Challenge
Train an internal team of highly-qualified executive coaches and develop a strong pipeline of leaders within the organisation.
The Aim.
Developing senior managers to be better leaders and to encourage the cultivation of talent – by the expansion of a coaching programme across McDonald’s UK and Ireland.
Aggregate Industries
Aggregate Industries eliminates the need to outsource coaching services ever again - by training a team of highly-qualified internal coaches.
Solution
Coaching Focus’ ILM Level 7 Certificate in Executive Coaching and Mentoring course, and the ILM Level 5 Certificate and Diploma in Coaching and Mentoring programme.
Result
Practical skills the team were able to use immediately; more proactive, autonomous and efficient management staff, a highly cost-effective solution, and a greatly increased coaching capacity.
Context
Aggregate Industries, a subsidiary of Lafarge Holcim, was incorporated in 1930 and is now one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of aggregate, asphalt, precast and ready-mixed concrete.
They produce 30 million tons of sand and gravel per year, work across over 250 locations nationally and employ over 4,500 individuals overall. It'sContracting Division unit is a civil contractor that has paved many of the roads and highways in Great Britain.
Overview
Creating a powerful, efficient pipeline of leaders
In 2015, the Learning and Development section of the Human Resources Department of the company took on a unique business challenge: creating a new pipeline of leaders. A talent development strategy was developed to foster leadership skills in managers on all levels of the organisation.
The plan was to identify “high potential” managers that showed promise and could soon transition from one management level to another, and help them grow to fill their next, more demanding role using executive coaching in accordance with their individual development needs.
Before this strategy was executed, Aggregate Industries were using external executive coaches to aid senior staff in their work, as well as line manager interventions and other Programmes to support the managers at the company. However, this was the first time they would be using coaching as a development option. And to execute their strategy effectively, they decided to train an internal team of coaches to potently increase coaching capacity within the business.
What We Did
Aggregate Industries executives wanted their own internal coaching team to earn a recognised coaching qualification: an ILM Level 7 Certificate in Executive Coaching and Mentoring course, from a provider that was qualified to deliver.
“As soon as the course started, we were able to use our skills during practice coaching sessions, helping our “high potentials” improve their management skills.” All the Aggregate Industries coaching students were able to complete their course, receive their new qualification and get to work on strengthening the skills of the company’s pipeline of leaders.
And the results show. “Now that the managers are coaching, the sales teams are more proactive and involved. They think of new ways to develop the business, and they’re more autonomous,” says David Butterfield, Head of Learning and Development.
“I’ve been working with one individual who is working on using an inclusive leadership style, and his line manager was extremely happy with how he’s managed to completely change his behaviour. In fact, the feedback from all angles has been positive. Everyone seems to be working more efficiently.” says David.
What We Achieved
Aggregate Industries now has their fully-trained team of internal coaches, and it has erased the need to outsource coaching services, completely. Over 30 managers are now being coached by the team.
“We’re very happy with the ROI. If we’d paid for the coaching sessions we’ve been able to perform in-house since we trained our team—which wouldn’t have even been feasible for us—we’d have invested 20% more on coaching this year. But now we can provide our managers with high-quality coaching for many years to come, with little or no additional investment,” said David.
Aggregate Industries are also able to measure how quickly and effectively their coachees’ objectives are being attained, automatically. Using My eCoach, a piece of software that schedules meetings, allows users to outline objectives, as well as share notes and resources, they’re able to continue to improve the quality of the executive coaching that takes place at the company.
The feedback has been very positive. When Aggregate Industries coachees were asked how they felt they had progressed during a coaching Programme - and rated the achievement of their goals from 1-5, where 5 reflects 100% achievement of their goal and 1 reflects no progress made - everyone replied with a 4 or a 5 which is displayed in the graph below.
“Now that the managers are coaching, the sales teams are more proactive and involved".
David Butterfield
Head of Learning and Development
The Head of Trading & Supply Chain
What worked well for you during the coaching session?
“Having a specific time to reflect on my own performance and to openly discuss potential improvements and alternative options available to me. [It’s] also good to have professional advice in terms of development and aligning to academic/practical options outside of my knowledge.”
The General Manager
“I have personally found the programme very useful. I very rarely get the opportunity to have in-depth, probing and challenging discussions around day-to-day issues and how I manage, coach and develop my team.
“It made me realise that my perception of how I see and deal with people/situations is not always how other people see them… and I have learnt a lot about how I handle these situations... [which] will help me in the future.”
“We’ve been working with CF for two years now. I’d give their courses a 10 out of 10. I can’t think of anything we’d have them do differently. We’re very satisfied, which is why we’ve brought them in again to introduce more coaching,” said David.
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