Coaching is usually considered to be something that is only available to a small number of individuals within an organisation and is typically associated with senior members of the business. But with career paths becoming more unpredictable and fragmented, all individuals within a business stand to benefit from development which can offer them stability and help them to consider their own personal development and career path, regardless of the level they are currently at.
The good news is that coaching can be made available to all employees and can become an integral part of an organisation’s culture and developmental environment. It may be that you want to create a strong succession pipeline within your organisation, need a structured support to help ease female employees back into the workplace after maternity leave, or just want to provide general mentoring support to your employees. Offering support at all levels can have huge benefits for organisations in terms of improving retention levels, relationships and staff commitment, whilst also enabling staff to reach their highest potential and accelerating business performance. It is important to identify who within your organisation might benefit from coaching and why:
Developing leaders to boost organisational performance and productivity – Leaders, for example, are navigating much tougher challenges than ever before and coaching enables them to build their skills set so they can meet their challenges head on. By helping these individuals to reach their potential, organisational performance and productivity will improve too. It’s also important to give high potential individuals the right training before they reach that leadership position in order to avoid a ‘talent retrofit’ whereby individuals only receive development after they are put in a leadership role and take time to get up to speed and feel confident in their new responsibilities.
Increasing female retention and improving relationships within teams and the business – Businesses are facing a significant talent shortage, and it is important that organisations develop and retain their existing talent and in particular, women. Our research shows that 57% of women don’t feel capable enough to rejoin the workforce after maternity leave, and often these employees can leave the business altogether. Offering maternity coaching is an effective way of retaining female talent as it increases the proportion of women who return to work after having a baby. Women who go through a coaching programme are likely to return with confidence, drive, and a good understanding of how they can create a work life balance and provide a valuable, relevant contribution to the business. They are therefore more likely to stay with the company long term and their successful transition from maternity leave back into work should inspire other women in the organisation to consider this route.
Demonstrating commitment to all staff – Coaching enables individuals to have one-to-one time to tackle issues that are individual to them, and to have open, honest conversations at a level of depth not easily achieved in group situations. One-to-one time also demonstrates to the individual that they are valued and invested in, something that can often be hard to get across in the workplace.
Amidst uncertain economic times, today’s world of work is a turbulent place. This is why it’s really important that employers consider the advantages of introducing coaching into their organisation. Retention is critical and coaching can support employees’ professional development and improve staff satisfaction, which helps to keep valued workers. Having a productive workforce leads to a productive business and it’s been found that 95% of businesses who use coaching see benefits to the organisation as a whole. The key is to make it relevant to the individual and to the organisation.
For more information on coaching please visit our website: www.rightmanagement.co.uk
