HR COACH
Developing a Global Leadership Program
Global leadership skills are so important that they improve a company’s reputation and contribute to a sustainable competitive advantage. Global leadership skills are especially important in dealing with workers, clients and associates from different regions. Excellent global leaders have a strong suite of personal skills that generates superior corporate performance in terms of four criteria: (1) profitability and productivity; (2) continuity and efficiency; (3) commitment and morale; and (4) adaptability and innovation. Behavioral based coaching is the only validated change mechanism that can produce a sustainable outcome that encompasses all four criteria of organizational performance. Through a personalized coaching / development plan global leaders learn how to understand and best manage complex people issues and to achieve the right cultural balance. The global leader must also be taught how to analyze the behavior of people around them to build loyalty, trust, and teamwork in different cultures.

To many HR and other leadership development professionals, coaching is just another name for what they’ve already been doing for years—helping managers and executives increase their capabilities and knowledge in developing and dealing with people. However, behavioral coaching (versus traditional coaching) is fundamentally changing the HR relationship with organization managers and executives. An increasing number of HR professionals are now taking on the new role of HR Coach and directly working with managers and leaders. 

Internal human resource professionals as coaches are in a unique position to understand and manage the tough issues concerning culture and people and personal leadership development. The traditional culture training class should no longer be the exclusive domain for the development of global leaders. Professional and personal skills development in managers and leaders must occur in "real time" and on a need-to basis today, not in a classroom next month.

HR COACH
-The Emergence of the HR Coach
Today's skilled, certified corporate HR Coaches require: the latest behavioral coaching models and technology; access to a variety of validated, credible resources and back-up and, the available time necessary to build successful leadership development programs.

An important factor the HR Coach brings to the coaching role is their knowledge of the organization, and the working/profile of the manager within that environment. Fundamental to the role, is trust. To assist an executive, the HR person must be extremely credible with executives. Credibility is perceived in how the coach conducts himself/herself as an impartial professional resource, development and change agent. A HR professional should not expect to coach unless their coaching credentials are impeccable. The leader participating in the coaching has to also feel the HR coach is qualified to be looking out for their best interests and maintaining objectivity and confidentiality at all times. This is one of the major reasons some HR coaches fail to attract internal clients.

In many organizations, the HR Coach also acts as the Coaching Program Manager to coordinate and unify the global leadership program / process of coaching in the organization. They can manage and monitor the expenditure of resources, train leaders / managers to also act as coaches, confirm the credentials of external coaches, and measure and determine the coaching results. Many HR professionals are also engaging their own coach to assist them as they deal with their own stresses and development.

Being coached allows HR professionals to bring firsthand experience to formal global leadership programs at their organizations. Coaching helps HR 'walk the talk' of coaching. It's one thing to talk up the value and benefits of leadership coaching to others and another thing altogether to have the experience of being coached. It gives HR professionals more credibility with their people if they can speak of the value it personally had for them, rather than sound like they are promoting another HR program.