For any successful business, the performance of the employees is a key factor. Ensuring they are making the most of their talents, and seeking to acquire new skills, make a huge difference to productivity and indeed employee satisfaction. Increasingly, the use of coaching is being recognised as a way to bring out the best of employees, driving performance, positive communication, and satisfaction.
What is coaching?
Coaching is a subtly different approach to building knowledge and skills. Rather than ‘telling’ someone what they need to do, or giving them some new facts to absorb, coaching is about helping a person to learn, raising awareness of what they are capable of, and unlocking potential. It’s about helping them to learn, rather than just teaching them.
Modern businesses use a mixture of different management and leadership styles to bring out the most from their staff, and coaching pays a big part of that. Research has shown that coaching is an effective tool that benefits organisations and employees alike.
Let’s have a look at five specific benefits that can come from coaching.
1. Enhanced performance for both the individual and business
It is not uncommon for an employee to fly through a job interview, hit the ground running, but within a few weeks or months they are failing to perform at the level expected. There can be many reasons for this, both at an individual and organisational level. One way to understand the inhibitors to the previously seen performance, is to use coaching. Rather than telling an employee to work harder, or perform to a higher standard, coaching draws out the underlying inhibitors, allowing them to be addressed.
2. Improves positive communication
Coaching is all about talking and listening, engaging in, and encouraging open and constructive conversation, throughout the organisation. From honest discussions about issues at work, pitching new ideas to improve a process, or identifying potential problems, coaching is a valuable tool for taking positive action today, to drive future improvements.
Not only can a coaching style create a more positive environment, but it can also help to build more meaningful relationships with clients and customers. Honest two-way conversations allow you to identify customer concerns or new opportunities, whilst ensuring positive satisfaction and building trust.
3. Better support for new starters
Helping new employees to quickly settle in and become productive is vital. Coaching creates a more welcoming and constructive environment, with an easier exchange of ideas and identification of issues. Coaching style conversation makes it easier for new starters to integrate within a team, express their true personality, and build lasting relationships with employees at all levels of an organisation. It also helps them fit in with the culture, and feel part of the team, which aids retention during this critical period.
4. Increased problem-solving skills
Problem solving is a vital skill for all employees. Whether it is tackling large design problems, resolving client satisfaction issues, or simply trying to create a more harmonious office environment, problem solving is key.
Coaching skills help to draw out the issues and establish what you are trying to achieve. Rather than a culture where problems are ignored, or brushed under the carpet, coaching empowers managers and employees to resolve issues, often turning them into opportunities.
5. Improved satisfaction and retention
Losing good employees is expensive to a business, in more than one way. At a time when there are plenty of attractive jobs being advertised, retaining, and motivating key staff is more important than ever. People want to be appreciated and to know they are making a difference. Providing a coach or mentor can significantly boost retention rates, showing that the organisation cares and helping the individual to reach their full potential. A coaching style of leadership helps drive higher satisfaction levels too.
How to improve your coaching skills
Developing good coaching skills is easier than it has ever been. Inspired2Learn is an accredited delivery partner for the internationally recognised Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM), who provide coaching and mentoring qualifications and training at all levels. ILM helps to develop the coaching and mentoring skills of managers and leaders, enabling them to improve staff productivity and wellbeing, which in return helps to drive business performance.
With over 20 years of experience in training and development across a wide range of business sectors and organisations of all sizes, Inspire2Learn can help you achieve your ILM coaching qualifications. We have worked with many companies and organisations to deliver successful coaching and mentoring training, leading to very satisfied clients!
Whether you are an individual looking to develop your personal skills, or an organisation wishing to improve the coaching skills and ability of your staff, please get in touch, we would love to hear from you.
