Forward thinking organisation QinetiQ partners with Coaching Focus to build the way forward for its employees – working towards coaching becoming an everyday occurrence.
QinetiQ is a world-centre of excellence in research and development, building integrated solutions with innovative approaches to current and future challenges, and operates primarily in the defence, security and critical national infrastructure markets. Originally part of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency within the Ministry of Defence (MOD) in the UK, QinetiQ then became a public private partnership in 2002. It prides itself on offering its customers (mainly Ministry’s of Defence as well as some non-MOD customers) world-class expertise in advice, services (particularly test and evaluation) and innovative technology-based products. It has a global staff of 6,000 in 85 offices around the UK, the US, Canada, Belgium, Germany, and Australia, as well as a new satellite office in Malaysia and a joint venture in the Middle East.
Lacking a way to measure the value of coaching and mentoring, QinetiQ needed support in demonstrating the positive impact it was having on the organisation
QinetiQ is a company that invests in its people, believing its employees are key to its success to solve some of the world’s most challenging problems. In recognition of this, and understanding that developing skills, supporting and encouraging its employees was fundamental, it created the QinetiQ Academy, a focal point for all staff training and leadership development which provides opportunities for further growth and encourages people to develop technical skills and complete professional training.
Corinne Jeffery, QinetiQ’s Lead for Coaching, Mentoring and Leadership Development, explained that they wanted to “ensure coaching and mentoring was perceived to be a technical discipline in the same way the science and technology disciplines were perceived”. To do this, QinetiQ needed a way of easily and efficiently tracking the value of coaching and mentoring within the organisation. They also considered it important to implement externally accredited tools and trainings
Offering bespoke service and a uniquely tailored product led QinetiQ to see that Coaching Focus was the solution it was looking for
This led QinetiQ to seek out a platform from which to manage and coordinate their internal coaching and mentoring programme, as well as some professional coaching expertise and development. Coaching Focus’ customisable coaching management tool Mye-coach, paired with the bespoke coaching development options available, was the perfect solution for QinetiQ’s needs.
As Corinne explains, “Mye-coach allows QinetiQ to set up coaches and mentors for success.” It will also enable them to support their global staff and offices to implement mentoring and coaching across the entire organisation, ensuring that it’s focused and providing value back to the individual as well as to the organisation.
The implementation of Mye-coach and a CPD program created especially for QinetiQ’s needs has produced excellent results
For the last couple of years QinetiQ has been implementing Mye-coach and utilising Coaching Focus’ expertise in providing Continuous Professional Development (CPD), with excellent results. They have been able to track the number of relationships that are in place at any one time. Within Mye-coach, QinetiQ currently has 11 internal coaches, and a broader coaching community of developing coaches and mentors. “[Mye-coach] supports me in understanding who is doing what, where we are at any one time” says Corinne.
The CPD provided to QinetiQ by Coaching Focus has focused on training internal coaches to become team coaches, as well as working on how to coach through organisational change. Coaching Focus was able to offer the option to co-create a tailored solution to respond to exactly what QinetiQ needed.
Coaching Focus provided QinetiQ with customer focused and responsive support. “In terms of Coaching Focus…their ability to get things done is great…I can say to them ‘this is what we want to be doing’ and it’s done. I don’t have to worry about the output. They are completely trusted in terms of what they deliver and the timescales in which they deliver”, Corinne explains.
According to Corinne, Coaching Focus is “very accessible, very good at working with you, very good at helping you develop and also exceed your expectations…Working alongside them gets you to where you need to go much quicker and in a much more effective way, and knowing that you’ve done that in a way that can be benchmarked externally is also very good.”
Planning to take their success with Coaching Focus to a global level, QinetiQ is looking forward to a time when coaching and mentoring become an every day occurrence within the organisation
Currently implemented across QinetiQ’s UK and Australian based offices, there are now plans to take Mye-coach and the CPD work they are doing with Coaching Focus to a global level. QinetiQ intends to, once again, co-create a solution with Coaching Focus to roll out the program on a global scale, leveraging Coaching Focus’ global experience and knowledge to find the best way forward.
“This is about coaching and mentoring becoming an everyday occurrence as opposed to a special one-off opportunity. My aim would be for every new employee that joins our organisation, they are provided with a mentor and/or a coach as appropriate”, says Corinne.
QinetiQ has high professional standards for their coaching and mentoring, and therefore, as Corinne said, “from my perspective, we go to the best, and Coaching Focus is one of them”.
Client: QinetiQ
Challenge: Lacking a way to measure the value of coaching and mentoring, QinetiQ needed support in demonstrating the positive impact it was having on the organisation
Solution: Offering bespoke service and a uniquely tailored product led QinetiQ to see that Coaching Focus was the solution it was looking for
Result: The implementation of Mye-coach and a CPD program created especially for QinetiQ’s needs has produced excellent results
About Coaching Focus Ltd.
Coaching Focus partners with organisations to create sustainable, performance-focused coaching cultures.
They offer ILM Coaching and Mentoring courses for senior managers or HR/LD professionals who want to develop their expertise, Manager as Coach skills programmes, and other courses, to UK companies like Tesco and BSI Group.
They also offer coaching consultancy services to companies internationally.