CASE STUDY
Empowering colleagues through coaching
We believe that workplace coaching is a powerful way to support our colleagues in overcoming challenges, achieving ambitions, and recognizing their potential. It also helps people find their own answers and feel empowered in moving forward with their career goals.
We established our Workplace Coaching Programme to help colleagues navigate change, provide focused career development support, and make coaching available to a broader spectrum of people through a diverse pool of internal coaches.
Our workplace coaches are colleagues who have received formal training, equipping them with coaching skills such as questioning, listening, and the ability to provide non-judgemental observations and feedback; all of which help the person being coached to develop insight and self-awareness, unlock their thinking to look at challenges from a different viewpoint, and increase confidence.
Through a series of confidential conversations, the coach supports the ‘coachee’ to explore their goals and test new approaches to some of the challenges they face in the workplace. Participants are not required to be in the same location or work in the same area of the business, enabling professional relationships to be formed between colleagues globally and outside of their teams.
We have almost 50 active coaches from across different divisions and functions, spanning 17 countries and 11 languages. Since the programme's launch date, over 170 coaching partnerships have been formed, with 95% of participants feeling that the coaching experience supported them in achieving their goals.
Hear more from those who have taken part in our Workplace Coaching Programme:
‘The best thing about coaching is that you come out of it with skills and approaches you can apply to any situation in the future.’
Abigail Bradfield-Taylor
Communications Lead (Academic and ELT), UK
‘The coaching gave me a good opportunity to talk about what I needed to improve on as I settled into my new role. I got an opportunity to explore emotional intelligence in order to understand how to deal with different people.’
Benjamin Salasya
Senior Graphic Designer, Kenya
‘Being a coachee has also made me a better coach and mentor to others. I have learned how to reframe questions for others to help them make the right choices for themselves and their situations. I would also really like to train to be a coach one day to properly pay back all the guidance and advice I have been given.’
Francesca Cockshull
Society Partnership Lead, UK