However, with the momentum of vaccine rollout in Australia and as the economy continues to rebound, research tells us the labour market will get tighter. For this reason, this situation will result in the war for talent becoming more likely to happen.

Hybrid work arrangements and work from anywhere policies are now the norms in most organisations. Then, to win this talent war, it’s now mission-critical:

• to have your dispersed team highly engaged 
• led by outstanding remote managers 
• supported by a strong organisational culture. 

Productivity

Markedly, more than 70% of employees state they are more productive working from home. And businesses report 47% productivity increases during COVID. 

Most business leaders agree that increasing employee engagement increases productivity significantly and improves bottom-line profit. 

The fact is, it’s never been more important to focus on the productivity of your remote teams for the long term. And equally, ensure your managers feel equipped with the skills and tools they need to meet and exceed company goals.

Managers hold the key

If you have been fortunate to work for a great manager, I’d like to invite you to reflect for a moment on what was great about them and how you remember them?

Certainly, the fact is that managers can make or break a team.   

The Oxford English dictionary defines a manager as –

“a person responsible for controlling or administering an organisation or group of staff”. 

This is one definition; rather, my personal definition of a manager in 2021 and beyond is –

“a person that leads, supports, and develops a team of people to deliver the organisational goals”.  

By and large, the way we work has shifted forever. Being a manager has always been a tough gig, but in the hybrid environment, it sucks!

So how can you ensure your managers are ready for the hybrid normal?

Future-ready culture with a coaching culture

A culture of coaching is an approach in which leaders, managers and staff members work together to:

– increase individual, team and company organisational performance.

The future hybrid workplace with a strong culture will be one where workers feel empowered to work towards their own goals independently. Managers who foster this type of working environment will positively impact employee engagement and organisational productivity. 

Gallup research has shown that managers are a massive influence on engagement rates. It was found managers account for at least 70% of the variance in employee engagement scores across business units. And with high engagement rates comes better company results.

So how can you transform your managers into coaches to create a culture of coaching in your workplace?

Teach coaching skills

The first steps are knowing:

• who you are as a leader, and 
• whom you have on your team. 

Its commonly accepted that not everyone has the required traits to work remotely long term. And business WHS responsibility for their employees does not change just because they are not working at the office. The solution we recommend is using established science to predict how your managers and team members will perform in a long term remote/hybrid environment.

I’ve used many people assessment tools over my 20+ years as a coach and a people leader. With this in mind, I find the bespoke next-gen people assessment tools from Great People Inside are easy to use and their predictive capability and insights are second to none for this exercise. They are outstanding, too, when you’re hiring a new remote employee as they truly de-risk the recruitment process and increase your success rate by 300%!

Not all managers have a coaching mindset, but all great managers do. Certainly prioritising coaching in your workplace training is the best way to create a coaching culture. This type of training is essential for employees transitioning into leadership roles or those coming to grips with managing people remotely.

Rank employee engagement as a top priority

Tying together talent and employee engagement to achieve important business objectives is what coaching is all about. 

To nurture employees’ professional development to keep them engaged, a good step is discussing with each employee their professional goals from their point of view. Then communicating clearly and precisely how the organisation can support them to achieve their goals.

In this way, the employee owns their own development and their careers. 

A coaching culture fosters an environment of trust.

Trust influences everything. A work environment in which managers coach and trust their employees and employees trust their managers is one where productivity can thrive. Creating trust is challenging. Again this is where a coaching mindset can play a huge role.

Professor Ralph Stacey, a renowned organisational theorist and Professor of Management at University of Hertfordshire, in the UK., says it best –

“the quality of the system is determined by the quality of the relationships which is determined by the quality of the conversation.” 

When individuals have accountability over their work, they are more likely to achieve important business outcomes independently. Autonomous workers also understand how their everyday work contributes to the overall success of the company. Having this connection to the purpose helps to empower individuals to reach their highest potential.

Contact us today to find out more about incorporating a coaching mindset for your leaders and our Great People Inside assessment tools.

The post A Coaching Culture – how does this Protect Productivity and Profit? appeared first on Directions Unlimited.

The VUCA acronym (Volatile, Uncertain Complex, Ambiguous) has been around since 1987. It was the US Army War College’s response to the collapse of the USSR in the early 1990s.

No one was forecasting Covid-19, even in January 2020.

Without a doubt, it has been the most disruptive events in our lifetimes. It has devastated:

• countries, 
• economies, 
• businesses, 
• individuals, 
• families, and 
• communities. 

But it is likely there may be other disruptions waiting in the wings that, as yet, we know nothing about. 

What does VUCA leadership and uncertainty mean for organisations?

The BIG questions for organisations are:

• which elements will affect you, 
• to what degree, and
• how will a combination of consecutive catastrophic disruptions alter the change.

Despite the deliberations of many so-called thought leaders and experts, the truthful answer is no one knows what will happen in the future! 

What you can rely on, though, is that there will be significant change. VUCA leaders in your organisation means the capability of anticipating, responding and reacting to change when it happens in turn, reacting again and again when it changes again (and again).

“THE ONLY CONSTANT IN LIFE IS CHANGE.” – HERACLITUS (C535BC – C475BC) 

What makes an effective VUCA leader?

Effective VUCA leadership is demonstrated by those who can give their company more than an abundance of skills and experience. Traits of VUCA leaders are that they can:

• develop and communicate a clear and motivating vision based on an understanding of the constantly changing economic environment, and 
• apply it through quick decisions, well-adapted to ever-changing conditions.

In addition to skills learned for a role, experience, and qualifications gained, there is no substitute for the enthusiasm, motivation and vision these great leaders possess. VUCA leaders can mean the difference between an average team and a high performing team in an organisation. They are the leaders every company wants to keep, nurture and develop to their full potential.

VUCA leaders are acutely aware of the strategic goals they are striving for and what they need to do to get there. They share company values, strive to be the best at what they do, identify areas for improvement and actively engage with their own leaders to perfect their craft and leadership method.

Leadership style isn’t a perfect science – but what all great leaders have in common is their ability to be authentic. 

Future proof your business through VUCA leadership

Thinking back to the beginning of the Covid crisis, who among your managers disappointed you with their response? Who impressed you? Were any of these a surprise to you (either positive or negative)? Those who responded well are, potentially, your VUCA Leaders. If you manage to retain them, they are the people who will guide you through future change events.

Using the Great People Inside customised VUCA leadership assessment, you can identify and quantify which team members and potential candidates possess the required attributes. Gaps that may be obstacles to your organisation’s success can also be uncovered. 

Click here for a free trial.

The post VUCA Leadership today: how to identify great VUCA Leaders appeared first on Directions Unlimited.

Practical ways to adapt your approach

Many of us can easily recall precisely when key events occurred around the world and in our own lives. It is fair to say that the current pandemic is one of those events and is well and truly etched in our memories for as long as we shall live.

In March 2020 you can probably recall the moment you first heard the word “lockdown”. It likely stopped you in your tracks as you were confronted with the thought, what does this mean for me and my family? Then came the closure of businesses, JobKeeper, Jobseeker and a mountain of eye watering debt, the likes of which we have never seen before in this country.

Except for Victoria, most states have since relaxed the restrictions imposed, however the constant media reminders and escalated infection control procedures practised daily in businesses across the country are a constant reminder of what running a business looks like in the year 2020.

This period marks the greatest challenge to leaders. Many of your peers and employees are likely worried about their future. Now more than ever, your people need the steady hand and re assurance of your leadership.

The problem though, is that leaders are human too and are not immune to the anxiety, stress and sleepless nights caused by the uncertainty we have lived through for the best part of this year.

Right now, as a business owner or leader you have a lot on your plate and sometimes it may even seem too much. This can impact your ability to think clearly or may cause you to lash out (metaphorically) at team members or even become short tempered with your customers.

But how can you morph and adapt your leadership to cope with the current demands? To help, we have outlined five practical approaches you can adopt.

1. Lead Self

It was Charles Manz who first used the term ‘Self-leadership’ in 1983; and from this we know that to be a successful leader we must lead ourselves first, before we can lead others. The current situation calls for in-depth personal reflection to truly understand who we are, how we got to where we are today and what our natural tendencies and behaviours are when we are in a crisis and under pressure.

Self-awareness is one of the key elements of emotional intelligence (EI), which Daniel Goleman, a renowned psychologist, refers to as a person’s ability “to identify and manage their emotions and identify and influence others’ emotions”

Self-awareness provides a leader with key personal insights and enables them to self-manage those circumstances when triggered by a situation, an event, or a personal interaction. At the end of the day, we cannot control the occurrence of “stuff” that triggers us, but we do get to choose our reaction. As leaders we are constantly on display, and our people and our clients are making decisions about us and our leadership based on what they observe.

2. Get ‘real’

Many leaders tend to think that showing vulnerability is a weakness- in fact, it is a strength of leadership. When leaders stop wasting energy trying to conceal what they think other people should not see, it allows them to start showing their “real” self. By accepting vulnerability as a strength, leaders can stop worrying about having every answer and realise it is okay to not know. True wisdom comes from stepping away from the fear of not knowing.

The idea of being “real” was popularised by American management guru Warren Bennis in his 1989 book On Becoming a Leader, and gained further attention through the 2003 publication Authentic Leadership by Bill George, a professor at the Harvard Business School. Such leaders know and accept themselves and present a genuine and empathetic face to their teams.

They communicate truthfully and directly, and lead with the heart, not just the mind. But they are no softies. Truly ‘real” leaders always keep their goal in mind – the good of the organisation they are responsible for and lead. Mission-driven, they can separate out personal feelings from work imperatives.

3. Model the behaviour

Peter Drucker a renowned management consultant once said that “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”.  He did not mean that a great strategy is not important but rather that an empowering culture was a more certain route to organisational success.

Culture can be described “as the way we do things around here”. It includes leadership, communication, people, policies, vision, values, onboarding, and hiring and firing processes. Especially during the current situation, people like to work for and with leaders and managers who make them feel good, and these positive feelings result in improved performance. When leaders and managers do not promote these positive feelings throughout the business, performance decreases and mediocrity increases.

Most of us are familiar with the proverb that “a fish rots from the head”, which means that leadership is the root cause of an organisation’s failure and demise. This is true whether that organisation is a country, a company, or a business unit – toxic leadership can poison the emotional climate of a business quicker than you can say profit and loss! Modelling the type of leadership behaviour that you expect in your business is critical as it sets the tone, creates the environment, and builds your unique culture.

4. Communicate

George Bernard Shaw once said, “the greatest issue in communication is the illusion it has taken place”. As we know, great communication is much more than just getting your message across. It has to do with understanding the emotion and the intentions behind the information contained in the message. Leaders need highly advanced communication skills, not only to clearly convey a message, but to also listen in a way that gains the full meaning of what is being said and makes the other person feel heard and understood.

This is where favouring your right ear is important. While this may seem quite unusual, experts tell us that the left side of the brain is where the primary processing centres for both speech comprehension and emotions happens, and as the left side of the brain is connected to the right side of the body, favouring your right ear can help you better detect the emotional nuances of what someone is saying.

Many of us despite our best efforts to get the message across, on occasions find that the listener has heard differently to what was intended, the message somehow was blown off course and landed on a different landing strip than we intended! Adopting a non-judgemental approach and crafting powerful questions can help a leader explore deeply and increase their success of more effective communication.

5. Get data, get results

Leading others is difficult. It’s fair to say you would not purchase a piece of capital equipment for your business without the benefit of objective data, so why would you attempt to lead your highly valued (and costly) team without the edge that scientific objective insights can give you? As a good friend of mine in Dublin used to say, “Are you stupid or what?”

Your team members are made up of vastly different personalities, all with their own unique passions, backgrounds, views, and work styles. With the best will in the world, misunderstandings and differences of opinion can create friction within the group.

Left unchecked, this can put a damper on performance and enthusiasm, leading to conflicts which may be hard to resolve.

This is the last thing you need right now. So, how can you harvest the best each team member has to give, using their attributes to maximum benefit, while managing those behavioural traits with the potential to upset team dynamics?

The answer is behavioural assessments, which give you detailed information about you and each of your employee’s skills, behaviour, and personality traits. These next generation of unique customisable smart tools from Great People Inside that we recommend, provide leaders with heightened self-awareness and valuable pointers about the way their employees can function to optimum capacity at work – both as individuals and within the team.

Your choice

We appreciate that every business is unique, and that in the 21^st century, businesses invest in defining, developing and implementing that very specific culture, that state-of-the-art customer service, those distinguished values and dynamics that deliver their business advantage and success. In other words, we understand that a business’s uniqueness and greatness cannot, and should not, rely on a “one size fits all” approach.

The assessments we recommend are unique as they offer a menu of more than 60 validated dimensions from which you choose to measure precisely what is important to your business.

If you’d like to learn more, or if you would like a FREE trial, please click on this LINK and we will get back to you promptly.

David Leahy

Great People Inside

The post MORPH YOUR LEADERSHIP appeared first on Directions Unlimited.

Think about the last significant purchase you made. It’s likely that you obtained some objective data to help with your decision making, but what objective data have you available when making recruitment selection decisions?

Recruitment process

So, your business is going well and you’ve decided it’s time to hire a new employee or two. You define the role, quantify the qualifications and experience the person needs to have, place your job advertisement all over the internet, or depending on your business, brief your HR Manager or engage a recruitment company.

The “fun” has only just begun. Research shows we get it right about 25% of the time! By “get it right” we mean hiring a top performer, not just a good or adequate performer. Think about that, a process that delivers the right outcome only 25% of the time – I doubt you would tolerate this in any other part of your business.

Yes, hiring new people is far more than checking a resume, ‘liking’ a candidate at interview, and trusting the rest to luck.

But don’t be too hard on yourself, given that studies show around 50% of candidates embellish their resumes and a staggering 81% tell lies during an interview, it’s no wonder you struggle to get it right.

There’s a science behind the selection of new employees which can revolutionise your process and the way you identify and develop top performers.

The importance of “Fit”

Having followed 360,000 people through their careers during a period of 20 years, a major study published by Harvard Business Review demonstrated that a key ingredient in selecting and retaining people is ensuring that they are matched to their jobs in terms of their abilities, interests, and personalities. The study discovered that educational qualifications, experience, age, gender or race are not statistical predictors of top performance in a job. That’s a bit scary, because that’s what we see on resumes and also what most employers use when selecting new people.

The study demonstrated though, that when you put people in jobs where the demands of the job matched their own abilities, where the stimulation offered by the job matched their particular interests, and where the cultural demands of the position matched their personalities, staff turnover decreased dramatically, and productivity increased drastically.

What exactly is “Fit?”

“Fit” is the degree of compatibility between an individual’s strengths, needs, and wants in a particular job and work environment. When interests align, the employee and the organisation experience a good job fit. Establishing job fit helps to identify and place individuals in positions where they are likely to be successful. Job fit determines if a person CAN do a job, HOW they will do a job, and if they will ENJOY doing the job.

Why should you establish fit?

Did you know that employees who are well matched to their jobs are 2.5 times more productive on the job? Studies show that proper job fit improves engagement and job satisfaction, resulting in increased productivity, while negative factors such as job related stress, tension, workplace conflict, and costly employee turnover diminish it. There are numerous studies over the past five to ten years that demonstrate the significant impact increased productivity, reduced employee turnover and early failure have on your bottom line. CHA-CHING! It makes sense to establish fit.

How to establish fit

Do you wish you could consistently replicate high performers? It’s easy to recognise top performers when you see them in action or review their numbers. The challenge is understanding what makes these people successful, and ensuring future candidates share these success factors.

A key component in establishing job fit is to know exactly what the role or position in question demands. The first step we recommend is to create a comprehensive and detailed job description.

Then, using a validated assessment, identify the characteristics of employees who have demonstrated success in that particular position. You can then use this data as a basis for developing a performance model (benchmark) which can be used when evaluating potential applicants to help predict their future success. Our Job fit solutions combine tested and reliable data derived from employee assessments with customised data to create a benchmark, which will match candidates to the job and specific company. In essence, our validated assessments and people analytic tools help you extract the ‘success DNA’ of your most productive staff.

How does job fit help?

Job fit assessments help you make better hiring decisions by helping you understand the core characteristics of your top performers. There is no greater tragedy in business than hiring competent employees into jobs in which they are destined to fail. When this happens, their potential is wasted and its costs you between half and two thirds of their salary!

Our hiring solutions measure the essential behaviour characteristics you need to make the most intelligent hiring and selection decisions. Our assessment tool kits help business owners, professional recruiters and hiring managers predict job suitability, and accurately assist in matching people with the work they will do in their new jobs.

Today, many organisations use job fit assessments throughout the interview process to learn more about job candidates. There are many kinds of employee assessments available, but the most successful hiring assessments use job fit as a tool to increase consistency and success in the hiring process. By including job fit as a key factor in their employee selection and redeployment process, our clients hiring procedure is significantly more effective, and results in an increase of up to 300% in identifying future top performers.

So, whether you are business owner or leader, a HR manager or a professional recruiter, we have a hiring solution tool kit to meet your needs. Of course, you can also stick with that process that works 25% of the time! Contact us to get started finding the right fit.

The post There is a shortage of great talent out there appeared first on Directions Unlimited.

Why do people avoid conflict?

Just as conflict is a part of human nature, the human construct of social niceties has brought with it the desire for us to avoid conflict all together. Our natural tendencies and how we are hardwired can influence how we believe conflict should be addressed. Managers who are naturally highly accommodating may want to be the ‘good guy’, but in doing so can often avoid important and constructive conversations that have the potential to ignite conflict. Equally, highly assertive managers may tend to take a very direct approach (the “four by two” approach) which can start the whole conversation off on the wrong foot. Which approach is right? Consider this.

Conflict happens. It’s a normal part of everyday life whether we like it or not. Although we might think that conflict interferes with our business objectives, the way we deal with it can have an even bigger impact on the overall success of your company.

Conflict that is swept under the rug will not just go away. Unresolved conflict can fester into a wound that is hard to heal, so it’s best to confront conflict before it turns into a bigger problem. If conflict goes unresolved, you could see employees’ engagement and productivity levels plummet and your best talent walk out the door. Taking an overly direct approach may see the employee defending their position rather than listening, and feeling hard done by, which is also likely to cause a reduction in engagement and productivity.

How does conflict interfere with communication?

When managers fear conflict, they can breakdown the communication lines that run within your organisation. If managers fail to communicate effectively with their subordinates and teams, employees might feel less likely to approach their leaders if and when something goes wrong. And if a manager is scared to give constructive feedback to an employee or team, it can negatively impact the growth and development of that individual or team.

So, how can leaders face their fear and address conflict head on?

Gain a coach’s mindset

Coaching skills equip individuals with the ability to communicate effectively, giving them the confidence to approach difficult conversations with ease. A coach will set regular one-on-one meetings with their coachee to see how they’re going with their work and find out what their challenges are, so that they can reach their goals independently. They will also provide regular feedback, both positive and constructive, so that individuals can better understand their strengths and areas requiring improvement. Regular and effective communication means that these leaders often know about issues before problems arise. Conflict is therefore less likely to occur and if it does, they’re well equipped to deal with it.

Be objective yet considerate

When conflict does arise, a great leader will consider each party’s concerns, while remaining focused on the overall objectives of the company. When dealing with conflict in the workplace, it’s important to put yourself in the shoes of each individual involved with the conflict while formulating an outcome that will best serve the company. Remember, if one or more parties isn’t happy with the outcome, it could impact negatively on their wellbeing, engagement and productivity.

Be open

A coaching leader is open, trustworthy and approachable. Maintaining open lines of communication amongst individuals and teams is the best way to prevent conflict from arising and to address it effectively when it does. Giving regular feedback is a great place to start. It’s important to foster an environment in which people feel confident to approach their managers and fellow workers when there is a problem or when they would like advice.

Seek out conflict

Poor managers often have their blinkers on when there is a problem within their team or wider organisation. In order to address conflict, you’ll need to know when it is occurring. Seeking out conflict is not as investigatory as it may seem. You simply need to communicate effectively and follow the progress of individuals and teams so that you know if they have any concerns and if any problems are emerging.

Leverage conflict for growth and development

Where there is conflict, there is the opportunity to learn and grow. Addressing and resolving conflict is a huge learning curve for leaders and employees alike. It requires leaders to problem solve in a high pressure situation and manage relationships in an objective yet empathetic manner which addresses each individual’s needs and desires.

To find out more about how to manage conflict effectively in your workplace, contact us today for an obligation free discussion.

The post How fear of conflict affects workplace communication appeared first on Directions Unlimited.

It’s easy for employees to develop blind spots in the workplace. Even a company’s best employees can fall prey to this. Here’s where an external coach can help. A coach can support the development of individuals, teams and groups and boost their ability to deliver outstanding results. By providing an external objective perspective, a coach can help raise awareness of limiting assumptions, hold a mirror up so they can see the role they play, and hold them to account. In essence, a great coach is an individuals or teams unreasonable friend!

When is coaching best utilised?

When there is a communication breakdown within teams

Communication can break down for a number of reasons. Often managers will tell their teams what to do instead of asking the right questions to help them reach resolutions independently. This is a sure-fire way to hurt employee accountability, engagement and productivity. Feedback is another area of difficulty for many managers. When managers fail to give feedback on a frequent basis, or if they give feedback in a manner that is negative or discouraging, they can harm the confidence levels of employees and as a result hinder individual performance.

An executive coach can help leaders facilitate better communication within teams. A coach will show leaders how to ask the right questions to make individuals more engaged and more productive. By gaining effective communication skills, managers can build relationships of trust between employees, they can help employees develop stronger problem-solving skills, and help them to feel more accountable for their work.

When there are performance issues

When performance issues arise in the workplace, many managers are at a loss as how to properly address the issue without affecting the employee’s confidence or damaging the relationship. There is a risk that the process will breakdown the trust in the relationship and make employees feel less engaged, less productive and less secure in their job. A coach is able to provide an outsider’s perspective and take some of the emotion out of the process. They will support the employee to find solutions to specific problems so that they can independently reach their own goals. A coach can be used to work directly with the employee when issues arise and they are also an invaluable resource in the complexity that dynamic groups and teams operate in today.

When you feel an employee is ready for a promotion

When you’re preparing an employee for a leadership role, it’s important that they develop the skills necessary to truly lead their team. A coach can support individuals to gain insight and understanding about leadership, management and how to identify and develop their authentic self.

A study conducted at Wharton found that external hires get paid 18% more than internal recruits yet  are 61% more likely to be fired. Companies don’t always recognise that they have an untapped pool of talent which they can develop for promotion. By developing internal talent, you are often more likely to access the best person for the job. Coaching can be used to develop an individual who you think is ready for a promotion and can help to ensure the individual has the skills needed to take on the new role.

Succession planning

All organisations lose key leaders. Whether it is planned or unplanned, losing your key leaders can be very disruptive to your company’s performance and your company budget. This is why it’s important to develop employees at every level within your organisation and have a succession plan in place.

Often referred to as ‘bench strength’, the employees in line for leadership roles within an organisation can benefit greatly from coaching. Preparing employees to fill key leadership roles within your organisation is important for safeguarding your organisation for when you lose high performing employees.

At Directions Unlimited, we understand the importance of identifying areas of improvement within the workplace before problems arise.

To find out more about one to one coaching, team coaching, or group coaching, contact us for an obligation free discussion.

The post To coach or not to coach? How to know when it’s time for coaching in the workplace. appeared first on Directions Unlimited.

When you’re in a leadership position, you’re in charge of helping people grow and thrive within their professional roles. But who in an organisation helps leaders grow and thrive? Leaders are often left to their own devices with limited, if any, guidance and support. Being a leader can sometimes be likened to being the angel on top of the Christmas tree, the closer you get to the top the more uncomfortable it gets!

Executive coaching can help leaders meet their highest potential as key members of an organisation and therefore drive company success. Coaching gives leaders the opportunity to learn new skills and put them into practice effectively.

What is an executive coach?

Executive coaching involves a professional, confidential relationship between a coach and a key member of an organisation which facilitates individual development and performance growth. As opposed to a mentor, who offers professional advice and guidance, a coach is someone that professional leaders can lean on for support. Coaches help leaders to think about things differently, they challenge an individual’s beliefs and help them to reflect on any limiting assumptions they’re making; coaches hold leaders to account and support them as they move beyond their comfort zone.

So why is coaching such a powerful business tool?

Find out by reading the full article on Business Woman Media. 

The post The power of coaching for leaders appeared first on Directions Unlimited.

Importantly, this is where management and coaching intersect – every great manager must also be a great coach. According to a study conducted by Bersin & Associates, managers who effectively coach individuals achieve 21% better business results than those who don’t.

So, what is coaching?

Coaching concentrates on individual development, rather than the tasks of the job. Coaches help to facilitate and encourage learning as opposed to teaching. They will ensure that individuals are responsible and accountable for their work and therefore motivated to achieve goals autonomously. Coaches facilitate an environment in which individuals can grow and develop. A manager who utilises coaching techniques will support individuals on their own journey to success.

For more information on the benefits of coaching check out our article on this topic.

What happens if a manager lacks coaching skills?

Managers who consistently adopt a “tell” approach rather than a coaching approach are ignoring learning opportunities and therefore are less likely to achieve outstanding results with their team. It is well known fact that people leave managers, they don’t leave companies.

If you are appointed as a Manager, it is merely a title, however being a leader is something that is bestowed on us by others. Great leaders understand and appreciate their staff. They provide positivity and insight. And they have excellent motivational and communication skills – in other words they are great coaches.

For more information on how to be a successful leader check out our article on this topic.

So, how can managers integrate and adopt a ‘leader as coach’ mindset or approach into their personal management style? Here are our top three coaching skills for every great manager to get the best out of their team.

Asking and listening

How amazing is the human mind? Did you know the mind cannot not respond to a question? Our minds are geared to grapple with questions and find answers. What are the possibilities for you if you were to access the combined power of the minds of your team?

By asking open-ended questions, you release this power while simultaneously facilitating the learning process. By asking for example, “In your view what are the options that would deliver success in this task?”, rather than simply instructing an employee on how to do it, employees are given the space to think creatively and develop their own path to developmental success.

A large number of managers are promoted because they demonstrated to their superiors they are great problem solvers and “doers”. These traits have enabled them to be successful and get to where they are today in their role. The challenge for them is that these traits which have served them so well and helped them achieve, may not be effective when they are now faced with achieving results through others.

In addition to crafting great questions, a manager with a ‘leader as coach’ mindset will listen attentively to what their employees have to say. They will resist the opportunity to finish sentences, they will use silence. By doing this they will likely gain opportunities to demonstrate their true leadership by acknowledging to the team on occasions that the team or individual’s idea or approach is superior to their own. By not only listening but taking on board their employee’s concerns and desires, managers can help them to better develop in their role and in the company.

Building trust

The Oxford English dictionary defines trust as: “Firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something”. Successful coaching relies entirely on a relationship of trust between a manager and their employees. Adopting a ‘leader as coach’ mindset requires managers to start with a firm belief in the ability of their team members.

With trust comes accountability, and with accountability comes results. To reach their peak potential, employees need to feel accountable for their own work and therefore for their own achievements. While managers need to trust that their employees have the capacity to achieve success, employees need to trust that their work is being appreciated, that their manager has their back and that their job is secure. Building trust is a gradual process which can be achieved by maintaining open lines of communication and providing support whether it be task-related or emotional.

Giving constructive feedback

Constructive feedback is a developmental tool that is vital for organisational success, but which is often underused by managers. A great manager will give feedback to employees, often. They will make connections between an individual’s strengths and the company’s mission to improve development and drive success. Expressing these connections positively through regular feedback is the best way to achieve results.

For more information on how to deliver constructive feedback check out our article on this topic.

At Directions Unlimited, we understand how important it is for managers to incorporate coaching skills into their role, and we offer executive coaching to help you develop a coaching mindset. Contact us for an obligation free discussion on how executive coaching can prepare you to effectively manage your team.

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High staff turnover within a business can result in huge costs. The fact is that there is no line in your profit and loss that captures the cost of lost customers, lost opportunities, and dips in morale so it’s very difficult for businesses to track the real cost.

A study conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management found that it can cost the equivalent of six to nine months of an employee’s salary in order to recruit and train a replacement. When you consider an employee with a salary of $100,000, this means it would cost over $50,000 to replace them! When that employee is a high performer, the costs are even greater as a result of lost productivity, lost customers or clients, and other opportunity costs.

Failing to retain high performers also impacts the rest of your team through increased stress within the workplace, dips in employee morale, and drops in productivity that can spread company wide. Even when a new employee has been trained, it can take months, if not years, for them to be as productive and high performing as a long term high performing employee.

So, it makes sense then to do everything you can to keep these top performers in your business. It’s not enough anymore to just assume that people are happy in their job because it puts food on the table. People require much more to be happy and engaged at work, and it’s our job as business owners and leaders to facilitate that.

Retaining your best people

The best way to retain your top performers is by understanding who they are as people, how they fit into their roles and your business as a whole, and what is likely to keep them engaged and happy. Essentially, you need to know what makes them tick.

Would a flexible working arrangement or free lunch bring out the best in them? Would above average pay or an extra week off in the year make your employee work harder? Would promoting from within and offering training and upskilling ensure that your employee remains loyal to your brand?

While all of these ideas are great for keeping employees happy and content, sometimes it can feel a little like throwing it all at the wall and hoping something sticks!

If you knew there was a way to learn everything you need to know about your employees, so that you can help them fit in and stay in your business, wouldn’t that be better? A directed and tailored approach to retaining your staff can help your business soar.

How to know what makes your employees tick

If you’re looking to understand more about your current employees so you can nurture and retain them successfully – a good, objective assessment tool can help you do this, such as the ProfileXT assessment.

ProfileXT gives you a full understanding of an employee’s abilities, personality traits, behaviours, and preferred learning styles. In addition, you also gain insights into the employee’s interests which helps you understand what motivates them and which parts of their role they are most interested in.

Overall, you’re learning whether or not the employee fits within their role and the overall culture of the team – we call this the JobFit. Now, the goal isn’t to pit your team against one another, but rather to understand them completely so that you can ensure they fit into their role, remain fulfilled, and optimise their strengths and skills.

Ensuring you have the right fit within your business is the most important aspect. When a person is the right fit in their role, they enjoy the work they do and as a result productivity and employee engagement increases. This leads to improved retention, better business outcomes and improved profitability.

The next steps

Once you better understand your employees, you can take informed steps to keep them happy and motivated. This will vary between workplaces and employees, so it’s a good idea to have a few branches to your ongoing retention plans.

You’ll get an understanding of what tactics will work best with your employees once you have assessed them using an objective tool. However, there are some common actions which contribute effectively to retention. According to a study by the Australian Human Resources Institute, the most effective ways to retain employees are through offering effective management and leadership, providing opportunities for career progression and promotion, and facilitating a positive workplace culture.

By implementing a strong retention plan within your workplace, you can reap benefits for your business such as significant cost savings, higher productivity and improved quality of work, along with boosts in employee morale and team culture. In short, everybody wins.

To find out how you can retain your top performers and ensure that they are fulfilled within their roles, contact us today.

Of course to retain top performers, you need to source them in the first place! To find out how, check out our posts on how you can source top performing talent for your business and how to avoid a bad hire.

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Many businesses are finding that their recruits aren’t meeting their expectations of performance or cultural fit. There is a clear gap between how Australian businesses recruit and the desired results. What’s going wrong?

The traditional route

The recruitment process has long been undertaken in the same way. You need to fill a role, so you advertise and state your requirements. Most job ads will refer to requirements such as year’s of experience, qualifications, or broad skills.

Let’s say your job ad includes requirements like 5+ years of experience in the particular industry, a university degree and a ‘team player’ mentality.

So, you advertise for the role, you receive applications and you begin to sift through them, hoping the right candidate will jump out at you. As it turns out, once you sit down and review the applications, you realise you know very little about the candidates that have applied. You know whether they fit the criteria you’ve given, but you don’t know how they work, who they are and what they can offer your team. You don’t know whether they’ll perform or whether they’ll be the right fit.

As it turns out the criteria you’ve used to attract candidates – years of experience, tertiary qualifications and broad skills – are not indicators of performance. And when you think about how little we learn when we judge people based on these criteria – doesn’t that make a whole lot of sense?

Not only does the traditional model of recruitment make it difficult to identify the best candidates, it can actually put up barriers to finding the right candidates. Most businesses end up reducing the pool of candidates based on criteria that ultimately contribute very little to the success of that candidate. Just think, you could actually be deterring people who would perform well in your team from even applying!

So, we know the old way of recruiting doesn’t work.

What’s the alternative?

The good news is there are ways to improve your recruitment process and ensure you are doing the most you can to attract top performers for your business. New and bespoke ways to recruit top performing talent can be the difference between your new hire being the right fit for your business…or not.

These days it’s not just about filling a role with the person that has the best university degree or the most highly regarded experience. In fact, big players like Ernst and Young are abandoning such methods, in favour of a new approach of recruiting based on the person themselves, and how they will fit within the team.

Overall, this alternative is about choosing people based on who they are as a person, and whether or not their attitude, behaviours and personality are the right fit for your business, and vice versa.

The criteria used when advertising a job should be more about the type of person you are looking for, and less about the job itself. This will broaden the field of potential applicants, as you’re removing possible hurdles such as a required number of years experience. Many tools of the trade can be taught and learnt, but a person’s attitude and personality are pretty set.

Assessing behaviours, attitudes and personality

The best thing you can do for your business is to delve a little deeper, and look at the behaviours, attitudes and personalities of candidates as compared to the rest of the team. The key is to benchmark your team to allow you to understand whether the candidate will be a good fit or not.

This is where a tool such as JobFit can really help by removing the guesswork. JobFit is a tool that identifies the attributes of a role as benchmarked against the team so you can understand whether the candidate will be a high performer, and also whether they will be a good fit with the team. After all, there’s no point hiring someone who may have the potential to excel, if they’re unlikely to fit into the team – this can be one of the major considerations for people when they leave a role early on.

JobFit assesses the mental and physical demands of the role, the atmosphere and environment, and desired personality and behavioural traits, to give an outline of the type of person best suited for that role.

It gives businesses the opportunity to better match the role with candidates that fit the profile, for the benefit of both the business and the candidate. The process gives insight into the candidate and tells you whether or not they have the attributes to successfully do the job, enjoy it, and how they are likely to perform. By utilising this tool, you’ll not only have the best chance at securing a new hire that is a fit for the role, in every sense of the word, but you’ll also have a clear indication of what lies ahead with that person and how they will approach the role and their tasks. What an insight!

If you’d like to talk about how we can help build your high performing team, contact us today.

The post Why you’re not sourcing top performing talent and what you can do about it appeared first on Directions Unlimited.