West Midlands councils create 'coaching pool' for managers

West Midlands councils to create 'coaching pool' training scheme

by Mike Berry

Twelve West Midlands councils are working on a £550,000 project to develop a regional 'coaching pool' to train managers in delivering free coaching across the authorities.

Human resources representatives from councils across the region developed the programme. It aims to train 150 local government managers, who will then coach individuals across the councils to improve performance.

The pool will provide a minimum of 4,140 coaching hours across the 12 local authorities per year, once at full capacity.

It will allow managers to work on a one-to-one basis with staff in their teams, as well as across the pool, on performance issues.

Olwen Dutton, chief executive of the West Midlands Local Government Association, which worked on the project, said: "This project will enable West Midlands' councils to provide improvement in both performance and efficiency, raising the overall performance of the region."