you get excellence in what you continually pay attention to

We use coaching as an implementation methodology to embed the required change. Coaching is goal orientated, and ensures that the education or changework is applied in the workplace in order to deliver the vision. Coaching support is applied where influence is greatest and most effective. Too often, well intentioned change programmes or safety efforts are successful in the short term, but fail in the longer term as people revert to the ‘old ways’ of working or they are driven to do so by external factors and environments. Coaching ‘on the job’ enables learning to be applied intelligently until new habits are ‘in the muscle’.

Specifically trained workforce and leadership coaches consistently deliver the positive change and embed the new behaviours across the workforce. We find it is the ability to make change happen at the operational level which most organisations struggle to achieve. It is exactly at this level that we make some of our most significant impacts, notwithstanding those made at other levels of the organisation we are supporting.

How we do it

At the diagnostic phase, we gather information on two key aspects that are essential to making a coaching intervention:

• Desired behaviours – derived from the visioning exercises
• Current behaviours – derived from on-site observations

Coaching is a process whereby

• a goal or outcome is made clear
• an assessment of where the individual or organisation is now is made
• the coach helps individuals make inner or outer change through the co-development of strategies to align with the desired goal

Coaching takes individuals, teams and whole organisations on a journey from where they are now, to where they want to be.

We develop on-site coaching programmes that dove-tail with and support the motivational and changework programmes being carried out. These programmes are completely bespoke and focus on three areas:

• general themes particular to that workplace/organisation – eg poor risk perception, poor safety leadership, lack of trust between groups etc
• individual development – eg communication style, values mis-alignment, limiting beliefs, mistrust, bullying traits etc
• team development – eg high performing team, building trust, assessing risk, building relationships

Coaching is implemented in different and complementary ways, depending on the change required, the location and logistics of the worksite etc, for example:

• 1:1 coaching
• Small group coaching
• Team coaching
• Leadership coaching
• Leadership team coaching
• Intervention coaching
• Hazard coaching
• Supervisory coaching

The success of coaching can be measured in many ways. The less tangible but highly impactful successes might be:

• The level and quality of trust and respect in the coaching relationship and other workplace relationships
• The shift in thinking and use of language, particularly around what’s possible
• Developing self-awareness in individuals and groups
• Greater leadership and personal responsibility for HSE matters
• Enhanced problem solving and decision-making capability
• More concrete planning for action and change
• Individuals seeking out coaching rather than being pushed
• Self-generating change from within the workforce

We can dig down into these intangibles using our Behavioural Evaluation Measurement System and Cultural Survey, which establish starting indicators and monitor progress towards a goal.

The more tangible/hard measures of success fall into the region of lag-indicators:

• Less Lost Time Incidents
• Fall in Total Recordable Case Frequency
• Rise in reported Near Miss and Hazardous Condition incidents (covering small, less consequential incidents)
• Willing participation in intervention culture (measured by use of intervention/conversation cards)
• Less plant trips
• Reduction in safety critical backlog hours
• Feedback from visitors, new inductees

Leadership Support

During change programmes, it can be unsettling for leadership on a day to day basis as issues are raised, as rose-tinted glasses are removed, as resistance is encountered and a mirror is held up to the organisation. Leaders need support during this process:

• To hold steadfast, even when the boat is being rocked
• To sound out concerns and worries and have them put into perspective
• To discern the real change and the real needs as the organisation moves forward>
• To make considered decisions rather than reacting to sudden ferments

Change always brings ferment, and previously masked issues are bound to bubble up to the surface. We live in a world where we believe that we can control everything with paper systems and rules, whereas the reality is that human beings are emotional, dynamic and unpredictable. The recent volcanic ashcloud impact on Western Europe and beyond shows that the world is neither static nor controllable. Leaders need to be able to maintain equilibrium during periods of chaos and change.

Our Client Partners ensure that leaders are fully appraised of the changes that are taking place – tiny steps or big leaps – and that reviews are made in the light of expected and unexpected consequences of the programmes. The Client Partner will also confront and challenge, holding up a mirror while retaining a non-judgmental attitude, always in the best interests of the client and the programme- when a new view of a situation is produced, new options are recognised. The Client Partner works in partnership with the client leadership to ensure that the programmes are making a difference, and that the difference is sustainable.

Embedding Coaching Skills (Transfering Capability)

This may sound strange, but we don’t want our clients to be dependent on Optimus. Our job is to put our clients in the driving seat of their own change process. Some of our clients decide that they want their own onsite coaches. Optimus devises programmes to equip the right client employees with the skills to carry out onsite coaching, and to support them with regular workshops, reviews and guidance until the organisation is self-generative.

Contact Us to get started on your journey today