The biggest challenge for organisations looking to enhance productivity and performance is finding ways to identify or produce leaders and staff who understand the theory of coaching techniques.
Back in the day, it was a widely held misconception that top performers could simply impart their knowledge, methods and techniques onto others in the team by ‘showing them’ what to do. Many believed this would result in a workplace full of high-performing individuals and, subsequently, a successful team.
We now know this not to be the case. Greater awareness of different learning styles, the importance of identifying specific coaching needs, and an understanding of the psychology of a team have raised expectations of what effective coaching looks like, and how it impacts organisational performance.
Despite this, surprisingly few business leaders have fully embraced the most fundamental element of driving organisational change through individual development.
Coaching behavioural mindsets are a key component of creating a coaching culture and ensuring individual aspirations are aligned with organisational goals. But they can only do that if they themselves understand the principles behind coaching and the benefits it delivers.
Without that knowledge, they are simply going through the motions and ticking a box to confirm that development training has taken place. With coaching, leaders and management are able to pinpoint areas for individual development, work with employees to help them understand where their role fits into the wider organisational objectives and engender a culture of continuous professional development that has a genuine purpose and delivers global benefits.
It’s also essential that they’re able to assess the impact coaching has and communicate that to individuals and their team. Seeing real day-to-day improvement in knowledge, results, confidence and wellbeing maintains motivation to want to improve further.
Having a team that is excited to come to work and wants to drive the business forward is essential for growth and increased ROI (we’ll talk more about how coaching impacts ROI in our next blog article).
A recent study showed that 80% of CEOs want to implement audacious change in their business. On the frontline, however, that figure is just 27%. And for managers, it’s even lower at 25%.
Why is this the case? Well, that same study highlighted that, on average, a mere 15% of employees understand the rationale behind their leaders’ strategy. And when you look at it from that point of view, it’s easy to see why they don’t get onboard with the CEO’s vision. They simply don’t get it.
As such, they maintain an isolated focus on their specific role with little understanding or care of the value it has.
So, clearly there is often a disconnect between company goals and employee engagement. And for as long as those two things are misaligned, business leaders have a huge chasm to cross in order to achieve their targets.
Coaching is the bridge across that chasm. Because managers and supervisors are the bridge between the organisation and its operations.
Research carried out by the Panorama Consulting Group showed the top ten reasons that managers resist change include:
• Fear of losing authority.
• Lack of time.
• Lack of confidence.
• Seeing no personal benefit.
Getting those managers onboard with accepting change and delivering enhanced performance is the first step to driving increased productivity and ROI across the organisation.
The Institute of Coaching states that 70% of individuals who receive coaching improve their working relationships and communication skills. And 80% report increased self-confidence. Add these to the benefits of understanding why they do what they do, and it’s clear to see how coaching your leaders in the art of developing their own awareness as well as the individual and team performance they are responsible for delivering, will help align the organisation and ensure everybody is working towards a shared vision.
Once they realise why coaching is so important in the workplace, managers are more inclined to embrace – and in fact seek out – change. Likewise, a team who feel supported and see clearly defined career paths are more likely to be loyal to the organisation and to think critically. They stop simply ‘doing their job’ and begin to feel they are ‘part of something’.
But this change can only come about when managers and individuals are engaged and aligned with organisational goals first. Which brings us full circle. Because the top three obstacles to organisations looking to build a strong coaching culture are:
• Limited support from senior leaders (50%).
• Inability to measure the impact of coaching (42%).
• Lack of budget (38%).
The audacious change that CEOs and execs want to see will only come about through demonstrating that they believe in their staff and are committed to structuring their management style to deliver real change.
Budgeting for investment in people proves you’re committed to developing your organisation. Although, if you’re already paying the apprenticeship levy, you may find you’ve already accounted for much of this cost.
The Coaching Professional Level 5 programme covers:
• Principles of coaching.
• Fundamental skills of coaching.
• Designing and delivering effective coaching.
• The coaching toolbox.
• Evaluation and improvement.
It is a holistic coaching course delivered in bite-sized chunks to result in real, actionable change from day one and continuous professional development for the duration of the course and beyond. To talk to us about building capacity and capability in your organisation, get in touch today.
And for details of how effective coaching delivers an ROI, tune into our next scheduled blog release – due in 2 weeks.