Coaching and Performance Management
"Ninety-one percent of respondents believe there is a direct link between investment in leadership development and organisational performance."
"It's interesting to note that three of the less frequently used development activities are rated as some of the most effective (external executive coaching, leadership courses, formal mentoring schemes)."
CIPD training and development survey in conjunction with the Centre for Labour Market Studies, University of Leicester, 2004.
- Coaching key staff in order to ensure you retain them and make the most of their attributes
- Tailored 360 degree feedback programmes – to help embed your organisation’s competencies and culture.
You may be responsible for the personal development of your staff, but are you taking enough responsibility for your own?
Nowadays it has been recognised that it’s often not technical expertise that makes an individual a good manager or a great leader, it is the way they behave that makes the difference. Emotional Intelligence is more significant than having a high IQ when it comes to managing and getting the most out of people.
Research has proven that the number one reason an individual leaves their job is because of the person for whom they work. The behaviour of someone’s boss is crucial to the contentment, satisfaction and career fulfilment of their direct reports. Basically, if you don’t like the person you are working for, if they are not giving you the right encouragement or development opportunities, you are likely to move on to work for someone else.
Have you ever considered how you interact with other people? How would others describe you? What are your attributes and where could you improve your behaviour for your personal gain and for the good of the organisation? How do you respond under pressure and how does that impact others?
Do people like working for you? If not, why not and does it matter? Actually, it does matter. Motivated individuals perform better than unmotivated ones and that hits the bottom line. Staff turnover is costly in terms of recruiting replacements and training them. Although some labour movement is healthy, vital experience cannot be replaced overnight. By comparison, a more stable workforce gives strength and certainty and increases productivity.
There are a variety of psychometric tools and methods which can be used to make individuals more self-aware. This insight can be used on an individual personal basis or shared within a team to promote better understanding, communication and common goals. Coaching and mentoring can be carried out over a period of time with regular progress meetings as appropriate.
Case Study : Coaching
Background
We were contacted by the Personnel Manager of a medium-sized consumables organisation. She told us that they had an excellent accountant whom the company wanted to see develop and progress. However, he needed some support to move his role from that of "accountancy" to that of influential "leader". He was young to be in such a senior role and his promotion had been internal. Possibly, he hadn't left his previous position behind him effectively. There were some confidence difficulties. He was fairly comfortable at junior/middle management level but seemed unwilling to challenge the more senior hard-nosed and commercially minded members of the team. She did not consider that a generic "assertiveness" course would necessarily resolve these issues.
What did we do?
We agreed that some coaching might help, along with using an appropriate psychometric tool. However, it was important that the person should feel comfortable with this approach and, in particular, that he should have confidence in the consultant coaching him. Shirley Huntington met with him and she outlined how the coaching session would work. Rapport was established and a date set for the meeting.
Prior to the session, he completed three psychometric tools, the Gordon Personal Profile & Inventory, the Gordon Survey of Personal Values and the Gordon Survey of Interpersonal values. These instruments measure aspects of personality that are significant in our day-to-day interaction with others. They also determine the importance individuals ascribe to various activities and measure certain critical values that help determine the manner in which individuals cope with the problems of everyday living.
The coaching session began with him explaining how he saw his current role and the challenges and difficulties he was facing in it. An exploration of the results of the psychometric questionnaires shed further light on these and gave him a greater understanding of his strengths and his areas for development. An action plan was then jointly developed. Following the coaching session, Shirley produced a written report which was then made available to the person, his boss and the Personnel Manager.
What was the result?
The person reported that he had found the whole experience extremely useful. He felt much more confident. One peer who did not know that coaching had taken place queried what had caused the "remarkable difference" in his behaviour. He has become much more self-assured and now takes greater control of meetings. He has begun to speak in terms which everyone can understand and not "financial speak". He has also been matched with an internal mentor, someone who can give guidance and advice from within the organisation.
The Personnel Manager, the person's boss and, most importantly, he himself are delighted with the result. There have been far greater gains than they had hoped for and the Personnel Manager told Shirley, "You have achieved more than you recognise"