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Coaching Skills for Managers and Leaders

Managers are often promoted for technical or business experience but lack the leadership skills to develop the people who report to them. Coaching skills for managers are key to driving sustained performance and unlocking individual, team and company success.

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coaching training for managers
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Coaching for managers, from the company that has been doing it since 1982

Performance Consultants was founded by Sir John Whitmore, co-creator of the GROW™ model. The Coaching for Performance™ methodology has been developed here over 40 years. Our manager coaching training programs turn that methodology into coaching skills for managers and leaders to use on a daily basis with their team.

Our global coaching programs develop coaching skills across management populations at different levels – from observed coaching skills practice for leaders to a shared language for everyone. Available in a variety of formats from self-paced e-learning to live facilitated cohorts (in person and virtually/online), there is a solution for every company’s size and need.

Chosen by managers and leaders at Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, Linde, IKEA, Mastercard, Nando’s, Royal Navy, Franke Group and many more (see our case studies).

 

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“Coaching is still misunderstood, but it’s really the enabling skill for people-leaders […]. If you know how to coach, you’ll know how to delegate and you’ll know how to give feedback effectively, and you know how to help people grow”

Simon Losasso, Global Talent Development Consultant at Medtronic

 

Why Coaching Skills for Managers Ignite Performance

A manager who tells people what to do gets compliance at best, indifference at worst. A manager who asks the right questions gets a person who has worked out the answer and now owns it. That difference compounds across a team, and then across an organization.

Coaching skills training for managers works because it changes the default. We offer a structure managers can use under pressure; enough practice that the structure becomes automatic; and a shared language so a coaching conversation feels normal rather than like an intervention.

And we can measure the impact. The GROW Leader Coach Framework™ assesses four strengths and twelve observable skills before and after, so you can show the business what changed, not just how much people enjoyed the workshop.

 

Coaching Skills for Managers Programs

Each program works on its own. They share one model and one assessment, so they combine without overlapping. Most organizations buy a combination, sequenced over 6 to 24 months.

Investment depends on seat numbers, format and location. Tell us what you are working with and we will help you design it and scope it – get in touch for a no-strings-attached consultation.

GROW Leader Coach™ also runs as an open program – individual managers can book a place directly without waiting for an organization-wide rollout. See upcoming dates.

GROW Essentials™ | The fundamentals

Introduces the Leader Coach mindset, the GROW model and the core coaching skills that raise performance, and builds a shared language across a team or a whole organization.

Who it is for: managers and teams who need the foundation before anything else.

Format: online and self-paced. Annual licence, minimum 50 seats. Facilitated sessions available as an add-on.

Scale: population-wide from day one.


Explore GROW Essentials™

GROW Leader Coach™ | The flagship program

Experiential, live coaching training with observed skills practice and expert feedback, for the leaders who will change how performance happens.

Who it is for: senior leaders and people leaders applying a coaching leadership style across their part of the business.

Format: coach-facilitator led, in person or virtual. Two full days or four 4-hour workshops, plus a one-hour kick-off and two 1-hour follow-ups. Note that bespoke versions are also available for larger rollouts, including 1- and 2-day options.
Cohorts of 12 to 24.

Scale: we specialize in large rollouts, possible via our dedicated Delivery and Accounts teams and the Performance Hub LMS. Train the Trainer licenses are also available for scaling across hundreds or thousands.

GROW Leader Coach™ is also available as an Open Program that individual managers can book directly.

Explore GROW Leader Coach™

GROW for Difficult Conversations™ & other targeted modules

Single-topic modules that attach to either program or as a standalone. Topics include Difficult Conversations, Feedback, Goal Setting, Decision Making and Performance Reviews.

Who it is for: specific groups with a specific need. GROW for Difficult Conversations™ is the bestseller.

Format: online and self-paced. Annual licence, minimum 50 seats. Facilitated sessions available as an add-on. Bespoke topics on request.

Teaching plus practice (AI-supported) to empower managers to tackle hard conversations and maintain trust
Explore GROW for Difficult Conversations™
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What is Coaching Training for Managers

What a Leader Coach does differently

Lead with purpose. Connect what someone does on a Tuesday to where the organization is going, so priorities hold when the week gets busy. This is ethical foundation, leader mindset, and vision and strategy.

Engage others. Build enough trust that people say what is actually going on, and handle disagreement in the room rather than after the meeting. This is partnering, trust and safety, and alignment, inspiration and conflict management.

Facilitate results. Set goals people own rather than accept, and adapt when circumstances move. This is goal setting, agility and adaptability, and facilitating results.

Learn and improve. Give feedback someone can act on, and build a team that gets better without being told to. This is effective communication, feedback, and learning cultures.

What success looks like: results and measurement

Coaching training is usually reported as attendance and a NPS-type satisfaction score, which is a good first read, but tells the business very little about whether anything truly changed.

This is why pre-and post assessment is key. Using our Impact 360 tool, every manager can be assessed against those four strengths and the twelve skills underneath them, at the start of the program and again at the end. You get the movement for each person and across the group.

We also specialize in bespoke measurement setup. 

Alongside that, the Performance Curve™ charts where your culture sits now and how far it has moved. Between the two you have a before, an after and a direction of travel, which is what HR and L&D leaders and sponsors need when the business asks for ROI.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • What is coaching for managers?

    Coaching for managers is training that changes how a manager behaves and how they run everyday conversations: asking rather than telling, so the person they are talking to develops awareness and takes responsibility. It is a leadership style rather than a separate activity, which is why it is taught through practice rather than theory.

  • We want to develop our managers, which program should we start with?

    The answer depends on a number of factors:
    how many managers and leaders, their organizational level, time, budget constraints etc.
    Broadly speaking:
    GROW Leader Coach™ (facilitated live, online or in-person) is the gold standard for leadership, bringing measurable impact on your leaders and their team; alone or paired with other interventions such as Executive Coaching or Assessments.
    GROW Essentials™ (online, self-paced or facilitated cohorts) is best suited for a cost-effective introduction to a leadership coaching style.
    Focused modules such as GROW for Difficult Conversations™ can be delivered as standalone or together with either program above.

    We can design a program based on your unique business needs, so we invite you to get in touch to discuss a pilot with a Consultant.

  • What is the minimum amount of managers I need to enroll?

    GROW Essentials™ and the targeted modules are licensed annually with a minimum of 50 seats.
    GROW Leader Coach™ runs in cohorts of 12 to 24.

    Below those numbers there is still a route: GROW Leader Coach™ runs as an open program that individual managers can book directly.

    Get in touch to discuss your requirements, we may be able to flex.

  • Can one manager join without the organization buying a program?

    Yes. GROW Leader Coach™ runs as an open program on scheduled dates through the year.

    An individual books a place and joins a cohort of peers from different organizations, with the same observed practice, the same expert feedback and the same assessment as an in-house cohort.

    It is also how L&D teams try the program before a wider rollout.

    Note that it is also possible for HR or L&D to purchase a number of seats at a group discount, for individual managers to use throughout the year.

     

  • What languages can these programs be delivered in?

    Corporate Cohorts only: we can deliver the programs in over 20 different languages. Get in contact with us to discuss your needs.

    Open programs (for individuals) are delivered in English only.

  • What results have other organizations seen?

    At Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, managers with a coaching leadership style outperformed their peers by 25% across 300 sales leaders in 2024.
    When combining coaching with leadership training an 88% productivity uplift over training alone is possible, according to Ibarra and Scoular, Harvard Business Review (2019).

  • How much does it cost?

    For corporate programs, investment depends on seat numbers, format and location. Get in touch and we will scope it with you.

    A seat on the open program GROW Leader Coach | Module 1 is £1698/$2195 per participant.

  • How is this different from Executive Coaching?

    Executive coaching develops one leader at a time.
    Coaching skills for leaders programs build coaching capability across a whole management population.
    Organizations often choose both, in an integrated program, and Harvard Business Review research suggests the combination outperforms either on its own.

  • Are these trainings ICF accredited?

    GROW Leader Coach™ is an ICF aligned program. Modules 2 and 3 can be used as CCE hours towards the renewal of an ICF credential.

    If you want to earn the ICF ACC credential for the first time, you should enrol on our ICF Level 1 accredited program: Coaching for Performance:  Performance Coach Certification. 

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