Internal and external coaches
Internal coaches
Organisations need to be realistic about whether internal people can be impartial coaches. Can they genuinely set aside their seniority, any kind of agenda, their professional knowledge, and be a sounding board for the coachee? It is evident that this is extremely difficult.
External coaches
An external coach removes the worry of impartiality, questionable confidentiality, awkwardness, and awareness that the coach is higher up the food chain. They are beyond the scope of the organisation and are therefore free of the politics, seniority and interpersonal relationships that plague the interactions between a coach and coachee from the same organisation. This neutrality improves the chances of creating a genuinely safe space that’s free of judgement.
Using an agency to find a coach removes the impartiality hurdle and also offers the reassurance that the individual has been vetted and deemed to be professional by experts. You know that they are skilled at what they do and that they get results.
What’s more, a coach that knows the boundaries between coaching and mentoring can help your organisation achieve the results it wants. Not only will they recognise the limitations of their own abilities, and be able to suggest when a mentor would be more appropriate, they can help keep the organisation on track and remind them of the differences between coaching and mentoring and which discipline will help them get to where they want to go.
This blog on finding the right coach contains more practical tips and insights into the best way to go about seeking a coach.