by Joyce Junior
Eighteen colleagues from the Army Acquisition Workforce (AAW) recently completed the first ever Coaching Pilot Program, offered by the Army Director of Career Management (DACM) Office and launched in June 2017. The participants were partnered with experienced and certified executive coaches and met regularly through the end of September. This pilot and talent management initiative is in accord with the AAW Human Capital Strategic Plan (HCSP), and participants included AAW members from the Army DACM Office, the Program Executive Office (PEO) for Soldier and the PEO for Enterprise Information Systems.
The pilot included both group and individual sessions. Eighteen people participated in individual coaching and 15 participated in the three group coaching sessions. The three group coaching sessions focused on emotional intelligence, trust and the challenges of being a leader. The one-on-one individual coaching focused on meeting the participant “where they are” and assisting in the development of goals, strategies and personal action plans to meet their leadership objectives.
At the end of the four-month coaching pilot, a survey was administered to all participants, with an 83 percent response rate. Results highlight the program’s positive impact:
- 100 percent of the respondents were satisfied with the outcomes of their coaching experience and believed their coach helped them “move the needle” on the leadership challenges that were addressed during coaching.
- 93 percent of the respondents felt they are more prepared to lead and manage having participated in the coaching program and that their organization will benefit from the results of their coaching experience.
- 93 percent of the respondents would like to see a leadership coaching program continue to be offered for the AAW.
The pilot is being assessed by the Army DACM Office and the AAW HCSP Council for wider-scale implementation across the workforce. Leadership coaching complements other leader development programs offered to the AAW through the Army’s leader development opportunities and acquisition-specific career development opportunities. The proven benefits for coaching to leaders and organizations include increased employee engagement, increased performance, improved leadership skills, better teamwork and increased job satisfaction.
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