A multilayered approach to build a sustainable coaching culture

Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust multi-pronged coaching initiative was heralded as ground-breaking within the NHS when it launched because of the extent of its ambition and reach. It sought to penetrate multiple layers of the organisation, transforming employees’ behaviour, language and thinking, and ultimately impacting on patient care.

The Trust brought in i-coach academy at the end of 2009 to help it design and implement the initiative, which started in March the following year. It included an internal coach pool of staff from all backgrounds and grades across the organisation offering both individual 1-2-1 coaching and a series of short “Coaching Essentials for Manager Programmes”. Coaching modules were included within leadership development programmes to encourage informal coaching-style conversations at many levels of the organisation, including with patients. Three years on, the Trust is well on its way to embedding a sustainable coaching culture and is seeing a range of benefits, including improvements to patient care and quality of experience.

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