Posts Tagged ‘Coaching’

Employee Engagement is a hot topic as the shortage of high performing talent increases.  A May study from McKinsey & Co. found that by 2018, the U.S. will face a shortage of 1.5 million managers who can use data to shape business decisions. And the shortage gets even larger for non management employees, especially knowledge workers in the areas of  healthcare, technology, and accounting.

Another study in June 2011 from Mercer, the global HR consulting firm, found that nearly  one third (32 percent) of American workers are considering leaving their organization, which is 40 percent increase since 2005. So not only is there a shortage but there is also a higher risk of losing the talent you already have on your team.

So what should you be doing to nurture and increase employee engagement on your team? Here are a few tips to get you started:

1. Before hiring ask yourself does the candidate fit culturally with the organization. In other words, does the potential employee have the same set of values the company lives every day?  More often than not employees fail in the short term because they don’t “fit”  the culture of the organization, not because they don’t have the skills.

Coaching Tip: Devise several interview questions that can illuminate a candidate’s values and/or use an assessment that measures values such as the Hogan Leadership assessment.

2. Once you have the right person on board, you need to keep them challenged which means providing them with opportunities for growth and development.  Development plans are an integral part of the talent management system and should be updated on a quarterly basis. The types of development can include special projects, rotation to a lateral position, matching a mentor with the employee, structured learning, and executive coaching.

Coaching Tip: It is critical that the employee be a part of their development planning process. Too often managers assume that an employee wants certain opportunities when they either may not want the opportunity at all, or the timing isn’t right for them due to a personal situation.

3. Demonstrate that you care about your employees by recognizing their good work and showing appreciation. The number one reason good employees leave a company  is because they don’t feel appreciated. Many managers feel that if they show too much appreciation and recognition that it will make performance correction more difficult.  Studies show that it takes upwards of 5 acts of appreciation to equal one act of criticism.  Keep track of your appreciation for others over a week, be purposeful by looking for the sparks of good work, potential, and recognize it.

Coaching Tip: Make sure that when you do provide recognition and appreciation that it be done in a timely manner and with sincerity.  There is nothing worse than receiving insincere appreciation. If you can’t be sincere, then don’t even bother.

4.  Trust is a critical component to employee engagement.  Employees who trust their co-workers, managers, and company generally have a higher level of engagement than those who don’t.  And the one area that will impact trust the most is transparent leadership.  Organizational transparency requires among other things, open access to information, and participation in decision making.

Coaching tip:  A higher degree of transparency will exist if communications are timely and frequent.  And remember to use different communication channels to satisfy the preferences of the multiple generations in the workforce-email, text, hard copy, meetings, video, etc.

These are all techniques that can be implemented in a short period of time that can provide you with some insurance in retaining your key employees. Which one do you plan to implement first?

More often than not, a leader is told that they are getting an executive coach without being part of the decision process. As a coach, it can create a variety of reactions from the coachee. Depending on the situation and events leading up to the decision, the continuum of reactions can be from enthusiasm to apprehension, fear, and even anger.

Variables that can influence the reaction to being coached can include but are not limited to: coaching history within the organization-positive or negative, performance feedback from the leader, leadership development plans, recent 360 degree surveys, and relationship with the leader.

So where are you on this continuum?  My experience is that if you are at the anger or fear side of the spectrum and you remain there, your opportunity to grow and learn will be a missed opportunity.

All too often, a successful leader’s initial reaction to a coaching assignment is as one of being penalized rather than one of being rewarded. And yet, once they understand the motive of their leader, more often than not it changes their perception of the coaching opportunity. Those that do make the transition from negative feelings and emotions over to a positive place can actually take advantage of the opportunity to work with an executive coach and perform to their best. The rate of this transition differs by individual and those who remain firm to their negative beliefs longer will benefit the least from coaching.  Often they move into apathy and just go through the motions.  They make changes but they aren’t developed into habits and thus the changes may dissipate after the coaching assignment has concluded.

How can you move up the continuum so that your mind opens to new ideas and perspectives and you can take full advantage of your coaching opportunity?

The first step is to understand how your manager made the decision to provide you with a coach and what her goals are for you. Often your executive coach will be involved in this discussion. Was it in a place of caring for you and a desire to see you develop to a higher level of performance? Or was she looking for one more way to try and “fix” you? And then you need to understand what she is looking for as an end result in the process.  What will she observe or measure that proves you have progressed?

Once you understand what his reasoning is and the goals he has for you then you are ready to start the coaching process by talking to several coaches. Since you will be working closely with this individual over a 6-12 month period of time, it will be important that there is a good “chemistry” between the two of you.

As you work with your coach, he will provide you with opportunities to raise your awareness of the environment and people around you as well as your self-awareness. A high level of awareness drives a high performance levels. The other necessary step in the coaching process is an acceptance of responsibility in your own thoughts, feelings, and actions. No one controls any of these personal aspects of your person. Learning to manage these parts of your persona can have a powerful impact on your performance and relationships.

The opportunity to have an executive coach is just that, an opportunity not a penalty.  An executive coach can assist you in learning more about your strengths and challenges, as well as develop into a better, higher performing leader and individual.

Well it happened for the millionth time yesterday, when a client shared her frustration with me that she seemed to have to solve all of her organizations problems, yet the cause was her. Her impatience and desire to assist others created a dependency on her to solve all the problems.

Does this siutation sound familiar?  Your in the middle of work and one of your employees comes to you with a problem and you know exactly the right solution. So you immediately tell the person what he/she should do. “Well that was easy” you say to yourself.  But here is the problem you just created for yourself, you also made it easy for the employee.  The next time they have a problem they are going to come to you again and even quicker than the first time! You are the enabler and creator of your own problem.

So what do you need to do next time a person comes with a problem? Before you resolve the problem, inquire and ask them questions that will help them develop their own solution. The questions should be open ended, such as “what”,  ”how”  and “when”. Here are some examples: “What do you think you should do?” , “What other options have you identified?” And when they come to a solution, don’t forget this powerful question: “What else” This will get them to think deeper with the potential to come up with other options to their problem. This technique is used widely be executive coaches during coaching conversations and can be extremely effective to get someone to their own solution that they own, not you.

Who knows, it may be a better solution than one you planned on suggesting before you bit your tongue and “asked” versus “told” them what to do. Creating a path to a solution for an employee takes more time in the short term but it will free up a lot of time for you in the future. Having the employee create their own solution provides a learning opportunity for them and the potential that they won’t be back in your office with a similar solution the next time.

Recently, I have had several executive coaching conversations with business leaders who have complained that they weren’t accomplishing enough.  One leader felt as if she would never get through her “to do” list. But as the conversation progressed she was able to list out many things that she had accomplished, yet an item was always followed by a “but”, totally negating the previous accomplishment in her mind.

Does this scenario sound familiar to you?  At the end of a long week, do you feel as if the week flew by and you didn’t accomplish what you had wanted?

Here are a few simple steps to break this self-defeating cycle.

1. Delegate: your list of tasks.  What HAS to be done by you and what can you delegate to those around you? Then delegate tasks.
2. Prioritize: Now look at the remaining tasks on the list.  What is really important versus what is urgent? How long has each task been on your list? Identify the important top three tasks and focus on these items first. Always tackle the important, most impactful items first.
3. Eliminate Roadblocks: If there is a task that has been on the list longer than a month, why is it still there?  What is holding you back? Who can help you get past the roadblocks?
4. Recognize Accomplishments: And finally, at the end of each week write down those accomplishments and successes, however small, that you can claim victory on. Remember that like a small stream that leads into a large river, small accomplishments lead to much larger ones!

Take some time today to incorporate this process into your week, and stop beating yourself up!

In the October 2009 edition of Chief Learning Officer, Michael D Watkins’ article The Eight Toughest Transitions for Leaders outlined the top transitions that most business leaders have to navigate through during their career. The transitions are:

• Promotion
• Leading former peers
• Diplomacy (authority versus influence)
• New organization
• International move
• Organizational turnaround
• Corporate strategy realignment
• Business portfolio change

Watkins suggests that in order for a leader to transition successfully, a leader must be competent in adapting his personal style and competencies, as well as focus on the organization’s needs to build a plan for organizational growth.

IDENTIFYING NEEDED CHANGES

This past year has brought change to a great many leaders, what changes and transitions did you make in 2009? How would you rate your ability to adapt personally and organizationally?

Looking into this coming year, here are some questions to ponder and help you with your leadership success.

1. Given your experience and leadership strengths, what do you need to do more of and less of?
2. What new skills do you need to learn? What is your plan to obtain them?
3. What adjustments do you need to make with your communications, delegation, decision making, team building, and trusted network of advisors?

The quality of the answers to these self-reflective questions is contingent on your level of self-awareness. Some of us are more self-aware of our strengths and weaknesses than others, so I always recommend that in addition to answering these questions use at least one other technique:

Leadership Assessments such as Hogan Leadership Survey, or Observational Feedback can add insight into needed changes Assessments provide an unbiased view of your behaviors while observational feedback can provide you with information on how individuals view your key competencies as a leader as compared to the organization’s leadership competency model.

PLANNING TO IMPLEMENT CHANGE

Now that you’ve identified the changes you need to make, a development plan needs to be created. Creating a solid plan with SMART goals and implementing the plan are critical to leadership because in the end, unless you actually make the necessary changes success will not be in your future.

This is often the time when I and other executive coaches are asked for assistance. Co-developing the plan with the leader and coaching the leader effectively through the necessary behavioral changes are effective to creating sustainable change. Using an internal coach is also effective.The advantage to an internal coach is their organizational knowledge while the disadvantage is the potential concern of the executive being coached of confidentiality. Whatever your choice is, internal or external, coaching will provide you with a systematic and proven method to create long term change.

CONCLUSION

So if you are like most leaders, you and your organization has to adapt to the economic changes that have occurred over the last 18 months. Adapting requires changes both personally as well as organizationally.Personal changes first need to be identified by you, others around you, and an assessment tool. Then a development plan should be created and a coach identified to work with you for sustainable change.

For all you new leader-managers out there and you know who you are. Until recently, you were performing as a super-star engineer, programmer, scientist, accountant, sales rep, to name a few and then you were offered the opportunity to manage. This step up was what you had been working towards. It is a sign of success not to mention prestige and more money.

Now, how long have you been in this new position? How are you feeling about your new role? Is this new opportunity a trick or a treat?

And what about those managers who have risen up through the leadership ranks and aren’t new to the game. How are you feeling about your role these days? With all the stress during these economically challenging times, is leadership still fun? Do you still have the passion?

Turning Leadership Tricks into Treats for New Leaders

All too often, I am called in to work with a new manager who is having challenges with their new role. The company leadership had great expectations for their high potential employee who performed miracles as a line employee, yet was not meeting their expectations in their new management role. The struggling manager is often frustrated in their new role and doesn’t know how to make the necessary adjustments to be successful.

What now? If you recognize yourself as one of these managers here are some tips for turning the situation around.

1. Review your job description and the skills that are needed to support the job. Determine in your own mind, through self-assessment, which skills are ones that you have had little opportunity to develop before moving into the job. How critical are these skills to your future success as a manager?
2. Prioritize the skills you need to develop. Ask yourself; are these skills I am committed to developing? If they aren’t then you have a tougher question to ask: Do I really want to be a manager-leader moving forward? What am I passionate about at work?
3. If you are committed to developing the necessary skills then sit down with your manager, review your analysis and jointly create a leadership development plan. For some free and low cost resources visit

Experienced Leaders Moving from Tricks to Treats

All the critical skills for leader-managers are the soft skills, those that relate to interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence. Unlike intelligence, emotional intelligence can be changed. It is all about choosing how you react in different situations and different types of people. Bottom line leading is all about people.

So you’ve been in your management role for a number of years, you enjoy developing teams, yet often the actions of team members can frustrate you turning your leadership “treat” into a “trick”. What steps can you take to decrease the number of “tricks” your employees play on you so that you are increasing the performance of your team to create a higher level of success for all?

Coaching Employees to Greater Performance

In one word, start coaching employees. Now this is easier said than done and if you haven’t had experience coaching, I recommend getting some training in managerial coaching or reading up on the process and techniques of coaching. Two good books to start with are: Coaching for Performance by John Whitmore and The Coaching Manager by James M Hunt and Joseph R Weintraub.

Once you have the basics down, be very observant during your interactions with team members for those moments when an employee is creating a “trick” versus a “treat”. The “trick” can take on a number of behaviors such as lack of follow through, poor communications, inability to deal with team conflict etc. Make sure that when the time comes to coach, that the employee being coached is ready to be self-reflective and open to options.

Asking open ended questions to get the team member to explore her options and choose her own path of self improvement is the goal. The hardest part is to listen while she talks it out through your guided questions, and NOT to jump in with your own solution. When you loose patience and give them your solution, there is no learning that takes place, the employee is not as committed to the solution if it was her own, and performance is not improved.

Practicing and becoming proficient in coaching your employees will increase your leadership “treat” in the future as there is nothing more rewarding than to see employees reach their full potential. Your passion for leadership will be fulfilled.

Remember that manager you had that when he said “I need to talk to you” you got a deep sinking feeling which wound up at the pit of your stomach. What was it that made you react to those words?

There are any number of reasons that you reacted many of which were based on the experiences you had following the statement “ I need to talk to you”. The first was that your manager never gave you any positive feedback, all you heard were the things you weren’t doing right. And for those of you who did get positive feedback, the feedback given to you which was focused on changing behavior wasn’t given clearly and you often walked away wondering what exactly you needed to do.

So that was then and now you’re the manager. What are you doing differently from that dreaded manager who couldn’t give you feedback effectively so you finally got frustrated and left for greener pastures?

Here are some steps to feedback that, if done correctly and consistently, will move your team members to a higher level of productivity and effectiveness. The key is you need to be consistent or you won’t get these results. Interpreted: You won’t see changes over night. Change generally happens incrementally and not all of a sudden.

As a general rule, during the steps 1-3 of the conversation make your statements using the pronoun “I” vs “You”. And during steps 4-6 statements will transition to “You”.

1. At the very beginning of the meeting, make sure that you clearly state why you are meeting with the person who is getting feedback .
2. State facts or observations you have made and your concern around this behavior
   

   Example: “At the meeting yesterday, I saw you cut off Jim five times while he was speaking which is a concern”

3. Explain the impact that the negative behavior has on you
   

   Example: “The reason I am concerned is that when you cut people off such as Jim, I and the other team members maybe missing some good ideas that he hasn’t been able to share with us. And since one of our key values is innovation, this behavior does not align with our values”

4. Ask for the employee’s view of the situation and use as many questions as possible to get their perspective
   

   Example: “ I’d like to understand what caused you to cut Jim off so many times” “Tell me more…” “How do you think it made Jim feel?”

5. Coach the person to their own solution, once they understand the impact their behavior has on their performance and others around them.
   

   Example: “So what technique could you use that will stop you from interrupting?” “What else?”

6. Get commitment on a SMART Goal from the employee
   

   Example: “Which solution are you committed to trying?” “When will you try it?” “ How will you know that you’ve been successful?”

7. Set up specific time for follow up

Now that you know the steps, who are you going to start the process with? The sooner you start, the sooner your employees will become more productive and effective. And as a manager or business leader, this means greater profits and a more engaged workforce.