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What Coaching Can Do
Dan DeLapp
Every
day, in every work location, in every organization, leaders and individual
contributors are seeking opportunities to add to their professional
success and contribute to a successful enterprise. However, many of these
opportunities aren’t maximized to the fullest or are missed altogether.
These missed opportunities could play out in a number of ways:
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An idea
that might have boosted results for the function or enterprise doesn't get
implemented because the champion failed to build a coalition of support.
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A key
player in the organization isn’t getting cooperation from those around him
or her because the interpersonal style is perceived as cold and arrogant.
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A new
system change that would have increased productivity and cut down time has
not been utilized because the leader failed to engage all of those
affected by the change and didn’t plan for early quick wins.
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A
project that would have meant a tremendous improvement was behind schedule
and over budget because the project team members couldn’t come to an
agreement on critical issues such as who was in charge, how to measure
success, assigning work or how to make decisions.
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A team
that had once been at its peak under the previous leader now is sputtering
along about half speed. All because the new leader holds control over
every decision and doesn’t communicate necessary information.
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Good
results that come from having top performing team members aren’t being
realized. Some of those employees are leaving while others have lost their
motivation to do well. Neither the boss nor the coworkers have been
willing to deal with relationship problems that have resulted in bad
feelings within the group.
Do any
of these situations sound familiar? It’s mind boggling to think of all the
losses that occur when these kind of situations arise. Did you know that
it’s possible to calculate these losses? Likewise, its also possible to
calculate how much could have been gained had those situations had
positive outcomes.
When it comes to the development of individual contributors, leaders and
work groups, traditional training, mentoring, reading and other
knowledge-based activities can provide rich information and skill
practice. When the activity is finished, however, many individuals put the
information on a shelf, don’t discuss the new information with their boss,
aren’t given any expectations to use the information and generally forget
much of the information in a short period of time. And it isn’t because
people aren’t motivated to learn. It’s just that the work environment
isn’t set up to allow each person to make needed changes when the person
returns. In fact, sometimes, the work environment is set up to prevent the
person from changing at all. Focused and planned coaching has the
potential to change all that.
Coaching is a process that creates a bridge between knowledge and action
and it’s action that gets results and adds to the bottom line. Imagine
that a coach had been involved with the individual with an idea that
couldn’t get off the ground. A coach could have helped that individual
flesh out the details, pro and con and demonstrate how implementation
could save money or maximize the opportunity in measurable ways. A coach
could have helped that individual work out different strategies to present
the idea to needed supporters. A coach could have worked with that
individual to show him or her ways to influence and sell ideas to get the
needed broad based support.
In the case of the cold, aloof leader, a coach could have assessed the
leader’s interpersonal behavior in ways that go well beyond a performance
review. A coach could have helped that leader read interpersonal
situations and show him or her alternative strategies for interacting with
others. A coach could have helped that leader practice on specific
interpersonal behaviors using today’s computer/video technology (for
immediate feedback) until the leader felt comfortable using those skills
in real situations. A coach could help that leader build a stronger, more
productive team by helping him or her build strong, working relationships.
A coach would have stayed with that leader, providing ongoing feedback and
support.
Or what could have been different with the team that didn’t seem to have
any direction and subsequently caused their project to be over budget and
beyond schedule? A coach could have diagnosed specific issues in the group
that were contributing to bad results. A coach could have helped get the
project team back on track by utilizing proven group process methods to
define member roles, project goals, individual responsibilities, work
processes and other group dimensions. If the team didn’t have adequate
tools to help them track and report progress, a coach could have helped
them create those tools. A coach could have worked with the team to define
group processes such as decision-making, problem solving, managing
conflict and disagreement and setting up information dissemination
mechanisms.
Many people have said that developing others, including coaching is a
boss’s responsibility and they are correct. However, how many bosses have
the time and requisite skills to coach? If you are a boss, do you have the
time and skills necessary to get good coaching done? If you’re a boss who
does coaching well and consistently, then you don’t need any help! If that
isn’t the case, then a qualified and experienced coach can help
individuals, leaders and teams meet and exceed their performance goals.
Additionally, a qualified and experienced coach will set up internal
support mechanisms (including giving coaching skills to bosses) to help
sustain changes made by individuals and teams.
Coaching can:
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Get
maximum return on those classroom training dollars
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Help
work groups and teams achieve maximum results
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Take
the feedback on a performance review into real-time and productive
development for individual contributors
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Help
leaders become better in their current assignment or help them prepare for
more strategic assignments
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Help
any motivated individual, leader or work groups make permanent, productive
changes for themselves and their organizations
The
consultants at Auxilium have a strong track record of helping people in
many organizations achieve their desired results. If you’d like to learn
more about how coaching works and how it could help you,
contact
us.
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