It has always seemed odd to me that trading standards training tends to focus on the technical and legal – with very little on understanding people – despite the fact we spend so much time working with them. Remember the relatively halcyon days of generously funded services? They could, arguably, afford to comprise a mix of officers with varying abilities, specialisms, confidence levels and rates of personal growth. That was before the world changed; the recession hit trading standards worse than most and we realised we needed to do things differently – not only to survive, but to provide a vital service to vulnerable consumers with nowhere else to turn. Tight budgets and increased demands result in higher expectations on a frequently diminishing number of people, so making the most of them has never been more critical. Managers are increasingly stretched too, with flatter structures and wider remits limiting the amount of time available to directly work with others. While training provides the knowledge and skills to tackle problems, coaching supplies the confidence and motivation to flourish and innovate – with fantastic results. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying our people aren’t already working effectively. They do a fantastic job – but through listening, questioning and the right level of challenge, many will find a whole new effectiveness, job satisfaction and perhaps a better way of delivering a service we respect and admire. I’ve worked with some great officers during my 33 years in trading standards – many with great potential – but some lacking the confidence to take that step from ‘very competent’ to ‘outstanding’. In coaching terms, we call this ‘stuck’ – and you could include those working safely within their comfort zones, too. Most were normal folk who hadn’t realised – often through self-limiting assumptions – that they could be brilliant in their own way. Why does it matter? The modern trading standards service demands qualified, experienced officers who are knowledgeable and multiskilled. But you can’t think the same old way; the world is different, risks have to be taken. We’re not doing more with less, we’re doing ‘different’ with less – and the ‘different’ can be better. Chatting to colleagues at CTSI’s brilliant conference in Bournemouth recently, a common theme emerged: a disconnect between the high-level, outcomes-based vision of leaders and the message officers receive about implementing new-style strategies. Some of that is because the game has changed. We can no longer work in isolation and managers no longer need to be the experts. In fact, they can’t afford to be – and organisations can’t afford them to be. Our new world requires leaders and managers who facilitate learning, rather than teaching, and who value the creative and innovative service delivery models that only those who work at the sharp end can help design. Let’s clear up a few misconceptions about coaching, with apologies to the experienced coaches who I know are out there. Coaching isn’t teaching somebody to do something; it relies on the capacity of individuals to learn for themselves, finding their own solutions. Coaches needn’t be experts in their field, although clients often appreciate the insight such expertise might bring. Coaches act as a sounding board, a facilitator and an awareness raiser. In contrast – and it’s a common confusion – mentors are experts, offering advice and examples from their own experience while supporting their charge. Coaches certainly aren’t therapists – we leave that to counsellors; and this isn’t about ‘fixing’ people, but helping them to get the very best out of themselves. Think Olympic athletes. Every top-level professional player and performer has a coach because they understand the first person you have to beat is yourself. In simple terms, coaching is a conversation in a safe environment. I know that sounds a bit like a one-to-one with your manager, but the real difference is in the quality of the listening – not to mention some carefully constructed questions designed to open up the thinking. We all like to think we listen well, but often we’re really only listening to ask the next question – and much of the time we’re thinking of that question instead of listening. In her book Time to Think – an excellent read that will really change the way you work with people – Nancy Kline argues that we’ll often listen simply for the opportunity to provide others with our own ideas, overlooking the possibility that the speaker has their own solutions. We then wonder why our ideas aren’t adopted, when all along we hadn’t really given the speaker a chance to access their own ideas first – ideas which, quite simply, were always more Credits likely to have been enthusiastically acted upon because they were their own. This isn’t just about managers developing people, or people developing themselves – as useful and as necessary as that is. Coaching skills also come into their own when working with a range of trading standards’ clients. Consider the quality of victims’ statements, not to mention the intelligence available if we learn to listen, question and challenge on a whole new level. Ask yourself, are you taking that statement just to prove an offence, or to discover the whole story? How about the opportunities this might open up in our trader advice activities, whether they are Primary Authority or enforcement based? What about the operational planning for enforcement work, really harnessing our team’s thinking ability before doing what we normally do? Increasingly, much of our work is about changing behaviour, whether perpetrator of or victim. A great example is a repeat scam mail victim; the ‘don’t do it’ advice falls on deaf ears, although we’re working with people who fully understand what they’re doing. Coaching skills enable the victim’s own solution to be found – one they’re much more likely to act upon and maintain.