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Corporate Coaching
16 Plays11 months ago
In this episode of PRIME SPACE, we sit down with Allison Thomas, ACC, to explore the world of corporate coaching. With years of experience working for top-tier companies, Allison delves into the challenges and opportunities of implementing coaching programs internally. She shares valuable insights on creating community, getting proper coach training and certification, and navigating potential conflicts of interest when building a successful internal coaching practice. Whether you're starting a coaching program in your organization or looking to enhance an existing one, this episode is packed with actionable advice to support your journey.
Allison Thomas, ACC - https://www.linkedin.com/in/allisonrthomas/
#CorporateCoaching #InternalCoaching #CoachingInBusiness #LeadershipDevelopment #CoachingProgram #EmployeeDevelopment #PRIMESPACEPodcast #ExecutiveCoaching #OrganizationalDevelopment #BusinessGrowth #CoachingInsights #CorporateCulture #CoachingCommunity
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Transcript
Introduction to Prime Space Podcast
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to Prime Space, a Prime Coaching Academy podcast with your host, Elias Scultori.
00:00:14
Speaker
So hello, everyone.
Guest Introduction: Allison Thomas
00:00:15
Speaker
This is one of these episodes that I, it's so joyful for me because I have a guest and a very special guest.
00:00:25
Speaker
Today, I'm going to have a conversation with Allison Thomas.
00:00:29
Speaker
Hello, Allison.
00:00:30
Speaker
Hello, Elias.
00:00:33
Speaker
Wonderful to have you here.
00:00:35
Speaker
Allison is one of these people that when you are in conversation with Allison, there is like your muscles relax because Allison is such a joy to talk with.
00:00:49
Speaker
There is such a peaceful and energizing energy that comes from you, Allison, that I'm always at all when I talk with you.
00:00:59
Speaker
So thank you for being here with us.
00:01:01
Speaker
Oh, such a pleasure.
00:01:03
Speaker
Thank you.
Allison Thomas's Career and Passion
00:01:04
Speaker
For those of you who don't know Allison, Allison has a long career in the corporate world, particularly in HR.
00:01:13
Speaker
She worked for 20 years at Starbucks, and now she is the Associate Director of Team Effectiveness Lead at
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Speaker
for technology, media and telecommunications in a global consulting firm.
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So she has she has worked quite extensively in the corporate world.
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Speaker
Alison is also an ACC coach and she is ready.
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Speaker
I can tell you she is ready for her PCC or more.
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Speaker
And we are very excited about this.
00:01:43
Speaker
One good thing about for you to understand about Allison is that she when I asked her, you know, I would love to share something personal about you.
00:01:52
Speaker
And she thought a little bit.
00:01:53
Speaker
And then she was like, I wanted to tell people that I am an advocate for social justice.
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Speaker
Equity shows up everywhere.
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Speaker
And Alison is passionate about advocating for equal rights for all people.
00:02:10
Speaker
Perhaps that's one of the things that I love about you, Alison.
00:02:13
Speaker
Thank you.
00:02:14
Speaker
Oh, thanks, Elias.
00:02:17
Speaker
Yeah.
Transition to Coaching
00:02:18
Speaker
So, Alison, you know, the purpose of our conversation here today, I invited you because you are an internal coach.
00:02:25
Speaker
And you have worked with big corporations, world-renowned corporations, and you have brought this coach approach to, and you have used your coaching skills
00:02:37
Speaker
So I would love to hear your perspective from that side of coaching.
00:02:42
Speaker
And the first question I have for you is that you had this career in corporate world and you were being very successful and then came coaching.
00:02:54
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What made you, what brought you to coaching?
00:02:58
Speaker
It's such a great question, Elias, and so fun to talk about.
00:03:01
Speaker
When I made the pivot from Starbucks to where I currently work, the consulting firm, the person who hired me in, who is actually now a full-time internal coach with our coaching practice, talked with me about the coaching culture at the organization, and in particular, her role as a coach, which I had no idea before I joined this organization that
00:03:27
Speaker
Dr. Amy Moore- Coaching what she kind of described at the time big C coaching was a thing because i'd always thought oh I work with leaders i'm what I now know I was a consultant, but I approached it with care right and and seeing each person individually.
00:03:43
Speaker
Dr. Amy Moore- And really wanting to help them.
00:03:48
Speaker
not just solve that short-term problem, but really figure things out and get someplace pivotal for them, which of course now I'm like, oh gosh, I got to be a coach and do that.
00:04:00
Speaker
But she really opened up the door for me to know what coaching is and then actually to even pursue it.
00:04:08
Speaker
So seeing an organization that valued coaching, that really leveraged coaching for people to be successful in their current roles,
00:04:17
Speaker
and find their next role is what inspired me to become a coach.
Creating Safe Spaces Through Coaching
00:04:22
Speaker
So like, it was an it seems that it was a natural progression in your corporate career.
00:04:27
Speaker
Here comes the opportunity for you to bring this skill and thank you for saying, Okay, so let me go in and get formally trained so that I can do this.
00:04:38
Speaker
Well, thank you.
00:04:41
Speaker
Thank you for that.
00:04:42
Speaker
What is what do you like the most about coaching internally?
00:04:47
Speaker
You know, it's so much fun in many ways.
00:04:52
Speaker
One, you know, I do call it sort of my internal side gig, right?
00:04:55
Speaker
Because it's not my full-time job.
00:04:58
Speaker
It's just part of what I do.
00:04:59
Speaker
And yet it infuses itself into everything that I do, which is a really wonderful thing.
00:05:06
Speaker
So I think where I'm doing it truly in a formal coaching role, you're able to meet people and create a safe space as an internal partner.
00:05:17
Speaker
peer, like you really approach that partnership in a way that is just beautiful.
00:05:24
Speaker
And when you get to see folks who you know, the internal kind of challenges they're navigating and watch them
00:05:33
Speaker
work through those barriers like there's just a whole different level of appreciation to see that kind of problem get unlocked and to be in partnership with them in that trusted space and I think the piece that I love the most is the safety that you can offer when you're an internal coach and folks really come into that
00:05:55
Speaker
With openness and seeing you as that partner and that trusted ally for them to have a really safe space to just say everything they need to say is pretty special as an internal coach.
00:06:11
Speaker
It's so beautiful to see you describing this because then you can see in the middle of your, in between your words, your passion for coaching and your skill as a coach.
00:06:25
Speaker
Two things that you said there that to me are so important.
00:06:29
Speaker
This idea that the coach approach and the coaching mindset and even the coaching framework is
00:06:34
Speaker
can be applied beyond the one-on-ones.
00:06:39
Speaker
There are conversations that you're going to have.
00:06:41
Speaker
There are meetings that you're going to have.
00:06:43
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There are ways of relating and leadership roles that you can apply the coach approach and support the leaders in that.
00:06:51
Speaker
The other one is the systemic aspect of it, that because you are a part of the organization, there is perhaps a more comprehensive, I don't know, or a bird's eye view of the development of that particular individual that seems to be quite powerful.
00:07:09
Speaker
Thank you for that.
00:07:10
Speaker
Absolutely, yeah.
Challenges of Internal Coaching
00:07:12
Speaker
I know that it's not just roses, but there are some challenges.
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Speaker
What do you mean?
00:07:19
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So I wonder, what are the challenges that you have faced being an internal coach?
00:07:25
Speaker
I do think the other thing I would say on the other coin of trust is because you are an internal coach, sometimes it can be harder for folks.
00:07:36
Speaker
Some get there really quickly with trust.
00:07:39
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They're like, you're internal.
00:07:40
Speaker
I got connected to you.
00:07:42
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I know you're going to be amazing for me.
00:07:44
Speaker
Whereas others are like, you're internal.
00:07:47
Speaker
Can I trust you?
00:07:48
Speaker
Are you going to talk to anyone?
00:07:50
Speaker
They don't say this, but you can sort of feel that to work through that
00:07:56
Speaker
I don't want to call it baggage, but some natural worries, right?
00:07:59
Speaker
Like, can I really trust you takes more time.
00:08:03
Speaker
And for some, you just can't get past it, which for me is always like a hard thing, right?
00:08:08
Speaker
To realize that
00:08:09
Speaker
someone wants coaching and could really benefit from it, but they're just, they're just in too raw of a place to be able to trust someone internally.
00:08:20
Speaker
So I would say that's one challenge, Elias.
00:08:23
Speaker
The other challenge that I would call out for the coach themselves, right, is that you are part of the organization that this person is navigating through.
00:08:32
Speaker
So your own
00:08:35
Speaker
experience is going to come up and you have to be prepared to work with that right like it of course everything you do should and and is client-centered but sometimes they're gonna bump up against things that you're you it you're triggered right like oh i know i know this so then of course it becomes about you not about the client and so that's a a
00:09:05
Speaker
Very frequent watch out for me, right?
00:09:07
Speaker
As a coach is like, how do I, how do I shake that off and just be truly aware that this is about the coachee and their experience rather than my own?
00:09:17
Speaker
Very interesting.
00:09:19
Speaker
So because you are very familiar with the environment, that can be a plus, but that can be also tricky because you may be experiencing some of the same feelings as the client and may identify a little too close.
00:09:38
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:09:39
Speaker
Very interesting, that concept.
00:09:42
Speaker
I appreciate that.
00:09:43
Speaker
What do you do when you see the first point that you mentioned, the first challenge about trust?
Building Trust with Clients
00:09:49
Speaker
What are things that you keep in mind when you see that there is that challenge and to support that particular client into perhaps overcoming that challenge of trust?
00:09:59
Speaker
I think it's just
00:10:01
Speaker
trying to figure out, you know, I think of a couple of recent examples for me.
00:10:05
Speaker
One, another beauty of being an internal coach is I have this incredible resource of fellow internal coaches that I can tap and chances are they've experienced something similar.
00:10:17
Speaker
So I leverage my internal network to say, what did you do here?
00:10:25
Speaker
find a tool that might resonate with that particular individual.
00:10:28
Speaker
Like if they seem like they need a structure that I may not necessarily apply, I'm definitely more of an unstructured coach here, right?
00:10:38
Speaker
Figure out something that just will tick some of those trust boxes to make them feel like there's a value that's coming out of this that will, you know, kind of
00:10:49
Speaker
give them that sense of, I really am going to get something and I can trust this person.
00:10:54
Speaker
So just, of course, we're all meeting that individual client where we need to meet them at and each individual, but probably lean in a little more specifically to like, what is, what's a need here that I could proactively see if it might meet their need.
Community Support and Training for Coaches
00:11:13
Speaker
You just brought up another point that to me, whether if you are an internal or external coach, if you are a coach, it's so crucial, which is community.
00:11:23
Speaker
And the beauty of one of the good things about being an internal coach is that you have a group of coaches there that you can collaborate.
00:11:32
Speaker
Community for me, actually, it's I talk about this on the second episode that I made for Prime Space.
00:11:38
Speaker
It's the aspect of being in community.
00:11:42
Speaker
as a coach, you just highlighted, you know, the beautiful points.
00:11:47
Speaker
You have access to other experiences and you can grow and you can share.
00:11:52
Speaker
And so thank you for bringing this up.
00:11:55
Speaker
I appreciate it.
00:11:56
Speaker
If someone...
00:11:58
Speaker
is there in their coaching, in their organization, this person has a role and a full-time job in an organization and would like to start or would like to create an internal coaching program.
00:12:15
Speaker
Any tips for that person?
00:12:17
Speaker
I think...
00:12:18
Speaker
you know, probably, I mean, one for me, this might sound kind of obvious, but find, get the training, right?
00:12:25
Speaker
If you don't already have it to be that coach who has the accreditation over time, but really has the expertise to be able to talk about coaching and what the value is, but also find some internal clients to start to build a business case for what's the transformation that's possible.
00:12:45
Speaker
What I know that we found at our firm that's really
00:12:48
Speaker
built not just a culture of coaching, but a just ton of belief in the process of coaching is that we look at what does the data show us and around the efficacy.
00:13:00
Speaker
Like we look at the number of coaches and what they achieve after coaching.
00:13:05
Speaker
And so I think
00:13:07
Speaker
Find the story, right, that will build the business case and tell that story of the impact that you're having, kind of the tangible and the intangible to really create an appetite for it.
00:13:18
Speaker
Because it can be so, so transformational for individuals and then, of course, the organization.
Connecting with Allison for Further Insights
00:13:26
Speaker
That's beautiful.
00:13:26
Speaker
Like the evidence, once you show the evidence, there is no question about it.
00:13:32
Speaker
There is an evidence of the effectiveness of this particular process.
00:13:36
Speaker
Of course, the people making the decisions would appreciate that.
00:13:43
Speaker
And
00:13:44
Speaker
Thank you.
00:13:44
Speaker
The data, right?
00:13:46
Speaker
People love that.
00:13:47
Speaker
And I so appreciate that you started with the idea of coach training.
00:13:52
Speaker
I'm passionate about coach training and being able to really know what we are doing so that we can do this effectively.
00:14:01
Speaker
Well, Alison, I'm so sorry that it's just a short episode here.
00:14:07
Speaker
There is more for us to talk about, and I'm sure that you're going to be back.
00:14:10
Speaker
Oh, my goodness.
00:14:11
Speaker
What a pleasure, Elias.
00:14:12
Speaker
Thank you.
00:14:13
Speaker
Would love to.
00:14:14
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:14:15
Speaker
Thank you so much for this.
00:14:16
Speaker
Alison, if anyone wants to get in touch with you and continue the conversation, how can they connect with you?
00:14:22
Speaker
My LinkedIn profile and my inbox there, I monitor that regularly.
00:14:26
Speaker
So I would welcome any outreach to have a follow-up conversation.
00:14:31
Speaker
Well, a first conversation with anyone whose interest is piqued.
00:14:34
Speaker
Happy to chat more.
00:14:36
Speaker
Wonderful.
00:14:37
Speaker
So connect with Alison on LinkedIn and continue the conversation.
00:14:42
Speaker
Alison, thank you so much for being here.
00:14:44
Speaker
Thank you, everyone, for listening to this podcast.
00:14:48
Speaker
Don't forget to subscribe.
00:14:50
Speaker
Don't forget to share this with others.
00:14:53
Speaker
And I will talk to you next time.
00:14:55
Speaker
Take care, everybody.