The Critical Role Coaching Plays in Developing Your Employees

 

Each day, leaders spanning the globe are discovering the positive impact that coaching employees can have on their organization (and bottom line). Managers are discarding outdated notions of being ‘the boss’ and instead, they are creating an increasingly nurturing environment by offering support and regular feedback to their employees.

 

Not only is this an approach that employees want (dare say desire), it is also proven to be one of the best ways to improve individual and collective performance (Entrepreneur).

 

Read on to find out more about the role coaching plays in developing your employees and improving your organization’s performance, and learn how you can incorporate coaching into your day-to-day operations.

 

What is coaching?

A coach is someone who helps another person (or group of people) improve, grow and enhance their level of effectiveness in their personal life, professional life, or both.

 

This is largely done by creating a dialogue that leads to awareness, assessment, and action steps. Coaching in the workplace is the practice of equipping your workforce with the tools, knowledge, and opportunities they need to be the best version of their professional selves.

 

An effective coach is someone who assists an individual on their path to improvement, usually with regards to a specific work function or responsibility, by listening, supporting, motivating, encouraging and teaching them (Forbes). The goal of coaching employees is to help the employee to discover for themselves the ways that their attitude or approach may be limiting their success. Identification of these things will enable the employee to take action to move the needle in the right direction.

Coaching for managers and leaders works in much the same way. And if you think that as a manager or leader you don’t need a coach or coaching, you need to chisel that chip off of your shoulders. After all, even the best athletes, actors, and CEOs have coaches and continually work on self-improvement.

Managers are critical to the success of any business, yet often managers are not equipped with the skills they need to get the best results from their team. Coaching can help managers in areas such as developing self-awareness, whilst also encouraging knowledge transfer and enabling them to support their own workforce.

 

The benefits of coaching employees

There are many benefits to coaching your employees. Coaching can lead to improved learning, increasingly efficient work output, a positive shift in culture, improved morale, increased creativity greater adaptability to change and improving employee retention (Forbes).

 

Coaching employees could also help you retain your workforce by improving their overall work experience. Coaching employees can improve factors such as employee performance, productivity, job satisfaction and general happiness. Combined, these factors lead to better employee retention.

 

Empower employees to become more self-reliant

Coaching your employees is a great way to encourage them to look for the answers to their questions before reaching out to a senior team member. Empowering your employees to become more self-reliant will boost their confidence and initiative, leading to a more self-sufficient way of working (Kent State University). This will save you valuable time that could be spent more productively.

 

Communicate more openly and effectively

In taking the time to open up a one-on-one dialogue with your employees, you are giving them the opportunity to express themselves. This can require dedication and patience, but a good coach can gain useful insight through communicating with their employees. By opening up a dialogue, coaches can break down barriers, enabling employees to communicate more effectively and honestly (Wright State University College of Business).

 

Value and Confidence Lead to Greater Contributions

Coaching your employees often helps them feel valued and more confident. When employees feel this way, they are more likely to offer a contribution to the rest of the team. This results in a more proactive, productive and positive working environment for everyone.

 

Enhanced Productivity and Focus

A productive workplace is built on the foundations of teamwork, combined with a shared vision of what the organization is striving to achieve. Coaching can help employees feel a more robust sense of this shared vision. When employees and leaders feel this way, they are inclined to give more of themselves to the role.

 

Support and Encouragement

Coaching your employees is a great way to show care and support for them. Supported employees are more likely to feel happy and secure in their role, reducing the likelihood of them looking elsewhere for work.

 

Improved Confidence Shines Through in Deliverables

No matter how skilled your employees are, if they lack confidence, chances are they aren’t performing as well as they could be. Employees who are lacking in confidence can also require more of your attention. Building confidence can take time and energy but the benefits are worth it. Confident employees are more likely to deliver a long-term impact for you, your team and for themselves.

 

Bolstered Job Satisfaction, Retention and Quality

 

When your employees are feeling more confident, empowered and supported, they are more likely to feel greater satisfaction in both their job and their personal life. Employees who are satisfied in their role are more likely to stay there longer (Institute of Coaching).

 

Coaching employees to prevent major performance issues

Coaching employees can also help to navigate major performance issues before they arise. By speaking to and learning more about your employees, you can identify potential issues before they become a problem. By helping employees to learn skills such as self-awareness and self-analysis, you are also giving them the tools to identify potential performance issues themselves and take steps to rectify them. This can avoid costly and time-consuming issues later on.

 

The importance of coaching for managers

Many companies make the mistake of reserving coaching for their most senior staff members and forget to coach mid-level managers and potential future leaders. Coaching mid-level managers or potential future leaders in the organization can help companies retain their top talent and meet business objectives well into the future. Coaching skills don’t come naturally to every manager and this skill gap can quickly impact team morale when a team member is promoted. By identifying and coaching the employees who are most likely to become leaders, you are paving the way for a more satisfied and collaborative future workforce (Harvard Business Review).

Your employees want a coach, not a manager!

Many companies are embracing an employee-orientated approach to working with their people and recognizing the benefits of shifting towards this model. They are focusing on coaching and supporting their employees to improve their performance. Coaching for managers can be the difference between gaining compliance from your employees and gaining real commitment.

It is important to remember that employee coaching doesn’t just benefit the individual. Moving towards a more employee-oriented approach can benefit the whole organization, making coaching one of the best investments you can make for your business. For more information on how coaching can help you to develop your employees, please get in touch.

Let’s share experiences. Leave a comment below, send me an email, or find me on Twitter.

 

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How Coaching Leads Your Business to Success

 

If you’re an executive leader, you don’t need anyone telling you how busy you are. You embody that demanding role every day, even on vacation. Yet sometimes it’s good to look at the facts—to get a clearer picture of where and how you spend your time. Not to mention where and how other executives spend their time. Let’s take a look.  

A Harvard study paints a clear picture of the executive leader’s rigorous role. They found that leaders worked 9.7 hours per workday on average, and conducted business on 79% of their weekend days, for an average of 3.9 hours a day. This work extends into vacation, where leaders were found to work on 70% of their vacation days for 2.4 hours a day, on average. Looking at the numbers, it’s clear that the executive’s job is unabated. All together the average CEO worked 62.5 hours a week.

What Really Goes On in an Executive’s Work Life? 

So what goes on in those hours of work? For one, a lot of meetings. Harvard’s study found that face-to-face meetings take up 61% of an executive’s work time. Then, of course, there is the endless stream of emails—which takes up 24% of the workday. Lastly, they have calls and written correspondence—which take up 15% of their day.  

With all of these demands, when do leaders actually have time to focus on personal development? Life-long learning is an important characteristic for effective executives now and in the future. And if the executive isn’t modeling the importance of self-development, how many in the organization will feel okay making it a priority? If the goal is to progress, and meet the unknown changes that are ahead, learning and developing as individuals is imperative.

Turning to an Executive Coach for Progress 

As many leaders have learned, one way to ensure personal and professional development is to hire an executive coach. Coaching prepares business leaders to be the internal and external face of the organization. It helps them effectively deal with a wide array of constituencies like employees, customers, shareholders, the board, the media, governmental factions, community organizations and more. It even helps executives manage that monstrous schedule. 

Coaching Helps Executives In These Ways

To break it down, coaching helps leaders:

·         Achieve specific goals

·         Develop capabilities and leverage existing strengths

·         Identify challenges that prevent them from achieving success

·         See themselves and others more clearly

·         Communicate more effectively

·         Improve leadership abilities

·         Enhance social skills, and

·         Build more productive relationships

Yet Coaching Also Improves Business 

Coaching gives executive leaders more confidence to make empowered decisions; provides more clarity to their workforce and stakeholders; and ensures that their actions are aligned with purpose, vision, and values. This improves business.

Yet there’s an important factor here that hasn’t been mentioned: executive coaching improves ROI. It’s not just about interpersonal relationships, engagement, balance and values; it’s an actual business investment. Here are some statistics:

·         Research shows organizations that made coaching a priority have 13% stronger business results and 33% better employee engagement.

·         A recent ICF, PwC, and Association Resource Centre survey concluded the median coaching Return On Investment (ROI) for companies was seven times their initial investment, while 28% saw an ROI of 10 to 49 times initial investment. Nearly one-in-five indicated an ROI of 50 or more times the initial investment.

·         A study conducted by MetrixGlobal LLC, found that companies like Booz Allen Hamilton experienced an average return of $7.90 for every $1 invested in executive coaching.

Sometimes ROI is less direct, but still coaching comes in as a strong investment. Monte Wyatt reports that companies receive the following benefits when they provide coaching, as reported by executives: 

·         Increased productivity (53%)

·         Organizational strength (48%)

·         Improved customer service (39%)

·         Lower customer complaints (34%)

·         Executive retention for those who are coached (32%)

·         Reductions in cost (23%)

·         Profitability on the bottom-line (22%)

What Coaching Looks Like in the Real World 

Now that the value of an executive coach has been established, and the business case has been reviewed, let’s put this into the context of real life.  

What does coaching look like in the real world? In the beginning of a coaching relationship, depending on the client’s wishes, a 360-degree review is conducted, which is “a process through which feedback from an employee’s subordinates, colleagues, and supervisor(s), as well as a self-evaluation by the employee themselves is gathered.” If a 360 is administered, the feedback is reviewed with the executive, and used as a way to identify opportunities for improvement. 

Next, a goals document in created. This is an iterative process to determine three to five goals and metrics to focus on throughout the process. Executives can make goals in various areas such as individual leadership and team leadership. An example of a goal would be: Build an engaged and empowered team to scale quickly. A metric for this goal would be to learn team-building models and then apply those models to identify and solve team challenges. 

Then the coaching sessions will begin, usually for an hour, on a call or in person, every other week. During the sessions the coach focuses on the goals, and the coachee commits to taking some action on moving toward the goal. They also focus on anything that’s pressing, to address situations in real time. 

The Executive Gains

When ROI is good, everything is good, right? It’s not that simple. But a look at what leaders gain during the process shows a more comprehensive outcome when investing in coaching. A study of executives who receive leadership coaching reports the following outcomes:  

·         77% of executives report better working relationships with direct reports

·         71% report improved working relationships with immediate supervisors 

·         67% report increased teamwork 

·         63% report peer relationships are better

·         61% experience improved job satisfaction 

·         52% report a less conflict at work

The executive gains alone improve business success outcomes. The value of investing in an executive coach is unmistakable when you add in the ROI. Why is this important? Because all industries are facing rapid change. Technology is constantly evolving; the economy is increasingly global. Future focused leaders must take their development seriously in order to carry their organizations forward to success. Executive coaching will help leaders do just that.

Let’s share experiences. Leave a comment below, send me an email, or find me on Twitter.

 

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How To Coach As A Manager: A Vital Skill

Managers, do you want to learn how to coach? If you’re interested in having a direct, positive impact on both your team members and organization, coaching is a vital skill to learn.

First, what exactly is a coach? A coach is someone who helps another person reach higher levels of effectiveness by creating a dialogue that leads to awareness and action.

Let’s look at this definition in detail:

-To help another person, you need to have concern for another person and want to see them grow.

–Reaching higher levels of effectiveness means that they’re better in all areas of their work.

–Create a dialogue with the person by asking questions and fully listening.

-All of this leads to awareness, which helps the person discover the ways in which her attitude is hindering her level of success.

-Then that person can take action and do something differently to change behavior and be more effective in all areas of her work and life.

How do you know when to coach?

In order to know when to coach, use the Success Equation. This strategy was constructed to help managers and leaders:

a) pinpoint what’s going on that may be causing a problem for that employee (clarity); and

b) analyze how successful a team member is going to be before he even begins the work (certainty).

Here is the Success Equation:

Aptitude + Attitude + Available Resources = Success

In this equation Aptitude is defined as the skills and competence to complete the task. Attitude is defined as the drive, focus and motivation to complete the task, and Available Resources are the physical tools needed to complete the task. All three components must be present, in equal parts, to achieve success.

A very simple example is a child learning to ride a bike (the Success Equation applies universally, not just at work).

At first, the child has the Available Resources – the bike, perhaps even training wheels, and a safe place to ride. The child also has the Attitude – the motivation, energy, focus and desire to ride. However, in the beginning, the child lacks the Aptitude – the skill sets or competence. So in the beginning, he will be at most 66% successful because he’s missing one of the critical components to the Equation.

Once the child practices and gains the Aptitude through experience, all three components are present and he’s off to the races, successfully riding his bike.

Business is no different. Let’s look at the Success Equation for an analyst. She needs Aptitude – the required skills to analyze and interpret data. She needs the right Attitude – the motivation and energy to work with others, as well as the focus and determination to stay positive and maintain a challenging schedule. And she must have the Available Resources – a phone, a computer, a software program. If any one of these components is missing, she will be 33% less successful.

How Does the Success Equation Work for Managers?

How does the Success Equation work? It can be leveraged when someone comes to you with a problem, or at the beginning of a project. If Rebekka comes to you with a problem, ask her if the problem is about Aptitude, Attitude, Available Resources or a combination of the three. And if one of your employees is about to embark on a new project, ask him if he has the Aptitude, Attitude and Available Resources to do the job.

If the problem is an Aptitude issue, you give your employee skill training to build their competence. If it is an Available Resource issue, you get the resources they need, within your budget. And if it’s an Attitude challenge, you coach them to success.

But how exactly do you coach?

The Coaching Process

Let’s look at the coaching process. As a reminder, when it’s an Aptitude issue, you train. When it’s an Attitude issue, you coach. And when it’s a lack of Available Resources, you reduce, reuse or reallocate resources.

The difference in communication styles between manager and coach is profound. The former is often one-way, enabling and potentially disempowering. The latter is two-way and engaging, and as a result, precipitates two things: awareness and action.

If you want thoughtful, empowered people on your team, it is critical that they are self aware of how they can get in their own way with old patterns and beliefs. They also proactively think for themselves and take action.

Effective Coaching Requires the Right Questions

By asking coaching questions, you grow your team members into thoughtful, empowered people. Here are the five key components, in order of importance, to asking an effective coaching question:

1.    Open-ended. Questions that can be answered in one word preclude anyone from having to think. If you want to turn your team into thoughtful, aware people, ask open-ended questions that open up a conversation and begin with “what” or “how”. Examples might be: “How can you move forward on your idea?” or “What’s the impact of that on the team?”

2.    Keep it short. Most people ask long questions or worse, ask 3 questions in one sentence. This results in skipped questions and critical data being missed. Ask one short question at a time, preferably 8 words or less. “What resources do you need?” is more effective than “What possible resources will help you achieve this exciting goal, how will you get those resources and when will you do it?”

3.    Advice-free. Part of the reason you made it into management is because you know the answers already. Most managers tend to think for their team members and consequently, the employees never learn to think for themselves. They become robots with a tie. Advice-free questions with team members may take a bit longer in the short run yet will make your life a lot easier and more leveraged in the long run when you have team members who can think for themselves and make good decisions on their own. So avoid questions such as, “Have you tried this?” or “Why don’t you do that?”

4.    Forward focused. Get out of the story and into the action. Translated, this means get out of the past and into the future. The story only creates drama. Drama is a productivity-killer. Forget what happened in the past. Move on and focus on what action to take in the future to fix, improve, or exceed. Instead of saying, “What happened when Josh did that?” ask “How do you want to behave with Josh in the future?”

5.    Thought provoking. As you get well-practiced and eventually master asking coaching questions, you’ll get to this “ninja” level of asking thought provoking questions that literally cause people to stop in their tracks. Your question is so powerful that it pushes people beyond the limits of their current thinking capacity, and forces them to take some time on their own and report back to you. These types of questions can be simple: “What is your role in that situation?” or “Where can you take responsibility?” If you want maximum thinking people on your team, ask these types of questions often.

Coaching Goal: To Move Someone from Awareness to Action

Now that you understand how to ask effective coaching questions, let’s look at moving someone from awareness to action. This means moving someone from understanding the impact they are having on the team to having them commit to small steps that will change their behavior.

Key to Awareness: Understanding Impact

Most managers are good at the action part—setting goals, building a plan and ensuring accountability. The awareness part is often more challenging. For this, coaching for managers is also provided by many organizations. How do you help someone see the impact they’re having on an organization and team? First, start with the five effective questions tip detailed above. Then ask questions that focus on impact, such as: What’s the impact of that on X? You could never ask this question enough. For example: What’s the impact on the person? Team? Organization? Stakeholders? Clients? Donors? Community? Employees? Once they start to understand the impact of their behavior, then they will move to action on their own, instead of being told what to do.

The next crucial element of coaching is listening. Next week we will explore why listening is so important for leaders, and outline ways to improve listening skills. In the meantime, if you are a supervisor, manager or leader committed to being an excellent coach, check out our two-day course: Coaching to WIN BIG.

Let’s share experiences. Leave a comment below, send me an email, or find me on Twitter.

 

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