By David Finney (United Kingdom)
Some businesses base their operations around ‘processes’ whereas others base them around ‘departments’. The risk with the departmental approach is that teams operate with physical or virtual walls around them and miss out on opportunities for mutual learning and collaboration. A good example of this is HR and Quality which – especially in larger corporations – tend to sit in opposite corners of the company and are rarely seen in the same meetings. What this article sets out to do is demonstrate just how much they have in common.
In HR there are Coaches and in Quality there are Auditors. Both parties employ a non-directive approach with the instinct and ability to effectively lead conversations with questions and trigger improvement across the organisation. Each has the privilege to be legitimately curious about the activities of other departments. Auditors check ‘quality’ (the extent to which client and other requirements are being met) and coaches tend to focus on ‘performance’ (individual contributions to the company’s overall ability to achieve customer satisfaction). As quality is directly affected by performance here lies a golden opportunity for them to meet for coffee a little more often than they have done in the past.
Source: iCN Issue 11 (Executive Coaching); pages 44-45
About David Finney
David Finney established The Energy of Conversation in 2008 and now trains professionals in performance coaching and quality auditing skills.
