Journalist: Mahmoud Mansi

1. HR Revolution Middle East: Every unique organization has its own fingerprint, tell us more about the “2b Limitless” way?

Peter Charles Turner: We build community not networks and we develop strengths not weaknesses. 

2. HR Revolution Middle East: You have a remarkable educational journey being certified from many different entities. What have you found most interesting about each of those certifications?

Peter Charles Turner: Every step of every accreditation process has made us a better business. The competencies of the ICF and the CPD standards office and the Association for Coaching demand world class standards in terms of governance and learning and development. Each of these organsiations stretches us to keep getting better and keep enhancing the experience of our community of learners. 

3. HR Revolution Middle East: You are one of the keynote speakers at the Wellbeing at WorkSummit 2023, what is the relationship between coaching and wellbeing? And what would your talk be about?

Peter Charles Turner: My talk will explore the reasons why the coaching approach enables wellbeing for the managers and the employees. I will explain what the science says about this direct relationship. The psychology that underpins the coaching approach also underpins what we know about optimal human functioning. Coaching supports peoples basic psychological needs of Autonomy, Mastery and Relatedness.  People must feel as though they have choice and volition, when this need is not satisfied it leads to disengagement and entropy. Coaching leverages that need though its non directivity. Coaching is also a synonym for growth and learning. When coaching is effectively leveraged in organisations, people can develop more effectiveness when managing the difficult challenges of work and life. Coaching also enhances a person’s sense of connection and belonging. When people do not feel as though they are understood they will struggle to feel as though they belong and will fail to connect with those around them in a meaningful way. Coaching skills are the route-one way to enhance connection and belonging. Coaching also equips managers with key skills to help them tackle some of the most stressful aspects of their roles; managing people in difficult situations, giving feedback, delivering warnings, delegation and self regulating emotions. 

4. HR Revolution Middle East: Why is it important for Managers to become certified Coaches?

Peter Charles Turner: Managers are involved in the business of unleashing the potential of people and Coaching is the skill of unleashing the potential of people. It is the reason why managers are the single biggest factor in an employee thriving. 70% of employee engagement hinges on the employees experience of their manager (Gallup). Having said that, the skills and techniques of coaching are very counterintuitive. Research finds that most managers who think they are coaching are not actually coaching. And certified training can really enable the manager with the skills that will not only make their experience as a manager more enjoyable and rewarding, but will dramatically enhance the experience of the people they manage. 

5. HR Revolution Middle East: Is it possible that an employee can coach his/her boss?

Peter Charles Turner: Yes… Coaching involves powerful skills such as deep and active listening, paying attention to the real issue, self regulation, asking relevant questions, building trust and agreeing on actions and strategies. Coaching has often been described as ‘applied emotional intelligence’.  When framed in this way, it becomes obvious that the coaching approach should be the default approach for communication in organisations at and across any level. 

6. HR Revolution Middle East: Can you share with us one of the complex case studies that turned out to be a one of your success stories? (ex: a challenge one of your clients were facing and the solutions you provided).

Peter Charles Turner: Wow… take your pick! My favorite case study is an SME that has engaged with us for several years. They came to us after they received their engagement survey results, which had revealed significant levels of dissatisfaction within the business.  We supported them in a culture and transformation process. We focussed on the strengths based approach. This involved revealing all of the strengths of the team and coaching the leaders individually and as a team. They built their own solutions in the space we created for them. By shifting their focus onto the strengths of each other and developing new ways of behaving and working, their engagement survey results not only improved, but were recognised by Gallup at the very top of their global rankings. The business then put their senior leadership team through our coach education program so they could continue the coaching approach in house with their people. This business continuously performs brilliantly in their annual engagement surveys. 

7. HR Revolution Middle East: We are curious, what inspired Peter to dedicate a big part of his life to coaching?

Peter Charles Turner: I am fascinated with human behaviour and have been involved in learning and development my whole life. As a sports coach I was always more focussed on developing the people more than developing the strategy and tactics. If I could just get my players thriving and on form then the strategy didn’t matter. This fascination with behaviour lead me to studying Applied Psychology and the rest was history. I have dedicated myself to coaching and developing people and will continue to do so. 

8. HR Revolution Middle East: What piece of advice do you pass to business leaders regarding their employees’ wellbeing?

Peter Charles Turner: Well, as a coach we try not to give advice 😉 but it is clear to me, from all of my experience in observing people in their endeavors, that our health and wellbeing is foundational to anything and everything we do. And I think that this is becoming much more mainstream in its appeal; healthy lifestyles are now trendy. Having said that, our approach to how we get there seems to have a key blockage. What I have noticed is a huge gap between what people know and how people behave. Adding more knowledge to that paradox only seems to increase that gap. Coaching is the solution for closing the gap between what we know and how we behave.