Coaching the coaches, to develop the teams, to accelerate the pace of change

ISSN： 0019-7858

Source： Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol.33, Iss.5, 2001-08, pp. : 161-167

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Abstract

The past decade has been one of change and rationalisation for Unilever, as for many other organisations. Elida Faberge´, a flagship UK factory (now known as Lever Faberge´), which deals with many well-known brand names in the health and personal care product range, needed to upskill its workforce to deal with the certainty of change. An innovative and risky strategy was taken to enable the developments to take place. A team of 12 people were recruited, on three-year contracts, as coaches to the manufacturing teams and leaders. This case study discusses how, by using a mixture of action development (our build from action learning) and coaching, we helped the coaches to: develop their own skills in line with the business coach model defined, work as coaches at the same time as developing these skills; build themselves into an effective team; rapidly understand and use the organisation culture; develop a real understanding of how to learn and how to build learning into the organisation and, at the same time, to achieve work-based qualifications of real value to themselves and the organisation.