by Angie Castro
A few years ago Rulesware moved away from a traditional top-down management structure to a coaching structure, aiming to enable lasting performance improvement among our employees. We’ve set out to cultivate a true coaching culture, where all members of our team courageously engage in candid and respectful coaching conversations with one another, unrestricted by reporting relationships and individual and collective work performance.
It’s been a rewarding experience for us all.
Today at Rulesware everyone has a dedicated coach to help them plan and reach career goals, help them meet their project needs, and to provide general guidance.
Performance improvement and career development depends on actionable feedback continuously shared between trusting colleagues, and we’re always looking to further elevate our coaching culture while staying true to our core values.
The Impact of Coaching
Our coaching structure has significantly improved our culture, and we remain committed to continually investing in how we coach each other at every level of the organization.
As part of that investment, one of our big goals for 2019 was to select a coaching methodology that would elevate our approach to coaching even more. Our Talent Management Lead, Heather Piernick, and our Director of Practice Management, Molly Eddington, spent several months researching and selecting a tool that would not only deliver what we needed, but would also be a good fit for Rulesware’s culture. After a long search, they found the right one: The Heart of Coaching.
The Heart of Coaching
In October of 2019 a number of our senior leaders attended an extensive and in-depth workshop in Austin, Texas where they learned The Heart of Coaching (THOC) methodology. THOC is a communication tool outlining how we can better give and receive feedback to each other within the organization. It’s meant to empower those within our organization to give real-time, in-the-moment feedback to anyone at any level (up, down, and sideways feedback). We intend to use THOC’s Transformational Coaching Roadmap within our Coach-Coachee relationships and in other settings, giving all of us the tools to be effective in-the-moment Coaches for each other.
“I’m really excited for the investment we’re making as a company in The Heart of Coaching,” says Logan McCune, Rulesware’s People & Culture Manager. “It’s a methodology for coaching and effective communication that dovetails perfectly with our already strong coaching culture … As we launch this to the whole company, I can see how The Heart of Coaching is going to significantly enhance our culture of coaching and accountability and give everyone a common tool to use.”
Courage in Action
The investment we’re making in THOC at Rulesware is part of our commitment to roll out six new programs that are aligned to our core values of Innovation, Courage, Responsibility, Quality, Expertise, and Community.
THOC is our newest program that we’re rolling out, and is tied directly to our core value of Courage. Maintaining and further elevating a coaching culture requires a lot of courage, and here at Rulesware that means doing the right thing, questioning when others speak or act in ways contrary to our values, holding each other accountable to commitments and goals, and taking smart risks with no fear of controversy.
Benefits of a High-Performing Coaching Culture
Since coaching cultures significantly outperform non-coaching cultures, some of the benefits of creating a high-performing coaching culture that we expect to see include:
- Leaders become more effective leaders
- Individuals are more accountable and inspired to create their personal best performance.
- Teams who embrace coaching are better equipped to deal with conflict
- Change initiatives are more likely to succeed
- Employee morale is strengthened
- The conditions for sustainable high performance are created
Are you interested in being part of a company where people truly care and support your career progression, with a dedicated career coach to help you every step of the way? Get in touch!