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Our Readers Say…
 During this spring quarter,
we’ve focused on coaching and
counseling—how they’re defined, what
processes and techniques they involve, and how they
can be used with individuals and teams. So our
quarterly survey focused on learning how prevalent
coaching and counseling were in AQP members’
organizations, as well as how many members had
provided or received coaching.
As the figure above at right indicates,
self-initiated coaching is the primary approach used
by members’ organizations; however, informal
coaching programs are a close second, and almost 30%
of the respondents reported that their organizations
had formal coaching programs or both formal and
informal programs.
 Overwhelmingly, members’
organizations
do offer counseling that addresses any type of issue
(including both performance-related and
nonperformance-related problems), as shown below at
right. In fact, only 12% reported that their
organizations had no counseling programs
available.
Almost all of the survey participants have
provided formal coaching (41%), informal coaching
(30%), or both (23%). On the other hand, one-third of
the respondents had never received coaching
themselves (33%), whereas 18% had received formal
coaching and 38% had received informal
coaching.
One person commented, “I’m a believer!
We are initiating a formalized coaching/mentoring
program for new employees (especially supervisors and
managers) and hope to expand the program. One-on-one
attention can provide a safe way for an employee to
grow and meet challenges and is rewarding for both
the employee and the coach. Formalized coaching
additionally allows the employee to set and address
specific goals,” and another said, “We
don’t have enough coaches to handle the volume
of work available.”
Informal coaching appears to be as valuable to
individual development as formal coaching although
its effect is less likely to be evaluated and the
process used may be less structured. For instance,
one member stated, “The best coaching
opportunities seem to be the ones that happen by
accident. But you still must be prepared to make it
work. When you observe an interaction that was less
than successful or more than successful, the feedback
provided directly to the coachee by me is
priceless.”
“Formal was best—goal oriented and
very helpful. Informal was more of an opportunity for
reflection, which is helpful but does not lead
directly to results,” shared a respondent who
had both provided and received coaching. Another
said, “The greatest gift my boss has provided
to me is mentoring about organizational processes and
political maneuvering.”
Unfortunately, there’s still an opportunity
for coaching to be used more effectively by
members’ organizations. As one shared,
“Unfortunately I’ve received precious
little, but when I got it, it was extremely valuable
and made a significant difference in my
development.”
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