Coaching

WHAT IS COACHING?

In the modern context of organisations, coaching is becoming more and more important as a means of bringing about change at the level of the individual (or cellular level) – providing insights, directed learning, and shifts and growth in personal awareness that lead to changes in behaviour within the organisation (and indeed, in a person’s life as a whole). In fact, individual change is likely to lead to cultural change as the ripples spread out around them.

So what? Well, at Optimus we believe that if we target coaching at the level of a person’s attitude, beliefs, values, identity or purpose, we are more likely to get greater and greater levels of change and transformation. Some people and some organisations aren’t ready for transformation. But if you are, then we have the tools and the people to take you on that journey.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN ADVISOR, A COACH AND A CONSULTANT?

An Advisor

· Looks at legislation, rules, regulations and procedures and ensures adherence or compliance

· Has expertise in legislation and holds qualifications relating to their field of work

· Is trained in specific organisational procedures as well as generic application of legislation to the work situation

A Coach

· Looks at the person with the issue and helps bring about change in the human/emotional/ skill/ performance, approach or attitude of that person

· Has experience and expertise in working 1:1 with people to bring about change

· Has received training or holds qualifications in coaching, change or counselling type approaches to working with people to solve problems

A consultant

· Looks at an organisation’s culture and develops a strategy to deal with the people, business performance or cultural issues at the root of the perceived problem

· Has experience and expertise in change methodologies, application of psychological and business models to areas of work

· Holds qualifications or has received training in organisational development, change processes, human factors, people development

OPTIMUS COACHING SERVICES

Safety Coaching

On-Site Safety Coaches

SAFETY COACHING

At its simplest, safety coaching is a one-to-one supportive relationship that focuses on developing skills, improving safety performance and resolving problems that could lead to incidents. Safety coaching is often focused on work, not emotional problems. However, work is influenced by our emotional state. Good safety coaches therefore tap into this undercurrent and use it to lever major improvements in performance. Safety coaching is about working with individuals to help them unlock their own potential and maximise their safety performance and the performance of their inter-dependent team members – it’s about keeping people aware and keeping them safe.

Safety coaching is a personal approach to learning about safety – and this means that a coach helps each individual to become self-aware and identify how they can change their behaviours and thinking in order to improve safety performance.

The advantage of safety coaching is that the learning takes place on the job – where and when it is most impactful. It’s about catching behaviours in action and working with immediacy. It’s about having the kind of trusting relationship that enables people to work with well-conceived and thoughtful feedback. And it’s about the ability to bring about mind-shifts so that people naturally want to change and take their own personal development on board. Coaches work one-to-one - the work they do is more about development from within, rather than training or instruction. In a working environment where hazards abound and safety is high priority, the relationship of the coach to the workforce is crucial in order to cut through the everyday peer pressure that colludes and resists change. The coach can take on a roving role, carry out observational audits and use the information to feed into one-to-one sessions.

A coach is not an advisor or a consultant – a coach helps people work out for themselves what is required, they do not give advice on the work itself. They can be an informal and detached sounding board, or a formal member of the organisation’s management team.

The kinds of behaviours and thinking that safety coaching can easily address are:

· Taking short-cuts

· Failure to follow procedures

· Unsafe habits

· Poor self awareness or understanding of how the mind impacts upon personal safety

· Lack of awareness of the environment – physical, emotional and psychological

top

ON-SITE SAFETY COACHES

Optimus like to provide safety coaches as part of an overall change programme. Having an on-site coach means there is a dedicated person who’s sole aim is to embed change and get the best out of people, without the distractions of production, operations, administration and advising activities.

We supply coaches to different kinds of coaching, dependant on the needs of the project:

top

Hazard Coach

A Hazard Coach is a Guardian angel by another name – he or she coaches by exception and intervenes when there is a problem. The Hazard Coach:

· Creates a safe and supportive environment.

· Organises practical resources eg lifting gear, barriers, etc.

· Design of safe procedures, drills, etc

· Carries out Tool box talks

· Observations and interventions around permits to work

The Hazard Coach often has specific technical experience of working in a particular industry, eg offshore oil and gas, manufacturing, health service, etc, and therefore experience of operations and types of issues likely to arise.

top

Performance Coach

A Performance Coach is much more targeted on a specific goal, that is capable of being measured. Usually the Performance coach establishes goals with individuals and teams and helps identify and improve behavioural competencies within the job. The Performance Coach:

· Develops conscious competence

· Gives reminders and intervenes

· Observes and gives feedback

· Facilitates between team members

Has specific experience of working with groups and in one to one situations and therefore has experience of personal issues or group dynamics that may arise in teams or groups.

Optimus Coaches are highly skilled individuals and often combine differing coaching roles within a project. At a higher level, the Coach may also be a Trainer or a Mentor .

top

OPTIMUS TRAINER

Our Trainers are of the highest calibre in their fields. They work with our customers to develop new skills or existing capabilities. Specifically, our Trainers:

· Develop new perspectives, ways of thinking and new strategies

· Work with the ‘inner game’ of performance

· Develop confidence in individuals

· Gives training which is adapted to the learning styles of each individual

Optimus Trainers have specific experience of working with small and large groups, delivering content around people skills and applied psychology. Our Trainers are qualified in Neuro-Linguistic Programming and are skilled facilitators.

top

OPTIMUS MENTOR

We like to think that each of our consultants, coaches or trainers is ‘a wise and faithful counsellor’. On a one to one basis, with senior managers and board members, our mentoring programme

· Helps individuals and teams strengthen their key values and beliefs to achieve their goals

· Reframes perceived limitations, boundaries and criticism leading individuals to believe in themselves and follow the right path for them

· Helps to shape and influence people’s lives

A mentor leads by example and is a role model for the individuals and groups they work with. An Optimus Mentor has specific experience of working with senior managers and their business teams, and of people development within large organisations.

top

How we Work

At the start of a coaching assignment Optimus will develop and agree a 'Coaching Plan'. The plan maps out what behaviours we are trying to change and how we will measure this change over time. The plan helps set clear client expectations, methods for measuring change and also some very clear direction for the coach(es) involved. Our trained coaches are then supported by Coaching Co-ordinators, who review how the coaches are doing, helping them with any difficult issues and keeping them focused on the coaching plan and deliverables within. Master Coaches and Senior Coaches also provide on-site support to our coaches.

The above support is not only available to our own highly trained Optimus coaches, but also for our client's coaches if required.

top