Legal & General are a leading financial services, and major global investor. In 2021, they decided to invest in building a coaching culture by developing their people into coaches using the Grant Thornton and BPP Coaching Professional Apprenticeship.
We spoke to Neusha Milanian, Group Senior People Development Consultant at Legal & General. Neusha leads their programme, and is a learner on the apprenticeship herself.
Why did Legal & General invest in coaching development?
One of the key reasons that we decided on providing our employees with a coaching apprenticeship is because we’re building a coaching culture at Legal & General.
Historically, we’ve used coaching development for senior people in the business, primarily because of the price point.
As the apprenticeship is levy-funded, we’re now able to develop a wider coaching pool in the organisation. By widening the pool of coaches, we can provide coaching support to those who wouldn't typically have access to it.
As a coaching pool of 16 people, we've coached around 120 people in the organisation. And our coachees have been a broad range of people, from graduates and new starters to more senior people in the business.
What are the benefits of having coaches in the business?
One of the key benefits of having coaches in the business is that they have the organisational context. We understand the business and we understand a lot of the challenges that people are up against.
As a coach, we can veer away from being a mentor and providing them with advice, and instead help guide people to find the answers for themselves - which is where we've played a key role.
What impact has coaching had on you?
It's been transformational. I'm now 14-15 months on the programme and I’m a very different person to the one I was when I started this programme.
I feel far more confident, I'm actively seeking feedback and acting on the feedback, and my network is broader.
When I first started the programme, during conversations with my supervisor I would just want to show all the good stuff, all the things that were going well.
As our relationship has evolved, I'm much more comfortable talking about what hasn’t gone so well. I don't shy away from those conversations, and we use that time to explore any challenges. It’s about focusing on where those key development areas and not just on the positives, and that’s where I feel I've matured in my approach.
There are many benefits to this programme, it's hard to articulate just one or two things! It's been massive.
What made Legal & General use an apprenticeship as the tool for coaching?
It was the first time we had explored this type of apprenticeship and it was an experiment! Typically, we focused on more technically-focused apprenticeships and had never done something like this before.
Initially we thought it would be mainly HR individuals going on the programme, but decided to open it up to the business.
Around half our learners are senior people in the business - using these skills in their day-to-day roles and making an impact to their teams and beyond - and the other half are HR professionals. it's been transformational for both of those audiences.
A great example is James, he’s Head of Core Client Management at Legal & General Investment Management:
“The programme has been life changing, both personally and professionally. It's made me a stronger, more resilient person. In the past I could be resistant to change. I've learned to coach myself and to embrace change more.
It’s helped me manage people better because I listen more and let them make the decisions for themselves. There's a lot more value in our relationships and my team have fed that back to me as well. I've been a different manager and they can see the benefits.”
Watch James’ full interview.
Why did you choose the Grant Thornton and BPP coaching programme?
We were really excited about this new partnership and that it was a new programme.
We were excited about Grant Thornton and BPP’s willingness to support us on a closed cohort and they have been absolutely amazing. We couldn't have asked for more supportive providers.
It's been absolutely brilliant. I can safely say we definitely made the right choice.
Start building your coaching culture now through Grant Thornton and BPP’s Coaching Professional Apprenticeship programme. Visit our website to find out more or talk to our team today.
