Coaching

Encouraging Collaborative Conversations

The US Bureau of Labour Standards states that ‘the war for talent has never been more brutal’. This has emerged, not because companies have forgotten about talent, or allowed it drop off of the radar but, because in some fundamental ways, the talent has changed. In entering the workforce, Generation X has forced organisations to redefine age-old management styles and practices. HR Future magazine shows that 80% of managers find it difficult to attract and retain talent and even more difficult to keep them engaged. The role of coaching in retaining talent in this war for talent cannot be over-emphasised.

The Business Week in the US reports that over 50% of employees who are not being coached are actively looking for a job within 12 months of being hired. Today’s talent wants exciting work, challenge, career growth, learning and development in return for their commitment. These conditions are well within the control of each manager, and are neither costly nor difficult to provide.

Why coaching?

Bill Price, CEO of VIP Leadership and Strategic Coaching Institute describes coaching as “the living and dynamic influential management tool of the century!” Coaching takes the form of collaborative conversations whose aim is to facilitate the smooth transfer of knowledge from those who have it to those who want it and need it. It deals with both individual and organizational issues in that its outcomes focus on increasing both personal and organizational effectiveness.

Coaching has the following benefits for any organisation wishing to retain and motivate its talent:

• Achieves a balanced leadership team
• Reinvigorates senior employees
• Promotes the culture of the organisation
• Attracts and retains high performers
• Accelerates development
• Upgrades employee skills and knowledge

• Harvests the experience within the organisation
• Develops leadership talent
• Fosters a collaborative environment
• Fosters the notion of reciprocal relationships: we need to learn from each other
• Fosters a sense of belonging

Developing coaches

The role of Coach has been defined as: role model, career guide, sounding board, challenger, networker, politician, knowledge source, and mentor.

In a changing business environment, the manager as coach is a far more positive alternative to the authoritarian ‘keep your distance’ attitude or traditional management styles.

Course content:

This course comprises two modules aimed at turning effective managers into successful coaches.

Module 1: Understanding Talent

This module provides an in-depth understanding of today’s talent, in terms of what talent is looking for in a career, their attitudes to work and authority, what kind of benefits they are looking for, and how they define job satisfaction.

It looks at:

• Career goals
• Work ethics and values
• Career planning
• Work environments and culture
• Benefits and reward systems
• Ways of motivating

In order to have effective coaching conversations with your team members, you need to understand who it is you will be engaging with, and what techniques they are likely to respond best to.

Module 2: Inspiring and Developing Talent

This module provides managers with the skills necessary to hold collaborative conversations: an orientation programme for coaches. The aim of orienting coaches is to ensure that a learning culture is created, in which continuous improvement through feedback is emphasised.

This module looks at the role of coaching in enhancing performance, job satisfaction and career development.

It focuses on:

• The role of coach
• The coaching process
• How to plan for and create conversations
• How to encourage dialogue
• Communication styles
• Feedback preferences
• Coaching virtual teams

The outcome of any coaching intervention is to not only on increasing skills and building competence, but also to assist on identifying individual style, building confidence and changing mindsets.

Introducing a culture of coaching into the management process provides an opportunity to more effectively utilize the talent available within your organization. Your employees benefit directly because they are able to participate in a more focused, accelerated and meaningful interpersonal experience of learning. In a changing business environment, this is essential in ensuring that you gain maximum loyalty, productivity and job satisfaction.

Duration: 2 days