Business coaching at the BBC – A good talent management technique

I was recently chatting to a lady who heads up the in-house business coaching practice at the BBC.  Coaching practice at the BBC?  The BBC has 80 in-house ‘executive’ coaches throughout the world, although most of them are based in the UK. 

Most of the BBC coaches have traditional day jobs at the company and then do internal business coaching on the side.  Senior staff are encouraged to qualify as leadership/business coaches in order to further their professional development, share their experiences with others and add a new dimension to their careers. 

All potential coaches must pass the BBC’s in-house coaching qualification that is certified by a recognised coaching body in the UK.

There is a huge demand for business coaching at the BBC.  These are the common problems coachees experience:

1. Many people quietly suffer with an ‘Imposter Complex’.  This means people don’t feel worthy in their current position.  They are concerned that others will eventually ‘catch them out’ and realize they don’t have the skills or ability to be in their current position.
    
2. People have good technical, functional abilities but, as they move higher up the hierarchy, they lack adequate people skills.  Many employees find it difficult to be a good leader.
    
3. People battle to balance creativity and administration.  They struggle to maintain an innovative mindset while doing the dull, repetitive administration work that is also required of them.

These issues are not specific to the BBC.  Yet, they have developed an innovative, strategic method of solving complex people issues.  People are their greatest asset and they try to put their money where their mouth is.  They invest in their staff so that their staff will invest in them.  They develop their staff so that others within the company can benefit too. 

While they do this, they keep all the knowledge in-house and avoid high external consulting/coaching fees.  The initial investment in training is high but they believe the benefits far outweigh the costs. They solve their internal people issues by using their own experienced staff, with personal knowledge of the pressures and industry, to support others.

This technique is called ‘Reciprocal Altruism’.  It means – scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.

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