Monday 03 June 2019
Coaching and training will not solve all your problems. Throwing money at a non-performing or unhappy employee will not necessarily transform them into a highly motivated employee.
I am not a fan of this approach. When an employee starts by telling me how they were ‘forced’ to attend coaching, they are basically telling me that you’re wasting your money.
Coaching is not a magic bullet that will make everything better. It requires the person being coached to want to be there. It’s not my job to sell to them the benefits of the process, this is the job of the employer.
It’s very hard to change if you don’t see the need to change. Self awareness is the first step in personal development. No coaching process should start without the coachee undertaking some form of self-analysis or 360 feedback. This is where we find the motivation to change some aspects of our communication or leadership style, when we see that it will have a positive impact on those around us and ultimately ourselves.
It’s not the coach’s job to provide a critique and assessment of the coachee. Our role is to encourage the employee to sit back and reflect on how you can be a better leader or person, and to hopefully provide some proven strategies to be more successful in your role.
Coaching is really just a form of personal training for the personality. It works when an individual is experiencing problems working with others or is lacking the full suite of leadership skills to effectively lead people. It’s also useful well when working with newly promoted leaders or high potential employees who have a strong desire to learn.
Try selling the benefits to an employee of the coaching process before investing in it. Commit to an initial chemistry meeting between the coach and the employee and let the employee decide if they feel they can work with their coach, otherwise you may be wasting your time and money.
When do you think investing in coaching is a waste of time & money?
