Jenny Sturm/Shutterstock.com
The Coaching Case
As a result, for many front-line
nonprofit staffers, self-care and even
the cultivation of self-awareness can
take a backseat to client care, resulting
in a work force that may be developed
professionally, but not personally.
From Stress
to Success
Barbara Hankins,
MSc
Barbara brings to the coaching
experience in-depth personal
knowledge and expertise
in turning adversity into
opportunity in midlife and
creating and achieving an
entrepreneurial career journey.
She has 25-plus years of
experience as a small-business
owner, including eight years
of experience supporting
one SME’s rapid growth,
transformation and culture
change, culminating in a
master of science degree and
the creation of a new model
of motivation. An article on
this research, titled “Intrinsic
Motivation: The Key Driver
to an Enterprising Culture,”
appeared in the International
Journal of Professional
Management (Vol. 7, No. 2,
August 2012).
12 Coaching World
For people with a desire to serve
their communities, launching
a career in the nonprofit sector
can be incredibly rewarding.
However, working for a nonprofit
organization—particularly in a
front-line, client services role—
can also be immensely stressful.
Front-line staff in any industry
are the most removed from topline strategic decisions yet are
subject to the greatest impact
on their health, well-being and
performance. Like their privatesector peers, front-line staff
in the nonprofit setting must
enhance their professional
skills and expertise, build
collaborative relationships
with partner organizations
and achieve specific targets or
performance goals. However,
there’s a substantial difference
between reaching a sales target
and achieving desired but hardto-measure client outcomes.
This was the situation confronting a
well-established nonprofit in the United
Kingdom t hat had recently undergone
a half-decade of significant change
and growth. A central plank of the
organization’s business development
strategy was the continuous training
and development of staff aligned with
the needs of a growing business and
client base.
The nonprofit approached my
organization, Catalyst for Change,
to launch an innovative year-long
coaching program to enhance the
capabilities of 28 front-line clientservices staff members. The goals of
the coaching initiative were to reduce
workplace stress, increase resilience
and job satisfaction, and improve
reflective practice.
The Tools for Success
The 12-month program, designed to
be conducted partially in person and
partially via Skype, included just five
hours of coaching per coachee, making
efficient assessment a must. I provided
specific tools to enable assessment of
each coachee’s starting point, including
a pre-coaching questionnaire, the Wheel
of Life tool, and questionnaires focusing
on values and learning styles.
The learning cycle assessment tool
from Peter Honey and Alan Mumford’s
The Manual of Learning Styles—provided
to coachees prior to the start of
coaching—was particularly useful.
At the first session, I was able to
explain how the cycle fits in with the
coachee’s learning style so she was
better able to understand herself. Some
of the coachees I partnered with were
Reflectors, but many of their job tasks
required that they be in Activist mode,
while others were Activists who needed
to improve their Reflective practice.