Home Professional Coaching Understanding coaching How to Build a Coaching Culture in a Hybrid Workplace How to Build a Coaching Culture in a Hybrid Workplace CoachHub · 7 June 2022 · 3 min read Hybrid work is now not only the dominant workplace model implemented by many businesses across the board, but considered desirable by the majority of those who work in these businesses. Many adults who were working from home in 2021 would prefer a hybrid approach moving forward, citing greater work-life balance as the main benefit to this style of working. It requires employees to take greater personal responsibility. For many, it is about deciding for themselves where they work, how they apportion their time and how they deliver results. In this kind of working structure, it is often more about output than how long someone is at their desk. This means individuals need to be self-sufficient and leaders must empower them to do so. A coaching culture can help to develop both the mindset and the skills, but how do organizations make the transition? The starting point is to ensure that a coaching culture in a hybrid environment is linked to the broader HR strategy. This begins with a focused review of the business’s existing HR strategy within the hybrid environment, and a consideration as to where coaching and a coaching approach fits within this. To begin building a coaching culture that is successful in a hybrid workplace, HR leaders must set clear goals designed with a hybrid approach in mind, rather than attempting to simply migrate face-to-face approaches to a digital world. To assist with this approach, Jonathan Passmore’s (2021) coaching culture model is a useful tool. It suggests that organizations can assess themselves against four zones to ascertain where they are currently and to evaluate their progress. Content Zone 1: Leaders – Managed access to external coaches Zone 2: Everyone – Democratizing coaching Zone 3: Approach – Coaching as the default leadership style Zone 4: Distributed – Coaching across organizational boundaries Taking advantage of digital tools The power of a coaching culture Zone 1: Leaders – Managed access to external coaches In this zone, the focus is on how the organization uses coaches to develop and support its top talent, specifically the board and directors. This is usually achieved through the engagement of external executive coaches and in a hybrid environment this can be done either through digital coaching or face-to-face coaching. Interestingly, scientific research shows that the immediate network around a coached leader also experiences a positive effect. As a result, when launching a coaching program, say with leaders in zone 1, momentum starts to build in terms of creating a coaching culture. Zone 2: Everyone – Democratizing coaching In this zone, the focus is on how coaching can be extended from the top team to all managers, supervisors and employees. One common way of achieving this goal is through using a digital coaching platform. Driving growth and impact with coaching Check out our free ebook Get the ebook Zone 3: Approach – Coaching as the default leadership style In this zone, the focus is on how a coaching style of management can be developed as the default leadership style of the organization. This requires coaching skills to be an integral part of all leadership, management and supervisor training programs. It will help managers to understand what coaching is, when to use it, and how to use it to best effect within a line management role, alongside other leadership styles. Such training needs to be designed with the hybrid working environment in mind and therefore the use of virtual synchronous and asynchronous learning is key. Zone 4: Distributed – Coaching across organizational boundaries In this zone, the focus is on extending coaching beyond the organizational boundaries. Most organizations now work with multiple partners, suppliers and agents to deliver their services or products. In this zone, the organization looks for ways to extend a coaching style to these relationships. For a public sector organization, this may mean creating cross-boundary coaching delivery. In other sectors, it may mean adopting a win–win development approach to project delivery, where project issues are worked through using a coaching style that adds value and seeks to build long-term relationships with key partners, agents and suppliers. Taking advantage of digital tools Digital coaching is a strong asset for organizations looking to offer coaching for all career grades, especially within a hybrid environment. Coachees can fit coaching around their schedule, no longer restrained by the travel requirements of face-to-face meetings with their coaches. Many of today’s digital coaching platforms also offer resources that take the coaching journey one step further. Through additional reading or interactive activities that the coachee can take part in outside of regular sessions, to truly cement their learning. By implementing digital coaching, organizations can start the journey of integrating a coaching culture throughout their organization, and reap the benefits beyond traditional HR interventions. The power of a coaching culture According to the ADT, businesses with a strong coaching culture have a larger percentage of highly engaged employees than other organizations, 61% compared to 53% (ATD, 2018) and 62% improved the retention of top performers – some very strong reasons as to why developing a coaching culture is a business priority. Leadership and Skills Development Programs Advance and support employees across the enterprise. Discover the program Share Share Discover our categories Corporate Culture Professional Coaching Talent Management Workplace Wellness Read more about:Professional Coaching Change management Coming Together: A Grounded Theory Study of the Role of Coaching in the Mergers & Acquisitions Process Change Management: Is the Better Approach Top Down Processing or Bottom Up Processing? Common HR Challenges in Organizational Change Management A Comparison of Change Management Models: Lewin vs. Kotter The Change Management Process: Everything You Need to Know Soft Skills How Effective Workplace Communication Increases Business Value The Critical Difference Between Confidence and Arrogance Intent vs Impact: Aligning the Two With Improved Communication Referent Power: What It Is and How To Use It Conflict Management Styles: Which One Is Yours? Understanding coaching Is It Time To Embrace the Technology Transformation of Coaching? Breaking Down the Difference Between Coaching and Mentoring Line Manager Involvement in Coaching: Support or Resistance? How to Build a Coaching Culture in a Hybrid Workplace Transforming Your HR Team With Digital Coaching Last Articles The Quarter-Life Crisis: A Opportunity for Change Unlocking the Power of the Emotion Wheel: A Guide to Self-Awareness How to Use the Law of Attraction to Achieve Your Goals Client success stories Coca Cola supports its workforce with digital coaching Watch now What to read next By CoachHub 25 January 2023 The Quarter-Life Crisis: A Opportunity for Change Find Out More By CoachHub 23 January 2023 Unlocking the Power of the Emotion Wheel: A Guide to Self-Awareness Find Out More By CoachHub 19 January 2023 How to Use the Law of Attraction to Achieve Your Goals Find Out More Want to learn how CoachHub can work for your business? Call us on +44 (0) 20 3608 3083 email us (mail@coachhub.com) or contact us below for a demo. Request demo