When you aren’t incorporating individualized training into your professional development program, you are failing your employees in a lot of ways. Your employees may stagnate, they won’t have specified goals, and disengagement will go up. They also may lose sight if your training is not aligned with your company strategy and the opportunities are vague.
This is where coaching comes in. BlessingWhite’s 2016 The Coaching Conundrum Report found that 80 percent of the 1,800+ employees surveyed want access to coaching.
With coaching, you’re empowering employees to be accountable for their future and promoting a culture of learning. They will proactively seek coaching when they find deficiencies, not wait until another mandatory training seminar.
Let’s see how coaching can have a positive impact on your employee development strategy:
Personal Accountability
Toxic employees play the blame game and pass the buck, refusing to take responsibility for their own actions. You want a team of people who are willing to answer for the outcomes resulting from their behaviors and choices.
Those who hold themselves accountable see their tasks through to the end and know the impact they can have on the company. They aren’t victims to outside influences — they know how they can affect their circumstances.
This mentality can be trained and learned. Coaches help them step out of their comfort zone to overcome challenges, show employees how to engage in self reflection, and offer consistent feedback to help them better understand what habits and choices are contributing to their success.
Sense of Confidence
Workers who don’t feel confident will struggle to make decisions and may tend to overthink things during their day-to-day. Those already feeling a low sense of confidence will be hurt even more when they make mistakes. This especially comes out in how employees respond to criticism.
A confident employee looks at mistakes as growth opportunities and feedback as places to strengthen. Coaches help each person define what confidence means to them and how they want to cultivate and express that confidence.
Each employee has a different degree of confidence, so they need a personalized approach. Coaches can teach them important habits like finding the actionable change in criticism, smiling and maintaining a positive attitude, and finding resources to train themselves so they feel more equipped to succeed at work.
Employees also need to learn the importance of how they communicate with their body language, like standing upright. A September 2014 study conducted by researchers at the University of Auckland and published in Health Psychology found that standing up straight reduces stress. What’s more, upright participants said that they felt less fear, higher self-esteem, and an overall better mood.
When they’re more confident, they can make better decisions and speak their mind in a more effective way. This will improve the dynamics of the office and instill a sense of trust and conviction in your culture — trust in the mission of the company and a firmly-held belief in purpose.
Self-Leadership
Self-leaders have a refined sense of self-awareness. They know what they can do, are persistent and creative problem-solvers who strive for autonomy, and make daily decisions that enable them to reach their full potential.
Coaches help employees find what behaviors are holding them back from becoming better self-leaders. They break down assumed constraints and help them find how those limiting personal beliefs prevent them from achieving their goals.
They also shed light on employees’ strengths and that helps when it’s time for goal setting. When employees know what they’re good at, they can focus on building that skill set.
Goal Setting
Those employee development initiatives that are not focused on the individual leave a lot of people in the lurch. Individualized training helps each person define their own specific goals that align with the organizational vision and mission.
Coaches empower employees with SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, timely) goals and help them find the best path for goal achievement. What’s more, they hold them accountable and check in frequently to ensure they are making the right decisions and focusing on what’s important to their career development.
How is your employee development strategy helping your team evolve?
