Case Study: Organisational Coaching in AI
The Challenge for Organisational Coaching in AI
Organisational Coaching Hub (OCH) were approached by a tech company at the cutting edge of the new age of technology. The organisation’s attracts some the brightest talent on the planet, creating an amazing pool of people. They have a very clear purpose and an extremely strong sense of ethics.
This case study looks at how we delivered Organisational Coaching in AI, following the 4Cs of organisational coaching; Connect, Consider, Change, Close.
Connecting
Initial conversations between our coach and this team highlighted a general awareness that things weren’t entirely right between the two different communities at the core of the organisation. The research-led organisation required researchers and software engineers to work together at all levels. Some relationships were strong, but others were weak without any clear explanation.
They explained how many things had been tried, but nothing had really worked. There was an overall sense that the engineering team wasn’t realising the potential the organisation needed.
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Consideration
Our coaches started work by conducting team diagnostic interviews. We then ran focus groups involving engineers, researchers, managers and others from across the organisation. The analysis was based on our work on Extra-Dependent Teams which provided a new perspective on this issue for the company.
Our key finding was that within this new engineering community, at the cutting edge of the new technological age, a group of people were missing. Software engineers were drifting towards research or management as role models. Instead, what the tech organisation needed was for some to develop mastery in this new domain of AI technology. No-one had ever done this before, yet once we had pointed it out, it was clear to everyone what was missing.
Change
By way of follow-up, we ran learner-led collaborative learning sessions of the most advanced of the engineers. These sessions promoted learning with each other, from each other, and for each other, intentionally pushing the boundaries of their knowledge and practice.
The sessions were co-created with the group to meet their duration and frequency needs. Each session achieved “aha” moments for the participants, each one being a gem of learning. But more importantly, they learned that getting to the breakthroughs took more time than they typically invested in meetings and specific skills to draw out the best in each other. This raised the bar for each of them, helping them identify what was needed to be role models within their learning community.
Close
The group determined to continue working together as we stepped away and left them to it. One participant said: “I can honestly say that there have been real highlights of the last year for me!”
