The Ultimate Leadership Hack: Coaching Skills

Are you noticing your teams struggling with collaboration and communication? Finding it challenging to keep your employees engaged, motivated and bought-in as the business environment changes so quickly? How often do you encounter resistance to new initiatives or technologies you’re implementing? Is the workload for HR piling up, because managers aren’t having courageous conversations early enough? 

If these challenges ring a bell, fear not. There is a proven approach to not only address them, but to transform your entire organisational culture for the better….

…Train your managers and your leaders in fundamental coaching skills. 

This is the first step to begin to build a coaching culture.

What is a coaching culture? It’s where managers facilitate problem-solving and encourage employees’ development by asking questions and offering support and guidance rather than giving orders and making judgments which are often ill-informed. 

Companies that prioritise developing coaching skills see huge benefits at all levels – for employees, for managers, for teams, and for the organisation. 

Coaching helps employees unlock their potential, enhancing both performance and their overall satisfaction at work. Take Microsoft, for instance. When Satya Nadella became CEO in 2014, he encouraged employees to embrace a growth mindset. He encouraged leaders to adopt coaching as a core management skill in order to foster this growth mindset. This shift empowered employees to take ownership of their own development, which in turn fostered innovation and agility. As a result, Microsoft saw a resurgence in market relevance and greatly increased employee engagement.

Teams thrive when they are guided by leaders who coach rather than dictate. Coaching promotes a culture of continuous feedback, improvement, and mutual respect. For example, Google’s Project Oxygen was a research initiative to determine what makes a great manager. The research found that effective coaching was one of the very top qualities. Managers who coached their teams improved team performance, collaboration, and job satisfaction. By investing in coaching skills, Google created an environment where teams could communicate more openly and solve problems and manage inter-team conflict more effectively.

At the organisational level, a coaching culture helps to navigate the complexities of change and innovation. Consider IBM, which faced significant challenges as it transitioned from a hardware-centric business to a cloud computing and AI leader. IBM’s leaders were trained in coaching to support their teams through this transformation. It meant that the company acknowledged that its leaders didn’t have all the answers, especially when moving into an untapped field such as AI. Rather, the leaders coached their employees to adapt to new roles and technologies, fostering a resilient and innovative organisational culture.

1. Resistance to Change: Introducing a coaching culture can be met with resistance. Employees and managers accustomed to traditional top-down management may be sceptical. However, by demonstrating the tangible benefits of coaching, such as increased employee engagement and performance, companies can gradually shift mindsets. At Adobe, the shift from annual performance reviews to a coaching-based approach called “Check-Ins” resulted in a 30% reduction in voluntary turnover.
2. Skill Development: Developing effective coaching skills does require time and, often, budget. Companies should provide comprehensive training and continuous support to their managers, usually in the form of CPD. Deloitte, for example, offers extensive leadership development programs that include coaching training, ensuring their leaders are equipped to foster a coaching culture.
3. Measuring Impact: Quantifying the impact of a coaching culture can be challenging. However, metrics such as employee engagement scores, retention rates, and performance improvements can provide valuable insights. At American Express, implementing a coaching programme led to a 20% increase in employee engagement and a significant boost in customer satisfaction scores.

Investing in coaching skills for managers and leaders is a strategic move that pays dividends. It empowers individuals, enhances team dynamics, and increases organisational agility. Companies like Microsoft, Google, IBM, Adobe, and American Express illustrate the transformative power of a coaching culture. By embracing coaching, organisations can navigate the complexities of today’s business environment and unlock the full potential of their workforce.

For CEOs, MDs, and HR leaders, the message is clear: fostering a coaching culture is not just about improving management and leadership; it’s about building a resilient, innovative, and high-performing organisation that truly values and develops its people. The investment in coaching skills is an investment in the future success of your company.

Training managers and leaders in fundamental coaching skills can have far-reaching benefits. Here are a few for each category:

1. Enhanced Skill Development:

• Benefit: Employees receive tailored guidance that helps them hone their skills and improve their performance.
• Outcome: This leads to more competent and confident employees who are better equipped to handle their roles.

2. Increased Motivation and Engagement:

• Benefit: Coaching helps employees feel valued and supported, increasing their motivation and engagement at work.
• Outcome: Higher levels of job satisfaction and a stronger commitment to the organization.

THEY DON’T”T NEED TO KNOW ALL THE ANSWERS so it’s better for their wellbeing and learning

1. Improved Leadership Skills:

• Benefit: Managers and leaders develop stronger communication, active listening and empathy abilities through coaching training. Outcome: They become more effective leaders who can inspire and drive their teams towards success.

2. Better Relationship Building:

• Benefit: Coaching fosters stronger relationships between managers and their team members, based on trust and mutual respect.
• Outcome: This leads to a more cohesive and collaborative working environment.

1. Enhanced Team Dynamics:

• Benefit: Coaching helps to build a culture of open communication and mutual support within the team.
• Outcome: Teams become more cohesive, collaborate better, and resolve conflicts more efficiently.

2. Higher Performance Levels:

• Benefit: With regular coaching, teams can continuously improve their performance and tackle challenges more effectively.
• Outcome: This leads to higher productivity and better overall team results.

1. Increased Organisational Agility:

• Benefit: A coaching culture enables the organisation to respond more effectively to changes and challenges.
• Outcome: The organisation becomes more adaptive and resilient in a competitive business environment.

2. Improved Talent Retention:

• Benefit: Employees who feel supported and see opportunities for growth are more likely to stay with the company.
• Outcome: Lower turnover rates and retention of top talent, which saves costs associated with hiring and training new employees.

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About the author: Jimi Wall is the CEO of coaching-first leadership development business, Upwrd. Upwrd works with institutions and private organisations to design and deliver high-impact management and leadership coaching programmes, interactive training programmes and team development solutions. 

This article has been kindly repurposed and you can read the original here.

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