The
coaching conversation will involve
asking the coachee how he thinks
he is doing and what he has
done so far that has got him to
where he is. The manager should
not be excluded from expressing
an opinion here: managers are
likely to have relevant expertise
and they will want to share their
own know-how. However, one
of the key skills they must learn
is to appreciate when and how
to use their expert knowledge.
They should aim to share their
expertise in a coaching style,
not by ‘telling’, giving advice or
providing answers. They’ll also
need patience as they won’t be
able to solve everything with a
single conversation each time.
Managers and staff usually
enjoy following the OSKAR
framework because, rather than
delving into unpleasant problems,
they concentrate on the search
A good manager is
someone who can
develop his people as
leaders – individuals with
knowledge, skills, drive
and confidence
integrating acquisitions/mergers
and transforming corporate
culture.
OSKAR framework
For solutions-focused coaching,
a specific framework has been
developed by Jackson and
McKergow1
, which provides a
series of steps for structuring a
coaching conversation and for
finding a way forward.
The OSKAR framework can be
used in face-to-face and telephone
coaching. OSKAR is an acronym
for Outcome, Scaling, Know-
how, Affirm and Review (see ‘The
OSKAR framework’ on p68).
Establishing the outcome sets
the direction. If the coachee is
clear about where he wants to go,
he is in a position to appreciate
how far he might already have
come and recognise what a step
forward might look like. At this
stage, the manager should ask
questions to create a sense of
possibility and capability. Once the

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COACHING
The OSKAR framework
Managers can use the following questions in the various stages
of the OSKAR framework:
OUTCOME
What is the objective of this coaching?
What do you want to achieve today?
What do you want to achieve in the long term?
How will you know this coaching has been of use to you?
How would you know tomorrow that you have achieved your
objective?
SCALING
On a scale of nought to ten, with ten representing the perfect
scenario and nought the worst it has ever been, where are you
on that scale today?
What did you do to get this far?
How would you know if you moved higher up the scale?
KNOW-HOW AND RESOURCES
What helps you perform at your current level on the scale,
rather than nought?
When does the outcome already happen for you, even a little
bit?
What did you do to make that happen?
How did you do it?
What did you do differently?
What would other people say you are doing well?
How have others achieved this?
AFFIRM AND ACTION
What’s already going well?
What is the next small step?
What would you like to do personally, straight away?
What actions do you need to take to move higher up your scale?
REVIEW
What is better?
What did you do that made the change happen?
How did you do that?
What effects have the changes had?
What do you think will change next?
What are the next steps?

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COACHING
the organisation’s commitment to
coaching, the compelling reasons
why the training is needed and
the benefits that managers stand
to gain from learning coaching
skills.
A combination of workshops
and follow-up sessions, coaching
practice and coaching support
can then be put in place. As part
of the workshop, explain the
value of coaching and highlight
when to coach and when not to.
Emphasise that these are simply
additional skills that will help
your managers and their teams
be more effective. Highlight that
the organisation is committed
to supporting this initiative and
stress that there will be sufficient
coaching expertise available for
every cohort group.
Keep it practical. Allow the
managers to practise coaching on
one or two of their direct reports
and give them their own external
coach, so they can experience
expert coaching in action. By
trying it out, getting feedback,
sharing experiences and receiving
coaching, the managers will
learn in three different ways: by
coaching others, by being coached
themselves and through group
discussions.
Consider starting with the top
team, with future leaders or with
an area of the business that is
keen to try this approach. Cascade
out from your starting point
and allow stories of the positive
impact to spread throughout
the organisation. If it is feasible
– depending upon the size of the
organisation – consider training all
managers at once, as this will have
a significant impact.
A coaching culture has to be
embedded and owned by the
organisation. So, while you may
or may not bring in an expert to
help design the workshops and
provide coaching support, you
have to establish the process so
that it can survive and thrive on
its own merits and become a living
approach. It is important that
Janine Waldman is a director of training and
coaching provider The Solutions Focus. She
can be contacted on +44 (0)1727 840340 or
via www.TheSolutionsFocus.co.uk
coaching is not seen as a fad – try
to get people excited and maintain
momentum by publicising your
success stories.
Evaluation
At the outset, it is worth
considering what you want to
achieve and how you’ll know if you
have achieved a coaching culture.
Success should be evident in
enhanced employee engagement,
greater staff retention, more
internal promotions, improved
communications and increased
evidence of managers working
more strategically. It should also
show up in the performance
management process, if those who
have been coached have achieved
their objectives.
So, it should be obvious whether
coaching is working. Are people
doing it? Is it alive? Are managers
having coaching conversations? Is
it part of what you do? Are people
growing in their roles? Are you
seeing internal promotions? Are
you hearing the language?
If you plan to introduce a
coaching culture, be aware that
you’re inviting people to grow,
you’re calling for their ideas, and
you’re asking people to step up.
You have to then be committed to
giving them the space in which to
try things out.
By mastering the skills of
coaching, your managers will be
making a significant contribution
because large numbers of people
who understand their strengths
and who take positive action can
drive any organisation to achieve
its goals. 
References
1 Jackson P Z, McKergow M The Solutions
Focus: Making Coaching & Change Simple
Nicholas Brealey International 2002