Safety Coaching for your Organisation

SAFETY COACHING FOR YOUR ORGANISATION

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

We can train and develop safety coaches within your own team, although a number of our clients have found the independence and lack of history (baggage) of an Optimus safety coach to be an advantage. 

We supply coaches for different kinds of coaching, dependant on the needs of your project. All our coaches are called Safety Coaches. Sometimes our clients ask us to perform a specific role, for instance: 

Hazard or Intervention Coach

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

Performance or Business Coach

A Performance or Business Coach is much more targeted on a specific goal and measurable goal(s). 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.

MANAGING AND TRAINING COACHES

How do our coaches become as good as they are? 

We have a talent for sniffing out the right kind of people. We look for some obvious competencies around the specific field of work, whether it is people, safety, health or environmental skills and experience. We want our coaches to have very specific qualities for dealing with people. We look for: 

• Openness and acceptance
• Personal charisma
• The ability to build trusting relationships
•  Personal insight, perception and wisdom
• An ability and desire to ask questions to get into their client’s world
• An ability to simultaneously see the bigger picture, yet see how the detail contributes to the whole
• The desire to teach, develop or bring about improvement
• An ability to think on their feet
• A sense of humour – it always comes in useful! 

We train our coaches in Neuro-Linguistic Programming techniques, so they can bring about change in their daily work. They are taught to use their own unique talents to gain leverage. The hardest and most rewarding work is to bring about change in the gap between two individuals. Our coaches are sensitive to their own ability to influence. 

How do our coaches improve? 

Working 1:1 is demanding. There is no down-time. Every second on the job is focused on what is going on around the coach, within the coach and between the coach and others. Sometimes our coaches might feel as if they haven’t quite hit the mark with an individual. Or there might be resistance or kick-back. The coach may have to deal with the whole range of emotional states within a single working day. They may need to mediate, deal with conflict or give challenging feedback in a way that can be heard. 

Each coach has a mentor who provides a practical and emotional safety net – the mentor ensures that the coach always has someone to talk to, to offload onto, to challenge them, to support them.  Our mentors help the coach reflect, and find their own solutions to difficulties. This then helps the coach to help their client. We believe that everyone is resourceful. And that with the right support, everyone can be compassionate, understanding and creative problem solvers. 

• Mentors ask our coaches the following kinds of questions: 
• What did you enjoy about that piece of work?
•  What did you do that went well?
•  What stretched you?
•  What did you learn about yourself from working with that client/workgroup/team?
• What would you like to do differently next time?
• Do you need any extra resources, support or learning? 

How do our coaches know they make a difference? 

Feedback is essential food in nurturing our coaches. We appreciate personal feedback, as it helps our coaches to grow, develop and improve the service we offer. We are great proponents of giving feedback and appreciation, as everyone benefits. Our coaches know they make a difference through the extraordinary feedback they get from clients 

Can we train your staff to be coaches? 

Because of the extensive experience we have in recruiting and training coaches, we can do the same for your organisation. We can find the right people from amongst your existing staff, and give them the training, processes and support to coach within your environment. It is harder for internal staff to switch over to coaching, issues of acceptance and credibility can sometimes get in the way even if they are excellent at coaching. However, the advantages are that your own coaches know your business and the people who work there. Putting their prejudices and expectations aside is all part of the job for a coach, no matter who they work for.

How do we support the coaches we train? 

We have a new service called ‘Optimates’, which you will find on this website. This is a blog forum to allow clients who have been trained as coaches to keep in touch with each other, and with the Optimus trainers, mentors and coaches. We anticipate that Optimates will: 

• Share experiences and information
• Ask for advice, guidance or information
• Attend co-coaching events
• Give and receive support

Of course, we keep in touch with all the coaches we train, and encourage a two-way dialogue so that the coach can be supported, and while we develop our ability to apply what we teach to different work situations.