A few days ago, Andy Murray lifted the All England Tennis Clubs singles championship cup and banked Two Million pounds. Interestingly, his coach Ivan Lendl was with him the last time he won Wimbledon in 2013. They separated in 2014 and only recently got back together again – seems Andy Murray responds well to Lendl’s coaching for the Wimbledon tournament.
My point is that this talented young Scotsman didn’t do it entirely on his own. There is a whole backroom team of fitness coaches, tennis coaches and business coaches who all support and develop the Murray protégé and they don’t just focus on his physical game, they also work on his mind game. His previous female coach Amelie Mauresmo has been attributed with bringing a significant degree of calm into his game. This has enabled him to control his temper and get over issues both on and off court whilst remaining focussed on the job in hand. But, it is Lendl as coach that brings out the overpowering desire to win for Murray.
Coaching is not telling people what to do.
Coaching is about building a relationship based on trust. The coach enables the individual or team to reflect and review goals and priorities and determine what they want to achieve. This creates desire and the coach will help the coachees to understand what the current situation is and to explore what they can do to move towards the desired outcome. Then comes the part where the coachee must make a choice of what they will do and how they will do it. They will discuss how the success can be celebrated and sustained going forwards and finally, they create a plan of action.
If you change nothing – nothing will change
Coaching is not just about addressing performance, a 2011 Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) study on Coaching Culture stated, ““Not a remedial tool: Many organisations still view coaching as a tool for correcting poor performance. However, good coaching is about achieving a high performance culture, not managing a low-performance one, and should not be seen primarily as a remedial tool.”
Coaching is a really great way of enabling people to develop their own thoughts and ideas, which in turn develops their own confidence which empowers them to undertake more challenging tasks and to seek greater fulfilment. All the great inventions of the world have been developed by people seeking answers, as part of a journey to fulfilment.
There are many documented direct correlations between happiness and the perceived levels of performance in the workplace. An executive or a manager who has been coached, who feels more positive and confident, will pass this onto his/her team, who will in turn perform better. Happier people generally lead to less stressful working environments and lower staff attrition.
HR are the “Go to” people for Coaching
A more recent Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) report published in 2014 stated, “As this report and others have noted, the popularity of coaching has grown significantly since 2001 in the UK, reflecting similar growth across the world. As demand for coaching has risen, so has the supply of coaches. This has brought the challenge for organisations and individuals of which coach to appoint.”
The Human Resources team are responsible for introducing coaching to an organisation. FME solutions provides advisory and consultative facilities to assist HR departments in understanding and developing their coaching needs and can provide assistance with coach selection and employment.
Contact our Director of Coaching services – Michael.Jackson@FME.Solution
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