Tag Archives: #Organisational Development

Coaching for Improved Leadership Performance

Posted on by
Reply

Coaching has proven to be one of the most powerful ways we can develop our leaders. It is a completely personalised development activity which can deliver increased understanding, improved performance, greater insight and lasting change. It creates a supportive environment that can develop your critical thinking skills, new ideas and approaches and most frequently enhances behaviours.

So how does it work?

Coaching is done in real time, in a one-to-one context with a qualified coach that has been selected for you, the individual leader, taking into account your development needs and preferences for learning.

Chalkboard with coaching concept

Normally we agree a series of 6 one-hour sessions around a series of coaching objectives. Performance improvements are measured at the end of what is typically a 9-12 month coaching programme. It’s not easy. The focus is on you and you are challenged and required at times, to think about things from different perspectives and to try new approaches. It is all done in a confidential environment and leaders should feel safe to share their concerns, fears and of course try out new strategies and approaches.

Broadly we talk about two types of coaching:

  1. Skills Coaching – to help you the leader, to develop a new functional competence e.g. making a presentation to a high profile audience, writing a faculty plan or reading a financial report for the first time.
  2. Transformational Coaching – where the coach helps the individual to find a workable approach to a new challenge e.g. engaging staff to produce a vision for the academic unit, working better with challenging colleagues, pulling away from operational work , stepping into a more strategic arena etc.

0026 Coaching photo

Leaders find they often benefit from coaching when they are making a career transition from one key role to another. They appreciate the objective “sounding board” that coaching can offer.

Read more about leaders’ personal experiences of coaching at

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/staffdev/leadership/coaching/experiences.htm

Lynne Howlett, Assistant Director of HR (Leadership Talent)

What is OD?

Posted on by
Reply

Writing this post at the end of my second week as the new Assistant Director of Organisational Development within the HR Service, I can honestly say, hand on heart, that I’m really enjoying it! I’ve already had lots of meetings with people within my own team in Staff Development, as well as people from other teams across the university and my first impressions are great people who are already doing many great things but who are ready to see where an OD approach can take us.  

Now I know many of you will be wondering, “What is OD?”. For me, in its simplest form, OD is about planning interventions in a strategic, holistic, joined-up way to improve organisational performance through people. My initial brief has been to come in with a fresh pair of eyes, being new to the sector, and really look at the way we do things around here in terms of people management and development, and question whether this what the organisation needs. This initial diagnostic work will help me to work with senior leaders to define the university’s  OD agenda to support culture change moving forward.

For the last 2 years I have been in a similar, national role with Ofsted, leading them on their culture change journey and I’m really looking forward to doing the same at the university. Already I can see that there is some great OD practice going on in pockets across the organisation, but at the same time I can see some fantastic opportunities for more inclusive and collaborative working with people at all levels.

I’m really looking forward to the challenge and would love to hear from you if you have any thoughts or suggestions on where we could make improvements to the way we do things here. Just drop me an email, give me a call or even better, let’s arrange to meet. The more informed I am, the better.

Lorraine Masters, Assistant Director of HR (Organisational Development)