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Finding Workplace Coaching Jobs In Corporate Environments

Page Summary

Workplace coaching can be one of the most interesting and profitable niches to explore. This article covers the various ways your services can be engaged and paid for and some valuable tips for success.

Quick Links

1. Is Workplace Coaching for you?
2. The employer hires and pays
3. The employee engages the coach

4. Leadership coaching for executives
5. Using a corporate coaching service

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Is Workplace Coaching For You?

Sometimes called Organisational, Corporate, Employee, Leadership or Executive Coaching, you can be engaged within a business or corporation in many ways. You might be employed internally or on contract and called upon to coach a team, support an executive in a new position or facing redundancy or other issues.

To work credibly and effectively with managers and other employees within the corporate or business environment, you need to understand the culture and preferably have either worked at executive level or be extremely familiar with it.

If you are a bit light on experience in this area, then taking an accredited course on executive life coaching is recommended.

However, despite the common expectation that in workplace coaching all issues may be work related, they can and usually will, tip over into personal issues that could be affecting the coachees performance.

You will come across things such as lack of confidence, poor communication skills and relationship challenges with colleagues. This is where your life coach training will prove invaluable. You have to be prepared, even in a business or corporate situation to handle emotions and even tears.

Now let's look at the various ways you might be engaged in workplace coaching.

The Employer Directly Pays For The Workplace Coaching

This option applies when a company has either instigated a coaching program as part of a HR initiative or agreed to pay for an individual staff member to receive coaching.

Young female employee receiving workplace coaching

You may be contracted or even be put on the company payroll with the brief to coach for improved employee performance.

In most corporate and business situations there are two relationships. The relationship between the coach and the employee and the coach and the company paying the bill.

The department head may identify the issues to be addressed and may suggest possible goals and outcomes. You may even be asked to work with the department head him or herself to develop leadership coaching skills.

Being familiar with and/or accredited in a personality or psychological profiling system such as Disc, Myers-Briggs - or one of the many other excellent profiling systems available, is also an advantage for the workplace coach. And if you become accredited and/or an affiliate to such a program provide your with an extra source or income.

When the employer is paying you need to clarify the reporting requirements

When the employer is paying a careful system of reporting needs to be in place that protects the confidentiality and trust of the employee client, while satisfying the needs of the employer to know how things are going.

The context of this needs to be set up before the coaching series begins so all parties have the same expectations.

For instance, clarify if you will be expected to report back to the client's superior after each session. To what extent will you be asked to reveal the content of the sessions? How much control will the client have in this? These are important privacy issues for the person you are working with as if the coaching is to be a succes as well as integrity issues for you.

In an ideal situation a company may agree to pay for a series of sessions for one of its executives or key team members without extensive reporting and only look to results to see the benefits of employee coaching.

Everyone Can Win - Responding to conflict constructively; Faire and Cornelius

Everyone Can Win by Helen Cornelius and Shoshana Faire

I've often used the wisdom in this book and recommended it to executive and small business coaches as a useful tool for workplace coaching. Shoshana and Helen identify those skills you need to help clients develop the tools to elegantly handle conflict and improve negotiation skills.

They demonstrate techniques for transforming conflict into a positive outcome for all those involved. The fundamentals of resolving conflict can be adapted to any situation your client may present, even family and relationship issues.

The Employee Engages The Workplace Coach Privately

An executive, manager or employee may decide there are issues where coaching would be of benefit and engage you at his or her own expense, with no company involved.

The issues to be addressed are usually similar to general Life Coaching but are probably relevant to the client's work situation.

The company may agree to pay for the coaching but the relationship is directly between the coachee and the coach and no reporting may be required except from the client to the company.

Sessions may take in such issues as:

relationships with superiors and other members of staff.
asking for a raise or transfer.
dealing with redundancy.
researching a possible job or career change.

And again you'll find personal issues will also creep in😀

Using A Provider of Workplace Coaching Services

There are executive coaching services that specialise in building a stable of coaches and referringthem to large businesses and organisations who do not want to employ coaches directly. If you meet their employment criteria, you can apply to be be listed as a preferred or associate member with them and featured on their website.

Learn more about how providers of coaching services work for both life and executive coaches and some of the things to check out before registering with one. Check the link of related articles at the bottom of this page.

Training Managers And Executives In Leadership Coaching

Some larger companies put their team leaders and executives through a leadership coaching training course so they can learn leadership coaching skills to use with their teams.

So if you have management experience, investing in an accredited leadership training would give you credibility for training managers and executives in coaching skills. Your background plus leadership training certification would give you an edge in gaining employment or being contracted for this work.

You may also find the link to Team Coaching Skills at the end of this article useful.

Extra help to grow your coaching skills and promoting yourself

I have written a wide range of informative books (all from my own 25+ years experience) that will help you to authentically attract new quality clients, increase your coaching skills and promote your coaching services.