Oxfordshire County Council

What We Do › Coaching › West Midlands Coaching and Mentoring Pool › Oxfordshire County Council

The Council is working in partnership with West Midlands Employers who are now managing our coaching resource, and bring a wealth of experience and expertise in coaching.

You can use the West Midlands Coaching and Mentoring Pool website to search for available coaches in your area. This includes colleagues in Oxfordshire CC’s Internal Pool, as well as coaches from other public sector partners in the Pool.

Why access coaching?

Coaching provides a dedicated space to work 1 to 1 with someone who will help you to make progress on your work goals. These may be about progression in your role, building your confidence, managing or improving relationships. Whatever you goal is your coach will work with you in a non judgemental way to explore options, look at your current perspective on things and facilitate your thinking about what actions you want to take. A coach is not there to tell you what to do, but can help you think things through in ways that you couldn’t on your own. All staff in Oxfordshire County Council can access coaching at any time (with the support of their line manager) and we view this as a core part of our development offer to employees.

Through the pool employees can also search for a mentor, information about the difference between coaching and mentoring can be found on the OCC intranet. A mentor tends to offer more technical and experiential advice and has skills and experience you are looking to develop yourself.

Internal or External Coach – what’s the difference?

Oxfordshire CC has an internal network of experienced coaches who offer a very high standard of coaching support. Our Internal Coaches have had their training vetted, and are required to take part in supervision and continuing professional development. They also adhere to the West Midlands Coaching and Mentoring Pool Code of Conduct. These colleagues will have shared organisational understanding, which can be a useful feature of internal coaching. Alternatively, you also have access to highly qualified coaches working in senior roles in other public sector organisations, who will bring an external viewpoint and perspective. If you apply for coaching or mentoring from an external coach, you will be encouraged to involve your line manager closely in the process, e.g. in agreeing and reviewing goals. Coaching can be conducted virtually using MS Teams, Skype or the telephone and face to face (when social distancing restrictions are lifted). When meeting face to face the coach and client will agree a mutually convenient location, which can involve some travel for both parties.

To access coaching:

1. If you plan to access coaching during working hours, please ensure you have the approval of your line manager.

2. Reflect on what you wish to gain from coaching. It is also very helpful to discuss what you wish to gain from coaching with your line manager or another colleague.

3. Consider if you would prefer an internal Oxfordshire County Council coach, an external coach, or if you have no preference.

4. Please then register as a coachee on the West Midlands Coaching and Mentoring Pool website to search for a suitable coach (or register as a mentee if you are looking for mentoring)

If you would like further information about coaching, please visit the OCC Intranet pages, or contact the Organisational Development Team.

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