Employee Coaching
Coming out of the pandemic, we’ve seen several new workplace trends, including quiet quitting and quiet firing, the great resignation, and reskilling and upskilling initiatives. Another trend that is just as important is employee coaching. Typically something that is considered for executives, there are benefits to coaching employees at all levels of the organization.
Today’s employees have undergone more change over the past few years than previous generations of employees experienced in their careers. The workplace, as we’ve known it for decades, has changed, and the uncertainty continues. There are rising levels of anxiety and fewer in-person interactions to build culture.
Employee coaching is an opportunity to foster your culture, keep employees engaged, and support company objectives. To be clear, this is not a one size fits all approach. Employee coaching should be unique to each employee as they have different needs, expectations, and roles.
According to a recent Korn Ferry article on the topic, effective employee coaching programs are aligned with business goals and applied across the company. The scale of employee coaching programs has been made possible by technology platforms in support of experienced coaches.
The article outlines five tactics to support employee coaching:
Aligning individual and organizational objectives
Coaches must be brought up to speed on the company’s goals and how different roles can support the goals. They should also be provided with employee profiles so they can tap into the capabilities, experience, mindset, beliefs, and motivations of each employee they meet with to connect the employee and their role to the company’s goals.
Identifying and coaching a critical mass to drive culture change
Not everyone is going to be an internal influencer in an organization. And some employees will be more resistant to coaching than others. Executive-level members tend to be influencers, but you’ll need to identify others at different levels of the organization to become catalysts for coaching to be successful.
Delivering a quality coaching conversation
Even with advancements in technology that make coaching across the organization possible, there has to be authenticity in communicating with employees. Making sure you identify skilled coaches is critical to success. They likely have an approach that works and use best practices to improve the odds of measurable improvement.
Building connected employee coaching journeys at scale
Expectations should be set with the employees. If they are looking for executive-level coaching that they’ve heard about, they might be disappointed. To provide coaching across the organization, explain the one-to-one aspects they’ll experience and the digital elements they’ll use as well. Creating an understanding early on will improve adoption rates.
Scaling intelligence and outcomes
If applied successfully, everyone will be able to feel the momentum and impact of the coaching. According to the article, “Professional coaching platforms generate masses of data from many sources, ranging from before-and-after assessments and 360-degree feedback to completion rates for online learning. Virtual connections and self-directed learning enabled by digital platforms…can also gather consistent data on how people throughout the company are faring and plot new trainings and professional development as needed.”
Employee coaching has benefits for organizations as well as their employees, including greater self-awareness, improved emotional intelligence, and better problem-solving skills. All of which provides a foundation for a culture of engaged employees who are better equipped to become leaders.
For more information on the impact of employee coaching at different levels, check out the article. And to learn more about building a strong culture, and other HR topics, visit our blog.