Professionals in the workplace have shifted away from how coaching was viewed just a few years ago. No longer is coaching reserved for a select few in the highest levels of the company or for those who had “one foot out the door,” trying to avoid being fired! Either way, coaching was previously seen by many as a means to fix the unruly executive or the toxic manager.
As we enter the 2020s in a post-pandemic landscape, new reasons are emerging as to why coaching is rising in prominence.
Benefits Of Coaching In The Workplace
It Is a Benefit Being Sought By Employees At All Levels
Anthony Klotz at Texas A&M calls these days “The Great Resignation1,” and the U.S. Department of Labor confirms that 11.5 million workers quit their jobs in the second quarter of 2021.
Two of the top reasons people are willing to shift employers, industries and even locale are to have:
- Quality of life
- Professional development opportunities.
The bursting client list of enterprise-wide coaching companies along with the entrepreneurial explosion of private consulting and coaching firms, are all the proof we need that organizations are listening and responding with coaching at-scale for their employees. Companies that “walk the talk,” prioritizing and delivering professional development through avenues like coaching are attracting the strongest candidates in the current market.
Coaching Is Proven to Equip Leaders Rising In The Ranks
Coaches can use a hands-on approach, as with a plant foreman as they influence and instruct employees for better performance or with a VP of sales as they handle weekly virtual team meetings around pipelines and product releases.
Coaches also develop their clients through 1:1 sessions where self-reflection and self-awareness bring a fresh perspective to recent events, conversations and decisions, fine-tuning the leader’s influence.
Both approaches allow a dedicated third party (coach) to pay close attention to the behavioral objectives of the developing employee (coachee). In a world where leaders find it difficult to carve out time and energy to develop each member of their team, a coach can take a powerful part in this responsibility. The return on investment comes in keeping valuable people in critical succession plans and preserving industry knowledge for stability and growth.
Coaching Plays a Role In Workplace Wellness and Creating An Inclusive Workplace
While an accountability partner might help keep you focused on goals you set for yourself, an experienced and trusted coach can shed light on your blind spots, biases, gaps and shortcomings from a position of unconditional positive regard. A professional coach neither judges nor mandates. Rather, they observe the whole environment and strive to ensure that the coachee takes in as much as possible before proceeding, be it a decision of what to do or what to be.
With Emotional Intelligence, an imperative for 21st century leadership, a coach is uniquely positioned to speak to the attitudes and approaches of a leader.
The “New World Of Work” Is Getting Things Done Through Teams
We partner closely and integrally with people who work for numerous managers and collaborate in a matrixed fashion across multiple departments, regions and even countries. Team coaching is now the fastest-growing type of coaching, and, in response, the International Coaching Federation (ICF) has recently set global standards. A qualified team coach brings focus to both productivity (the “what” the team is tasked to accomplish) and positivity (the “how” the team works together).
Practically speaking, team coaching will produce a rich ROI with results exceeding investment. A team of up to a dozen can be coached by a pair of team coaches for a lower price per person than individual coaching. As we learn to work through teams instead of individuals with particular roles, team coaching can accelerate success and satisfaction.
Contact The Center For Leadership Studies
Here at The Center for Leadership Studies, we are uniquely equipped to help with your coaching needs and influence your success for all four benefits:
- Our coaches are experienced and prepared to provide coaching for your leaders at all levels.
- We use a mixture of hands-on and private sessions through both in-person and virtual meetings to develop desired skills and behaviors.
- One of the powerful ways “we build leaders and drive behavior change” is to sustain learning from coursework in Situational Leadership®: Building Leaders, Empowering Situational Leaders™, Leading With Emotional Intelligence and Situational Coaching® with 1-to-1 ownership and accountability for better influence in numerous situations and relationships.
- We are leading the way in team coaching with our time-tested approach to developing the productivity and positivity of complex teams that will impact organizational culture and the bottom line.
Reach out to see how we can help your organization with your corporate coaching needs.
1Kane P. The great resignation is here, and it’s real. Inc. August 2021. https://www.inc.com/phillip-kane/the-great-resignation-is-here-its-real.html. Accessed September 8, 2021.
