The Lens To Weigh Up The Pros And Cons Of An Internal Coach

Introduction

Coaching is a common development intervention in organisations nowadays and more so, coaching by internal coaches is on a growing trend (Rock & Donde). Many organisations have seen the benefits of coaching, especially at a senior leadership level, where often external coaches are engaged to facilitate the exercise (ICF, 2013). As the utility of coaching becomes well-recognised, the question of how coaching can be more widely deployed throughout the organisation across levels in a cost effective manner.

Cocahing is built upon an intimate, committed and long-term relationship between a coach and a coachee. It is important for organisations to establish a system which fosters such relationship and enables the coach to meaningfully do his/her job. Adding another layer to this relationship, coaching by an internal or an external coach may have different

While this can be an endless conceptual or even philosophical debate, perhaps we should focus on the key success factor of coaching, which is measured by growth and development of the coachee. This should be the ‘north star’ of our discussion. The definition of coaching by ICF reads “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximise their personal and professional potential”. The question then becomes, can an internal coach live up to this definition and practice ethically and professionally, which eventually benefits the coachee? One should acknowledge that both internal and external coaches have their own set of challenges and benefits, hence this is not a binary discussion of which approach is better than the other. The structure of this paper first explored the challenges and then the benefits, followed by recommendations to creating a coaching culture using a blended