More
than eight in 10 British businesses use coaching, but only one in five give any
training to the coaches themselves.
A
survey of 211 HR specialists by the Work Foundation found that coaching and
mentoring skills tend to trickle down through organisations, with senior managers
working with middle managers, and middle managers with their juniors.
Coaching
tends to be focused on current performance issues and mentoring is used to
develop long-term skills and career prospects.
The
research showed that 64 per cent of respondents used coaching to develop
job-specific or technical skills, followed by 50 per cent for management
development and 47 per cent for leadership skills.
The
most popular use for mentoring is familiarising new recruits with the
organisation (45 per cent).
Stephen
Bevan, director of research at the Work Foundation, said it was encouraging
that so many organisations recognised the benefits of coaching and mentoring.
"What
is worrying, however, is that so few are prepared to invest in competent
practice," he said. "A good coach or mentor can make a massive
difference to individual and organisational performance, but a bad one can be
an ‘unguided’ missile, and do considerable damage."
