Asda programme mentors mums back to work
By Kate McGuire
Supermarket chain Asda is reaping the rewards of investing in support for new mothers returning to work after maternity leave. Acknowledging the impact of motherhood on identity, Nicki Seignot, creator of Asda’s innovative MumtoMum mentoring programme, said that often “the body comes back but the person inside is different” after maternity.
Keeping talented women on the road to success – including re-shaping the road where necessary – has become a key priority for an organisation with a high number of 25-35 year olds.
MumtoMum matches existing working mothers with those about to go on maternity leave.
Three months before they start their leave, employees are matched with a mentor who has successfully returned to work in the last two years and who is a role model of Asda’s values. During the mentee’s maternity leave, each mentee/mentor pair agrees on how to keep in touch and how often, and continues this for three to six months after the mentee’s return. From an original target of 10 mentoring pairs, 45 mentors are now in place, along with a supervision process that provides a collective space for reflection and the development of effective and ethical practice.
MumtoMum is supported by briefings for line managers and mums-to-be, alongside organic networks such as the Asda Mums club and the Now We’re Back group.
The conference also heard from talent manager Maria Salkeld about how Asda’s learning and development team has reshaped its roster of external executive coaches through a rigorous application and assessment process designed and implemented with Clutterbuck Associates. It attracted more than 250 applications, and re-tendered to attract more male coaches.
The ‘best-in-class’ coaching pool of around 10 coaches, which has provided 51 coaching relationships to date, now clearly shows value for money, inspires the confidence of senior leaders, and ensures coaches fit the fast-paced, sales-driven retail culture.
Coaching and therapy may soon be one discipline, says Jinks
By Kate McGuire
In the future, people will be able to train as integrated coach-therapy practitioners, predicted Debra Jinks, founding chair of the Association of Integrative Coach-Therapists.
She said that in the past, coaching and therapy held themselves as separate disciplines. However, the advent of coaching psychology as a discipline has brought the two sides of the debate much closer, with a growing body of interest in integrating the two for the benefit of clients, said Jinks, who has trained and practised in counselling and coaching.
Jinks said that practitioners tend to start as either coach or therapist and extend their skills and qualifications into the other discipline, whereas she sees a future where people can train as integrated practitioners.
Her session sparked much debate among participants. They discussed existing research which shows commonalities across both disciplines, particularly the importance of the relationship between practitioner and client, as well as underpinning methodologies such as being person-centred and solution-focused. And professional bodies are recognising both camps, for example, through the creation of the Coaching Division of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.
Participants discussed the need for clear contracting with clients to provide clarity about the service being offered, and the importance of a regular review of the contract.
Being able to match approaches and techniques appropriately to the needs of the client to create bespoke interventions was described as a key skill, as was accurately describing the service for informed buying decisions. This prompted a discussion on the impact of organisational issues when working with individuals, the growing need to ‘heal’ organisations, and the difficulties of articulating issues to organisations not ready to hear them.
Santander revamps talent remit
By Ros Soulsby
Santander has transformed its approach to developing talent with a detailed executive assessment framework that makes it easier to demonstrate coaching’s ROI and to provide coaches with clearer remits, said Caroline Curtis, head of executive talent, succession and development at Santander. Its revamped process also makes it easier to recognise less obvious talent, and not just the rising stars, said Curtis.
Santander’s talent management approach is now underpinned by a clear understanding of how each individual develops their talent, which is used to inform coaching practice.
Santander decided it needed to look at what ‘good’ looks like in the organisation, working with a model for tomorrow’s ideal leader. The resulting framework is shared with external providers, and includes business competencies, and personal and leadership behaviours, assessed by talent gridding. As part of the process, line managers interview individuals about their aspirations and complete a questionnaire around personal dimensions such as ‘impact and potential’, assessing how they benchmark against peers in and outside of the company. Most helpful was the input in achievement, performance and comparison against peers, said Curtis.
External coaches are now encouraged to access the last 12 months of reports such as Hogan, OPQ, 360-degree feedback and talent gridding on clients, to determine areas adding or detracting from their abilities. This helps clients fast-track progress, coaches be more targeted, and the company to match managers with coaches for a challenging and complementary style, said Curtis.
Megginson: transformations are ‘golden’
By Kate McGuire
“The magic is in being superbly listened to in a wholehearted, single-minded way. Being held, and really listened to is what’s transformative,” said Professor David Megginson in his keynote speech. Too much focus on process, particularly goal-setting, he suggested, ran the risk of getting in the way of truly transformative coaching.
“Is goal-setting an essential part of good coaching, or a straitjacket that inhibits the living, breathing process of discovery?” he asked. Megginson, who said he gets interested in research topics by examining his own practice for what he doesn’t do, and then asking what’s really going on, is co-editor of a new book, Beyond Goals: Effective Strategies for Coaching and Mentoring, in which a range of authors examine different approaches and attitudes to goal-setting in coaching. Alongside chapters on the limitations of goals, other contributors argue in their favour, suggesting that clarity about goals enables a focus on generating learning and broadening knowledge. Goals can also bring the whole system into the coaching relationship.
Megginson said that in his experience many CEOs are action-orientated, able to turn a wide-ranging reflective conversation into practical outcomes without needing a formal goal-setting structure. Some clients, he said, actively avoided goals, and yet still found coaching profitable and beneficial.
He asked who goals were really serving, and whether clients would be better supported by “de-goaling”. Megginson suggested that orientation to goals changes with the maturity of both coach and client – with reliance on goals lessening as the coach gained in experience. He said that being a witness to other people’s transformations was the “golden moment” of coaching.
Coaching at Work, Volume 8, Issue 5