Matt Somers

How to coach through difficult times

These are difficult times. Commercial organisations are faced with empty order books, lack of cash or capital and shrinking markets. The public sector too is finding its resources shrinking as there is simply not the finance expected even a year ago. A... Read >

Coaching managers: What is the link between Coaching and Motivation?: Elton Mayo (1880 - 1949) The H

Perhaps the most famous experiments in motivation took place at the Western Electric Company's Hawthorne plant in Chicago. Between 1924 and 1932, five sets of tests were carried out in an attempt to understand what made workers assembling telephone equipm... Read >

Coaching skills for managers: Can coaching help do more with less?

I'd like to show you this extract from an email that arrived in my office last week: "....at the moment, unfortunately in this economic climate. I can't justify paying extra money for training and as I have to pay something towards the course ,Of cours... Read >

Coaching in business: Motivation & Coaching: Frederick W. Taylor (1856-1915) Scientific Management

Taylor was an American engineer who achieved his qualifications the hard way, via evening studies. From humble beginnings as an engineer in a steel company he became one of the most influential management writers and theorists. He is best known for defini... Read >

Can I coach myself through a career change?

The world of work was already changing at pace, long before the arrival of the credit crunch. Competition was on the rise. Where once we only had to concern ourselves with competitors in the next street or city, now we had to contend with organizations... Read >

Coaching managers: How to establish the link between coaching and learning

Take a look at most of the learning and development activity in any organization and you'll find a concentration on what I'll call 'events'. By this I mean training courses, special meetings, workshops, seminars, or even time set aside for on line or dist... Read >

Coaching Skills Training: How can I get people to want to be coached?

Why are you reading this article? Maybe you feel that learning about coaching and therefore improving your management skills will make you more secure in your current job or improve your CV and thus your employment prospects. Perhaps you hope that your... Read >

Coaching for performance: How could we classify motivation?

I've been involved in the peculiar world of work long enough to realize there's a big, big difference between people performing because they "have to" and people performing because they "want to". I think in its most basic form form then motivation at wor... Read >

Coaching Skills for Managers: How does the organization benefit?: Part 2

With coaching as the default style of management, morale and motivation improve with a consequently dramatic effect on staff retention. Given that the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) estimates the average cost - -in the UK - of an ... Read >

Coaching Skills: What are the benefits of coaching for the organization?: Part One

All organizations are concerned with performance. Where the profit making concern will concentrate on profitability and creating value for its shareholders, the public organization will need to provide value for the communities it serves; who fund it in o... Read >

Coaching Skills Training: The case for Coaching (Two)

There is now much more job mobility than was once the case and I don't just mean moving from one company to another. Where once the staff of offices, factories and shops could all be found in a single building, it is now typical to find workforces dispers... Read >

Coaching Skills Training: What's in it for me?

If you've seen any of my previous articles, you'll know I believe there is a strong case for managers in organizations to learn to become effective coaches. Let's now turn our attention to the personal benefits derived from doing so. The big prize is i... Read >

How does the coachee benefit?

The most obvious way in which your coachee's benefit from your coaching you do is in an improved level of performance. If they are sales people, they'll sell more. If they are themselves managers, they'll manage better. If they are administrators, they'll... Read >

Coaching at Work: Making the case for Coaching (One)

These days employees expect to be developed as part of the deal. Human Resource folk mumble (and sometimes grumble) about something called the psychological contract. This is an unwritten, tacit contract that sits alongside the formal, written employment ... Read >

Coaching at Work: Does my organisation need coaching?

There are several obvious reasons why an organization may be keen to include coaching in a suite of human resource development interventions. It usually takes place in the actual work setting and so, not only does this avoid the expense in terms of time a... Read >