What is Purple?
Initially started in 2012 to solve the issue of poor guest WiFi connection, Purple has evolved into the ultimate tool for businesses to turn their physical venues into intelligent spaces. Today, Purple helps physical venues survive and thrive by enhancing visitor experiences, optimizing staff efficiency and driving additional revenue with our hardware agnostic indoor locations services.
How I became Purple’s internal coach
Originally Purple’s Partnerships Director and one of the executive, I became disillusioned with my work during the pandemic (well, who didn’t?!). When I decided to become a certified coach, I began by coaching the Purple executive team. I quickly moved on to expand the scope and coach the leadership team. Following the success of that, I subsequently moved completely across to become the full time internal coach at Purple throughout 2022 and into 2023.
Why did Purple decide to introduce coaching?
2022 was always going to have the theme of the ‘Year of You’, having survived the pandemic we really wanted to recognise and look after the people we had. Our CEO Gavin, had a plan to invest in as many people focused activities as possible throughout the year to promote wellbeing. We also wanted every individual within Purple to feel that they were able to be the best version of themselves, for them to all grow and develop in their roles. Costs were examined in terms of bringing an external coach in versus keeping me on as our internal coach. The decision was made to keep me full time for one year to get the maximum value from the coaching, and then retain me part time in 2023, so I could go on and set up my own business. Nice, right?
How did we measure success?
I worked directly with Esther, our Talent and Culture Director and Gavin, our CEO to ensure the right measures were all in place and monitored weekly and monthly. Coaching effectiveness was measured in the following ways:
- Activity reports (number of individuals, teams and hours spent)
- Employee satisfaction ratings for impact and effectiveness
- NPS scores ‘would you recommend coaching to a colleague?’
- Qualitative feedback in the form of a detailed survey
- I produced anonymised coaching ‘theme’ reports quarterly, with actions subsequently being created and taken by the Purple executive team
What were the results?
- Activity – an average of 3 individuals were coached each working day, and a total of 15 teams including the Executive and the Leadership teams
- Employee satisfaction average is 5/5
- NPS is 100
- Some examples of qualitative comments here
Other benefits:
- A completely new leadership team was created as a result of coaching
- We introduced coaching at our company wide events, both in person and virtually
- Various promotions were instigated, also a couple of resignations were expedited
- Conflict was managed between employees
- Focus, productivity and work life balance was improved across the board
The anonymised themes resulted in:
- Leadership training being procured for all line managers
- Work life balance being raised as a topic and tackled in every single team
- Psychological safety, productivity and focus training being brought into our company all hands events
What do the Purple executives have to say about the experience of having an internal coach?
“Kerry has delivered 1:1 coaching across a range of roles at Purple, including the executive team as well as leaders and individuals at all levels in the business. She has also coached teams and delivered mass-coaching at company-wide events, both of which have been very well received. She is highly intuitive and able to quickly build rapport to enable her coachees to work through serious professional and personal challenges, improving individual effectiveness, confidence and wellbeing. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Kerry as a coach.” – Esther Park, Talent and Culture Director, Purple
“At first I have to admit that I was sceptical about having a full time coach in our mid sized organisation. As a finance and operations person, I am naturally rational and questioning and I wasn’t convinced of the value that she could add. Having had Kerry as my coach for over a year now, I am a complete coaching convert and agree with Bill Gates when he says ‘Everybody should have a coach’. Coaching has helped me to both generate better balance and achieve my goals in my life. I wish Kerry all the best with her coaching business, not that she will need luck, she is excellent at what she does. I highly recommend her to any other business considering bringing coaching in, it’s been game changing for both the individuals and the teams within Purple.”
– Pete Lee, Chief Operating Officer, Purple
“The feedback from coaching across the business and for Kerry as an individual has been spectacular. We have been able to improve the effectiveness of people in their roles. Those same people have improved their personal lives too. Overall it has been a fantastic outcome for the people and the company.”
– Gavin Wheeldon, CEO, Purple
What do the Purplytes have to say?
I have been completely amazed at how generous all the individuals have been with sharing feedback on what they have experienced. It can be very personal, and yet every single person I have asked whether they are happy to share their words has said yes. Here is one, and many more live on my ‘Clients Say’ page.
“Coaching is great way to unload anything from your chest and remove any mental blockers that you’ve created for yourself. It’s incredibly cathartic and just the act of talking to Kerry removes a lot of stress. It’s made me feel more confident and empowered to make decisions and take action. It has helped remove mental blockers which now they’re out the way enable me to be more productive. Being happier at work makes me happier at home.”
– James, Manchester