{"id":38468,"date":"2019-04-29T12:15:46","date_gmt":"2019-04-29T16:15:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stagingweb.trainingindustry.com\/?post_type=articles&#038;p=38468"},"modified":"2024-07-19T11:21:20","modified_gmt":"2024-07-19T15:21:20","slug":"the-business-of-learning-episode-16-best-practices-for-internal-coaching-programs","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/trainingindustry.com\/articles\/leadership\/the-business-of-learning-episode-16-best-practices-for-internal-coaching-programs\/","title":{"rendered":"The Business of Learning, Episode 16: Best Practices for Internal Coaching Programs"},"author":27,"featured_media":38735,"template":"","tags":[125,2963,3243,165,3301],"class_list":["post-38468","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coaching","tag-coaching-culture","tag-coaching-skills","tag-executive-coaching","tag-on-the-job-coaching","global_topic_tax-leadership","global_topic_tax-performance-management"],"acf":{"sponsored":false,"gated":false,"gated_content_type":"","file_attachment":null,"gated_content":"","form_instruction_header":"To access the full article, please fill out the form below:","pardot_html_embed":"","author_override":true,"author_name":"Training Industry, Inc. and GoCoach","author_image":"","author_bio":"","excerpt":"While many companies bring in external coaching consultants, internal coaching programs are created as a way to introduce coaching to an organization\u2019s culture and to support the practice within a company.","main_content":"Coaching is an important part of staff development, and the increased focus within learning and development on coaching earned it a place in the <a href=\"https:\/\/trainingindustry.com\/magazine\/nov-dec-2016\/key-trends-for-2017-innovation-in-educational-technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Training Industry annual trends report in 2017<\/a>.\r\n\r\nIf anything, since then, coaching has become even more of a frequent topic within L&amp;D. While many training professionals are familiar with coaching as a modality used in <a href=\"https:\/\/trainingindustry.com\/glossary\/high-potential-employees\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">high-potential<\/a> or similar leadership training, coaching can help people develop skills and accomplish professional goals at any level or in any role.\r\n\r\nMany companies bring in external coaching consultants, but internal coaching programs are a great way to introduce coaching to an organization\u2019s culture and to support the practice within a company. In this episode of \u201cThe Business of Learning,\u201d Matt Becker, M.Ed., MCC, coaching and mentoring manager at CareSource, shares:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>The benefits of internal coaching.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Who can benefit from internal coaching.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How to select and train coaches.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>The ROI CareSource has seen from its internal coaching program.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nListen Now:\r\n\r\n<iframe style=\"border: none;\" title=\"Episode 16: Best Practices for Internal Coaching Programs\" src=\"https:\/\/www.podbean.com\/media\/player\/37qxk-e4217e?from=pb6admin&amp;download=1&amp;version=1&amp;auto=0&amp;share=1&amp;download=1&amp;rtl=0&amp;fonts=Helvetica&amp;skin=1&amp;pfauth=&amp;btn-skin=107\" width=\"100%\" height=\"122\" scrolling=\"no\" data-name=\"pb-iframe-player\"><\/iframe>","full_width":false,"content_band":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content_area","wysiwyg":"Training Industry research found that coaching can be a key to developing female leaders and bridging the gender gap in leadership. Fill out the form below to learn more.\r\n\r\n[hubspot type=\"form\" portal=\"47185625\" id=\"9f7ba777-314f-4f26-a3a4-3650bab50ae6\" version=\"v4\"]"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content_area","wysiwyg":"<em>The transcript of this episode follows.<\/em>\r\n\r\nPODCAST INTRO: Welcome to The Business of Learning podcast from TrainingIndustry.com.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nTARYN OESCH: Hello, and welcome to episode 16 of The Business of Learning. I\u2019m Taryn Oesch, managing Editor at Training Industry. I\u2019m here with my co-host, Scott Rutherford, head of digital operations and marketing.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSCOTT RUTHERFORD: Hi! Today on the podcast, we\u2019re focusing on coaching in the corporate setting. We\u2019ll get started with our guest in just a second. But first, we\u2019d like to thank GoCoach for sponsoring this episode of The Business of Learning.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSponsor Message \u2013 This Episode of The Business of Learning podcast is sponsored by GoCoach.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nThe number-one problem facing the workforce is lack of skill development. Studies have shown companies with coaches experience an 88-percent increase in productivity.\r\n\r\nGoCoach provides personalized learning at scale, with hard and soft-skill coaches, so you can empower the people you hire, and keep them.\r\n\r\nYou can engage your entire team with personal coaches, from entry level to executive level.\r\n\r\nAt GoCoach, we partner with businesses of all kinds to deliver KPI-driven, well-integrated programs, that are informed by best practices in human learning and development.\r\n\r\nLearn more and connect with us live at <a href=\"https:\/\/GoCoachGo.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">GoCoachGo.com<\/a>!\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSCOTT RUTHERFORD: Coaching is an important part of staff development, and the increased focus within learning and development on coaching earned coaching a place in the Training Industry annual trends report in 2017. And, if anything, since then, coaching has become even more of a frequent topic within L&amp;D. And while some of you may be most familiar with coaching as a modality used in high-potential or similar leadership training, coaching can help people develop skills and work toward the development of goals at any level or role.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nTARYN OESCH: And while many companies do bring in external coaching consultants, internal coaching programs are created as a way to introduce coaching to an organization\u2019s culture and to support the practice within a company. With that in mind, our guest today is Matt Becker. Matt is the coaching and mentoring manager at CareSource. Matt, welcome.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nMATT BECKER: Thank you. I\u2019m happy to be here.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nTARYN OESCH: Can you start off by telling us a little bit about CareSource?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nMATT BECKER: Yes. So, CareSource is a managed care program based in Dayton, Ohio, and we serve government programs such as Medicaid, Medicare [and the] health care exchange. We have been around since 1989, and our workforce has grown from when I started about 15 years ago. We were about 300 employees to, we\u2019re over 4,000 employees at the moment, so we\u2019ve gone through this unbelievable growth pattern of the last 15 years that I\u2019ve been here. So, that\u2019s a little bit about who we are and what we do. We actually are in five different states.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSCOTT RUTHERFORD: And, Matt, your current role, as I understand, is manager of coaching and mentoring. So, can you tell us about how you came to that position and whether or not, did you work your way from another role within CareSource, or were you somewhere else beforehand?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nMATT BECKER: Yeah, great question. I actually created the position. So, when I started at CareSource, I came in as a trainer doing interpersonal skills training, leadership training. Then, as the company grew and the department grew, I moved into a management role, leading the same trainers, as well as our e-learning developers. And then, I was always interested in coaching, and I started informally coaching some leaders along the way. And I read the book \u201cThe First 90 Days\u201d by Michael Watkins, where he talks about how he surveyed about 250 CEOs and ask them what the average break-even point was for a new mid-level manager, and they came back at 6.2 months. And so, he was advocating using his book to build a transition plan for yourself. And I thought, well, you know, coaching some people informally, they seem to get a lot of value out of this. Maybe we can use this as a way of supporting the transition of our leaders, because as we were growing so rapidly, we would bring in a lot of new leaders or promote a lot of people into leadership.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSo, we pitched the idea to our executive team. They loved it. They did not bat an eye, they were like, \u201cAbsolutely, go do it.\u201d And so, in April of 2009, we launched this program that we call Leadership Transition Coaching, and so for the first nine to 10 months, I was still leading a team of trainers and doing the leadership coaching, but it quickly became evident that this was going to grow and be more than I could handle part time. And so it was at that point in time when I moved into the coaching and mentoring manager role; at that point in time, I was already running one of our mentoring programs as well. And then has since started another mentoring program. So, that\u2019s just kind of all came up underneath me.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nTARYN OESCH: I know, we\u2019re using these words, mentoring and coaching. Can you maybe explain what the differences are and, particularly, what the role of a of a coaching program is?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nMATT BECKER: Yeah, well, and I talk about this a lot, especially when I\u2019m training my mentors on what mentoring is and my mentees, and we\u2019re getting ready to launch both of our programs here in the next couple of months. So, I always say they\u2019re very similar, often will use some similar skill sets, but to me, the distinction is mentoring is going to be somebody who\u2019s usually a higher level than you, and they\u2019re going to give you more direct advice based upon their experience. I trained my mentors to try to use good coach questions and, you know, and create a dialogue so that the mentee\u2019s not just sitting there listening to the mentor, you know, drone on for an hour. But, the bottom line is the mentor\u2019s naturally going to share more of their personal experience, whereas coaching, you know, I\u2019ve coached frontline team leads all the way up through executives. I\u2019m not an executive. I\u2019ve never been an executive. But coaching doesn\u2019t, you don\u2019t need to have that experience, because it\u2019s not about me giving them advice. It\u2019s about building a process that allows them to step back and look at things from different angles and different perspectives. They\u2019re the ones who make the decisions. As a coach, my job is just to help facilitate that process. So, you know, the big distinction is kind of the level and, you know, whether we\u2019re giving advice or whether we\u2019re really pulling the answers out of the other person.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSCOTT RUTHERFORD: So, what would you say is the advantage of developing a coaching capability inside an organization, versus, as many companies do, bringing in coaching support from outside?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nMATT BECKER: Yeah, first [thing] I\u2019ll say is, I think there\u2019s a place for both. So, I don\u2019t think, you know, that internal coaching may always meet every need that you have. One of the big obvious differences is cost. So it can be a lot more cost-effective to have somebody internally, who has coaching skills and abilities, to provide that service than always bringing in an executive-level coach. The internal coaches often have a really good feel for the culture, so dependent upon what it is you\u2019re trying to accomplish with the coaching program \u2013 like for our program, helping new leaders transition, especially if they\u2019re from outside the company \u2013 it can be very important to have that cultural fit. So, I think that\u2019s another benefit that internal coaches bring, and then it just increases your ability to have access.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSo, in a couple of different ways, it would be very expensive to try to hire an executive coach to coach hundreds of people across an organization, at all levels, whereas if you\u2019ve got internal coaching, it allows you to touch more people at all different levels of an organization. As well as, it makes it a little bit easier, that if something were to come up and say, \u201cHey, I\u2019ve got a quick situation I want to talk through,\u201d we\u2019re here, right, we\u2019re a little bit easier to get ahold of and sit down with them. That doesn\u2019t mean that an external coach wouldn\u2019t do that. I mean, that\u2019s definitely feasible. It just might be a little bit more available when they\u2019re internal, right now.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nTARYN OESCH: And who are those coaches when it\u2019s internal? Are they, you know, people who are, that\u2019s their whole job is to coach other employees, or are they people who have different roles and part of their job is to serve as a coach?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nMATT BECKER: Yeah, it really depends on the organization. So, I also am a co-leader for the International Coach Federation community of practice around internal coaching, so I\u2019ve gotten to know a lot of people from different organizations that are doing internal coaching, and I always like to kind of say, there\u2019s the full-time model, the part-time model or the hybrid model. At CareSource, primarily, we\u2019ve gone the full-time model route. So, it started with just me. Now, we have two other ICM-certified coaches, that the three of us spend 75 to 85% of our time dedicated to coaching. So, we\u2019re coaching on an every-other-week basis. We\u2019re coaching about 40 leaders at a time. We also, there\u2019s also a handful of leaders that we will meet with on a monthly basis. Maybe we\u2019ve coached them in the past, and they\u2019re coming back for a few sessions. So, it began anywhere from 40 to 50 people at any given time, each of us are coaching. So, that\u2019s pretty much our whole role. We do a little bit of training and, like I said, I run a couple of mentoring programs.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nThen there are some organizations that have purely a part-time model. So what they\u2019ll do is, they\u2019ll identify people across the organization that they think have the ability and the interest to be coaches. They\u2019ll train them; maybe they provide the training internally or send them outside, and then they build the program around that. So each one of those individuals might work with three to five people at a time. So, that\u2019s kind of the part-time model.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nAnd then there are some organizations that will do both. They\u2019ll have a cadre of full-time coaches, and then that they focus on certain purposes, and then they\u2019ll also train people to do it part-time so that they can touch more people. Actually, at CareSource, we\u2019re getting ready to experiment with that. We\u2019ve got a couple of people in our corporate university that just went through training, and we\u2019re going to, a little bit later this year, be launching a program so that we can actually get down to the frontline employee level and begin to support them with some coaching as well.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nTARYN OESCH: Now, with these internal coaches, how do you identify people at your organization who, you know, have the characteristics, they might be good coaches, and what kind of training do they need to make sure that that they deliver the coaching effectively?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nMATT BECKER: Well, this was a new experience for us as we were going through this last year and really trying to determine, how do you know whether somebody has what it takes to be a good coach? I think some of the qualities that we look for were, you know, there needs to be, they need to be open, open to different perspectives, tolerant of different perspectives. You know, if they come in and they kind of have a viewpoint that they won\u2019t let go of, then what\u2019s going to happen is they\u2019re going to slip into advising mode, and what I have found is most people who get into coaching, they get into because they want to help people, which is great. And maybe they\u2019re used to having people come to them and, you know, open up to them \u2013 ask for feedback, just somebody that they feel comfortable with. What that winds up being is, we end up giving a lot of feedback in that situation or giving advice, I should say, and the biggest switch you have to make when you step into coaching is, it\u2019s not about giving advice. It\u2019s about the other person, and letting them come to a conclusion about what makes the most sense for them. So, some people might really struggle with being able to let go of that.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nAnd they also have to be very focused on their own growth and development. So, you know, if I\u2019m an individual that has a hard time speaking up for myself, well, if I\u2019m coaching somebody that has a hard time speaking up for themselves, there\u2019s a chance that I\u2019m not going to push them as hard or I might, you know, collude with them when they say, \u201cWell, I really can\u2019t do this or it\u2019s not gonna, it\u2019s not going to make any difference anyway.\u201d They may not challenge that person to really look at it from a different perspective, because they\u2019re uncomfortable doing that themselves. So, you know, as coaches \u2013 not that we\u2019re perfect, because we certainly aren\u2019t, and it\u2019s a lifelong process \u2013 but we have to be aware of what some of our weaknesses are, what some of our challenges are, and we should really be working with our own coaches to kind of work through that so that it\u2019s not hindering our ability to coach other people.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nAnd then one interesting thing that I hadn\u2019t thought about as we were interviewing people was that somebody said, \u201cHow do you know you\u2019re successful?\u201d And I thought, that\u2019s a really good question, because when it comes to coaching, you know, it\u2019s not always tangible. So, sometimes you feel like you had a really great conversation. But I can\u2019t make anybody go do anything, right? So it\u2019s really about, \u201cAm I helping them come to the level of awareness that they want to go do something they want to make an impact?\u201d And so, you know, we\u2019re not going to see those results every single day; we\u2019re hopefully going to see them over time as we see that person grow. But sometimes, people are, you know, they like to build things, they like to walk away at the end of the day and say this is, they can tangibly see on paper or on the computer screen what they created, and that\u2019s not really what\u2019s happening when you\u2019re doing coaching. So it\u2019s a little bit more nebulous, and you got to be OK with that.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nThe final thing I would say, well, two things. One is, we actually had people practice coaching. So we gave them a scenario. They actually had to coach somebody on a real-life situation. And what we\u2019re really looking for there is just their demeanor, how they approach the person again. Did they kind of get stuck on, \u201cWell, this is what you need to do,\u201d knowing full well that they hadn\u2019t necessarily had full coaching training yet, and may not have known what all the coaching skills were, but just to kind of get a sense of how they approached people and carry themselves.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nYou had also asked about training. There are a couple of different things that you can do. One is you could send them, which is what we\u2019ve done on this time around, send them to a training program that\u2019s been accredited by the International Coach Federation. The ICF has 11 core competencies that ICF-certified coaches have to adhere to, and so then they accredit training organizations that build programs that are in alignment with those competencies and help train coaches on how to exhibit those competencies, so that, I would say, is the first step. There are some organizations, and this is something we have on our radar as well, at some point in time, that we\u2019ll actually build their own training internally and then get that training accredited by the ICF, so rather than sending them to an outside school, they build their own training and do it in house. So that\u2019s another option as well.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSCOTT RUTHERFORD: So, a minute ago, Matt, you mentioned a program you are, as I understand, in the process of rolling out to frontline employees. And that leads me to a sort of a philosophical question, which is, is there any role within a business that you think that would not need coaching support?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nMATT BECKER: Yeah, that\u2019s a good, very good, question. So here\u2019s the thing: I would change it from the word \u201cneed\u201d to \u201cbenefit.\u201d I think everybody can benefit from coaching. Not everybody is open to coaching or may be ready for coaching. So, you know, individuals at every level \u2013 let me say it that way \u2013 individuals at every level of an organization are going to run into challenges, whether it\u2019s a conflict with a co-worker they don\u2019t know how to deal with, whether it\u2019s they\u2019re not communicating effectively with their leader, or they have an idea, but they can\u2019t quite seem to get that idea heard, where they want to figure out where their career growth is, where do they want to go back? So, I personally believe everybody can benefit from coaching.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nThe difference, though is that you\u2019ve got to be ready to do the work. It\u2019s not, a lot of people don\u2019t really understand what coaching is. They come to it thinking [of] a sports coach, a music coach \u2013 you\u2019re going to tell me what to do. And that\u2019s not what this is about at all. It\u2019s all about giving them a place and helping them access what\u2019s important to them, what could they do to get there and what are they going to do to get there. And also, providing the measure of support and accountability to get there. So, some people might come to coaching thinking we\u2019re going to tell them exactly what they need to do, and then when they don\u2019t get that, they may not be comfortable with that. Or, as we ask some questions that challenge them to dig deeper, you know, self-awareness and looking at yourself, that\u2019s something that\u2019s not always comfortable for people.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSo, while I believe everybody at all levels can benefit, not everybody is ready for it or wants to engage in it. So it needs to really be an optional thing. So, at CareSource, even though we provide it to all new leaders coming in, and it\u2019s a service that we provide, we make very clear, \u201cThis is not something you have to do,\u201d and on occasion, people choose not to participate. So that is their choice.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSCOTT RUTHERFORD: It sounds like having an understanding of how you should approach coaching is both a perspective that you need to teach to the coaches as well as those being coached. So, is that part of a broader cultural understanding that you have try to infuse into the business, more broadly?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nMATT BECKER: Absolutely, absolutely. So, the first thing that came to mind as you were saying that is, that\u2019s one of the reasons why I think getting formal training through the International Coach Federation is so important. And the great thing about coaching is it\u2019s continuing to grow and expand, and it\u2019s a great profession. The one downside is it\u2019s become such an overused term that everybody\u2019s calling themselves a coach, and they\u2019re doing it without really knowing what coaching is. And so, and, again, sometimes we think of sports coaching and things like that, so first of all, if you\u2019re going to be a coach, you\u2019ve got to be really clear about what that is. Then, as you\u2019re meeting with potential clients internally or externally, you\u2019ve got to really help them understand how coaching is different. It\u2019s not consulting. It\u2019s not counseling. It\u2019s not training. And then, yeah, you really have to work with senior leadership and management at all levels to make sure they understand what coaching does.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nA quick example is, sometimes people will come and say, \u201cHey, I\u2019ve got this employee. They\u2019re really great technically, but, you know, they can tend to be a little abrasive or, you know, they need to speak up more and, you know, can you coach them?\u201d And I believe coaching can certainly help somebody in that situation. But here\u2019s the catch: The, the manager has to make sure that they\u2019re doing their due diligence and leaving that person, giving them, the proper feedback. Second, we would go to the employee and would say, \u201cOK, what feedback has your manager given you, and here\u2019s what they\u2019ve told us,\u201d and then we would say, \u201cDo you agree that this is an issue? And if you do, do you want to do something about it?\u201d If they don\u2019t agree it\u2019s an issue, or they don\u2019t want to do anything about it, then coaching is not going to help them. So, because coaching is not about making anybody doing do something, if people are generally saying, \u201cYeah, this is a challenge for me, and I\u2019m not sure how to get better at this,\u201d or, \u201cI\u2019m not sure what\u2019s blocking me,\u201d absolutely, coaching can help with that.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nTARYN OESCH: Matt, I\u2019m wondering if you have any examples that you could share of how coaching has helped, maybe, an employee that you\u2019ve worked with in the organization?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nMATT BECKER: Yeah. You know, I think one of the first ones that comes to mind is, we were maybe five or six years into our program, we hired a new director who was in a high-profile position. It was probably one of the first directors that I coached with. And, frankly, there was a part of me that was like, \u201cOK, how am I going to help this person there; you know, they\u2019ve got lots of experience there. They\u2019re very strong.\u201d And they happened to remark to the CEO, our founder and CEO at the time, at one point along the way, that if it wasn\u2019t for coaching, she probably wouldn\u2019t have stayed in the organization. And the CEO was like, \u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d and I think the CEO was so taken aback. Because you look at this person, and you would never think that they lack of confidence or that, you know, just, you look from the outside, you think of smooth sailing. They\u2019re great. They know what they\u2019re doing. No problem. And this person said, \u201cWell, you know, it\u2019s a new organization. You\u2019ve got to get used to the culture, you\u2019re not exactly sure who to trust initially, you\u2019ve got to form those relationships. And it\u2019s just really helpful to have a safe place to go and talk through some of the things you\u2019re experienced and then some of the things you\u2019re thinking.\u201d And so that was the first powerful, most powerful example that I\u2019ve got of what coaching can do, especially at that team to management level.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s about creating that safe space for people to kind of work through things, because, I don\u2019t care, you could have the most supportive boss in the world, but there\u2019s always a part of us that doesn\u2019t want to acknowledge we\u2019re struggling. And we don\u2019t want to go to our boss and say, \u201cI\u2019m struggling. I\u2019m not sure what to do.\u201d And so, when you can go to a confidential, safe place to talk through that first, and hopefully through that, you know, your coach is going to challenge you to go have that conversation, but it\u2019s easier to have that conversation once you to work through that. And so we\u2019ve had probably in our organization, over the last 10 years, we\u2019ve had 40-some people either credit coaching with having retained them or retained one of their employees.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nWe also see people will say it helped reduce overtime. So, they\u2019ve gone back, they\u2019ve re-evaluated things that were going on in their organization or figured out how to create the conditions that motivated people to do more, or to step up, and so they were able to reduce overtime. A lot of people get better at delegation through coaching or holding people accountable, sometimes people want to work to reverse delegate and throw everything back up to the leader. And so, when they empower their staff to take responsibility, it ends up saving them time. And, although we\u2019re still paying them for that time, they\u2019re now focused on those higher level tasks and what they\u2019re paid to be doing.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSo, those are some of the broad categories in which we\u2019ve seen savings, and we actually do an annual return-on-investment analysis, and over the first nine years of the program, we have an estimated, conservatively estimated, a 409% return on investment and over $3 million in net savings. And all of that is great, and I love that. And then there\u2019s also the people who, it\u2019s their confidence, especially those newer leaders, so they\u2019re more confident. There was a young woman I worked with a couple of different times. I first worked with her when she was about 26, 27, a new mother, first-time leader. And a lot of the stuff we were working on in competence and how to understand where different people are coming from and not just getting locked into her perspective. I know had a ripple effect, not just on her professional life but her personal life as well. And she has since then been promoted to manager and went through coaching again, and she\u2019s a high-potential and has a great career ahead of her.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nTARYN OESCH: You mentioned in the first example that you shared the importance of confidentiality, and I\u2019m wondering with, you know, going back to the internal versus external coaching, are there any confidentiality concerns that come up with internal coaches, you know, since you\u2019re working for the same organization, and how do you deal with that?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nMATT BECKER: Yeah, no, I\u2019m glad you brought that up because it is a big, that is another big difference between the external and internal, not that external coaches never have confidentiality issues, because regardless of whether you\u2019re internal or external, you need to make very clear to the leadership, HR, whoever\u2019s bringing us [in], that says, \u201cLook, I\u2019m not going to share with you specifically what this person is talking to me about.\u201d The way we typically approach it is, if we had a leader that says, \u201cHey, is Julie participating in coaching?\u201d We\u2019re going to say, \u201cYep, they\u2019re participating,\u201d or, \u201cWe\u2019ve had a few sessions with them\u201d or, if they\u2019re not, we\u2019re going to say, \u201cNope. They\u2019re not participating.\u201d And that\u2019s really all we\u2019re going to say.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSo, it\u2019s very clear that everything we talked about with our client is confidential \u2013 stays between the two of us. With the exception, if they tell us something illegal or unethical, then we\u2019re obligated to do something with that. And we\u2019ll, if it\u2019s not something that they did, something somebody else did, we\u2019ll challenge them to share that themselves, but if not, we will be responsible for doing that. And then, on occasion, we might, our HR department, they\u2019re very respectful of recognizing that, you know, we\u2019re not going to divulge anything. So, again, they might just reach out to, \u201cHey, here\u2019s somebody that I really think could benefit from coaching, are they involved in coaching?\u201d And, again we will say, \u201cYes\u201d or, \u201cNo\u201d or, \u201cThey used to, they were involved, but, you know, their time has completed, and so we\u2019re not meeting with them currently.\u201d So it\u2019s really just a matter of, have they taken advantage of this service and benefit or not? Anything beyond that really needs to be between the coach and the client or the employee in this case, and that\u2019s whether its internal or external. Internal coaches, they could feel that pressure to want to, you know, somebody wanting to know, and so, yes, that might be a little bit more difficult for them. But they\u2019ve just got to be, they\u2019ve got to be prepared to kind of stand that line in the in the ground and not budge.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nTARYN OESCH: It sounds like that might go back to making sure that the business leaders also understand the importance of coaching so that they can accept, you know, that kind of confidentiality and understand why it\u2019s important.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nMATT BECKER: Yeah, yeah. Because if you set that stage correctly up front, it will certainly diminish. You know, occasionally, we\u2019ll have somebody who will say something, and we\u2019ll remind them, \u201cOK, we, you know, we can\u2019t disclose it.\u201d Then, they\u2019ll be like, \u201cYeah, no, no, no.\u201d So, oftentimes, in our organization, we\u2019ve created the culture that, you know, we\u2019ll double-check on that, just to remind people. But rarely have we gotten, I don\u2019t know if we\u2019ve ever really gotten pushback to say, \u201cOh, come on, you can tell me.\u201d So we\u2019ve been fortunate that we\u2019ve created that expectation here.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nTARYN OESCH: Well, Matt, thanks for joining us today. Are there any final thoughts that you\u2019d like to leave us with?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nMATT BECKER: I guess what I would just say is, I really believe there\u2019s a lot of benefit to bringing internal coaching within your organization. I believe this is where the coaching industry is really poised to grow the most. There\u2019s always going to be a need and a place for external coaches, but in order for everybody, or to increase the access to coaching and the people who can truly benefit from coaching, I believe more and more organizations need to take a look at this and put the energy into investing in this, and it frankly doesn\u2019t have to be that big of an investment. I would say, start small, pick a pilot program that is going to be tied to some kind of important strategic initiative, and figure out how you\u2019re going to measure success and then do it for, you know, three to 12 months, show the success, and then use that you build your program from there.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSCOTT RUTHERFORD: All right, Matt Becker of CareSource, thanks for being here on The Business of Learning.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nMATT BECKER: Thank you for having me.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSCOTT RUTHERFORD: And our show notes for this episode, Episode 16, can be found by visiting https:\/\/trainingindustry.com\/training-industry-podcast.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nTARYN OESCH: And, as always, we appreciate your reviews of the business of learning on Apple Podcasts and you can email your feedback to us at info@trainingindustry.com. Thanks for listening.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nPODCAST OUTRO: If you have feedback about this episode or would like to suggest a topic for a future program, email us at info@trainingindustry.com, or use the Contact Us page at TrainingIndustry.com. Thanks for listening to the Training Industry podcast.\r\n\r\n### End Transcript"}],"tice_sponsors":"","custom_dfp_keywords":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.8 (Yoast SEO v27.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Business of Learning, Episode 16: Best Practices for Internal Coaching Programs - Training Industry<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Internal coaching programs are a great way to introduce coaching to an organization\u2019s culture and to support the practice within a company.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/trainingindustry.com\/articles\/leadership\/the-business-of-learning-episode-16-best-practices-for-internal-coaching-programs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Business of Learning, Episode 16: Best Practices for Internal Coaching Programs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Internal coaching programs are a great way to introduce coaching to an organization\u2019s culture and to support the practice within a company.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/trainingindustry.com\/articles\/leadership\/the-business-of-learning-episode-16-best-practices-for-internal-coaching-programs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Training Industry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TrainingIndustry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-07-19T15:21:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/assets-staging.trainingindustry.com\/content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Internal-Coaching-Programs_Business-of-Learning-Podcast_Episode-16.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@TrainingIndustr\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"24 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trainingindustry.com\\\/articles\\\/leadership\\\/the-business-of-learning-episode-16-best-practices-for-internal-coaching-programs\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trainingindustry.com\\\/articles\\\/leadership\\\/the-business-of-learning-episode-16-best-practices-for-internal-coaching-programs\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Business of Learning, Episode 16: Best Practices for Internal Coaching Programs - 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