Building a Coaching Culture

You can hear a coaching culture in ordinary meetings

The clearest sign of a coaching culture is not a programme or a policy. It is the quality of everyday conversations: leaders asking before telling, people raising problems early, feedback flowing in more than one direction and decisions owned by the people closest to the work.

In a hierarchical environment, which describes many Gulf organisations, this does not mean flattening authority. It means senior people using their authority to invite thinking rather than only to give instructions. Respect for seniority and curiosity can sit together.

Three levels of the system have to move together

I use a systemic lens, drawn from my training in systemic coaching and systemic team coaching. Systemic coaching looks at the relationships and patterns around a person, not only the person. For culture change, that means working at three levels at once.

Coaching culture efforts usually stall for the same reasons

• ✦The top team sponsors the initiative but does not change its own behaviour.
• ✦Managers are trained in coaching skills, then measured only on short-term output.
• ✦Coaching becomes associated with underperformance, so nobody wants to be seen receiving it.
• ✦Confidentiality is unclear, so people suspect coaching conversations feed into appraisals.
• ✦The initiative is launched with energy and then left without follow-up or review.

A phased approach builds momentum without overwhelming people

1. 01

   Listen first

   I speak with senior leaders, HR and a sample of managers to understand how conversations happen today and what gets in the way.

2. 02

   Start at the top

   The executive team works on its own coaching behaviours, often through team coaching and individual sessions.

3. 03

   Equip managers

   Line managers learn to hold coaching conversations, with practice and follow-up rather than a single workshop.

4. 04

   Adjust the system

   With HR, we look at how performance reviews, one-to-ones and talent processes can support the new behaviour.

5. 05

   Review and renew

   We revisit the outcomes agreed at the start and decide where to focus next.

Signs the culture is genuinely shifting

Culture change is slow, so it helps to agree early signals you will look for. These usually include fewer decisions escalated to senior leaders, more problems raised early, more upward feedback in engagement data and managers describing one-to-ones as development conversations.

Psychological safety is a large part of this, because people only speak honestly when it feels safe to do so. What psychological safety is explains the idea, and it often becomes one of the measures we track.

Why I take a systems view of culture

I spent the early part of my career in HR and talent management, shaping culture and supporting executive teams through growth and transformation in financial services, FMCG, entrepreneurship and government. I learned that culture follows what leaders do and what systems reward, not what posters say.

Today I combine that experience with ICF PCC credentialed coaching and systemic team coaching for leadership groups. The aim is a culture that can keep developing after I have stepped away.