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.

According to a 2010 Executive Coaching Survey however, nearly half of managers spend less than 10 percent of their time coaching others. So why is this? When employees are transitioned into management roles, often it’s their technical ability that gets them there rather than effective leadership skills. Leadership skills often need to be learnt on the job and many managers aren’t given the coaching they need to become great coaches themselves.

When managers lack coaching skills, it can be detrimental to the development and engagement of the people they manage. Managers who lack coaching skills often fall into the habit of instructing their team what to do. By directing individuals on what to do rather than giving them the tools and guidance to solve problems on their own, managers hinder the development of their team, hurt productivity and inhibit overall company success.

So, how can managers put coaching skills into practice within the workplace?

It all has to do with communicating effectively.

Build relationships of trust

One of the most important coaching skills for managers to maintain is the ability to build a relationship of trust among individuals. This can be achieved by fostering lines of communication between you and your reports. A great coach will organise regular one on one meetings with their reports to gain insights into their strengths, weaknesses, challenges and successes. This is a great way to help facilitate a relationship of trust and to help the employee develop, overcome challenges and reach their potential.

Ask the right questions

How do you see yourself growing in this role? What options do you have to overcome this challenge? What do you think you should do?

Each of these questions encourage an individual to think about and seek solutions to their own workplace problems. By helping an employee find solutions on their own, rather than telling them what to do, the individual will be better equipped to solve problems in the future, helping your team and company to reach success.

Listen intently

After asking the right questions, a coach will listen intently to what their reports have to say. Listening isn’t just about hearing what they have to say. It’s about taking onboard the challenges, questions and queries that employees have and thinking of ways to help them reach their goals. It’s about being patient and determined to facilitate long term results among their team and organisation. A great coach will let employees express both their workplace and personal struggles without passing any judgement.

Provide regular feedback

Managers who lack coaching skills will often wait until there is a problem in the workplace to give feedback. This can hurt employee confidence and engagement. A great coach will provide feedback on a regular basis. They will congratulate successes and strengths as well as identify problem areas. When identifying problem areas, a leader with coaching skills will concentrate on the problem area alone, rather than questioning the individual’s character. They will make their reports accountable for their own success and failures in order to improve engagement. They will also provide encouragement to employees with the aim of empowering them to reach their goals independently.

Let it spread

In order to become a great a coach, one can benefit greatly from being coached effectively.

A great coach will pass important leadership skills onto the person they are coaching, thus strengthening coaching techniques within the entire organisation. The idea of coaching is for it to spread throughout an organisation so that every employee has a coaching mindset. They will then be equipped to encourage the development of other employees so that together, teams can reach important business goals.

For more information on how to leverage the power of coaching, check out our article on the power of coaching for your team.

To find out more about how to incorporate a coaching mindset into your workplace, contact us today for an obligation free discussion.

The post The forgotten skill set of good leaders – Coaching appeared first on Directions Unlimited.