In recent years, executive coaching has become one of the most effective and important activities for executive development in companies. Especially in the era of remote management, this need has increased even more. In a recent ATD poll, 47% of respondents rated coaching and feedback as the two most important factors for their organization's success over the next three years.
Many organizations are recognizing the need for and value of coaching their executives to achieve success in remote management. According to research, individuals who have benefited from coaching say it is the "most valuable executive development activity" they have experienced. During the telecommuting period, executives faced many new situations that they were experiencing for the first time. Add to this the pressure from the top management to reduce performance and costs due to economic difficulties, and their need for coaching support increased. These days, I often hear the following questions or similar ones from the managers I coach;
The managerial problems that were experienced while working side by side in the office have surfaced even more in the era of remote working, where everyone is now separated from each other. The secret for companies to succeed in this new era is to support their managers and employees to adapt to the new working model as soon as possible. So what do you think is the reason why many organizations deprive their employees of executive coaching?
Your guess is right! Many organizations see coaching as a waste of time or a cost. Actually, it's like the chicken and egg story. Managers say they don't have time to get coaching when they are struggling with a lot of problems due to lack of managerial skills. meanwhile, the company thinks it is saving on costs, but it is actually losing out due to lower employee engagement. On the other hand, we also see that some organizations don't know exactly what coaching is, who should benefit from it and who should deliver it. Therefore, it may be useful to briefly answer the questions that may arise in minds about coaching:
Executive Coaching: Which Type? For Whom? By Whom?
What kind of coaching should we get?
There are many types of organizational coaching: Career coaches, life coaches, performance coaches, etc. We will focus here on performance coaches used in executive development.
Performance coaching is about helping individuals set and achieve goals for personal and work-related development. Often it is an ongoing process where the individual meets with the coach on a regular basis (weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.). In these meetings, the coach helps the individual to set goals and overcome barriers to success. By providing accountability and support, the coach ensures that the individual achieves their individual and organizational goals. This process is often preceded by a 360-degree feedback assessment that gives employees a comprehensive view of their performance and a motivational profile that defines the individual's values in life.
Who Should Benefit from Coaching?
Anyone can benefit from an effective coaching process, but naturally, most organizations need to make the most efficient use of their development resources. Therefore, when selecting people to receive coaching, organizations often focus on those who will have the strongest impact. For this reason, many companies offer coaching to senior and senior executives, managers with promising future potential, and key employees with poor performance or ineffective behaviors. In my blog, 6 Reasons to Hire an Executive Coach, I summarized the situations in which coaching can be beneficial.
Who is appropriate to provide coaching services?
Coaching can be provided by an external or internal coach, a manager or a colleague. If I talk about examples of these;
Professional Coaches from outside the organization
Many organizations choose to outsource coaching to an external coach to work with their senior executives. I wrote about this in my blog 6 reasons to hire an executive coach. The primary reason is that in-house coaches are often not suited to coaching senior executives. Sometimes using someone from within the company as a coach creates confidentiality concerns. As I mentioned in my blog Why Most Coaching Models Don't Work,real coaching is a meaningful process, not a conversation that follows the steps of a simple model. It is a process that cannot be accomplished by just talking. It is the exchange of more than words. For all these reasons,when using an external coach for senior managers, it is important to work with someone who has a lot of coaching experience and can understand what the individuals to be coached are going through. This is where the experience of professional external coaches comes in.
In-house Coaches
In-house coaches are usually effective with middle managers in the company. These in-house coaches need to establish a relationship of trust with the participants and ensure that the coachees are confident that what is discussed between them will not be used against them. Executive coaching skills are often not innate. Internal coaches need to acquire certain skills to coach and develop others. These skills are usually acquired through a strong education and a lot of practice.
Coaching the Manager
Of course, one's manager can also be one's coach. Unfortunately, many managers may not have the skills or the time to make a positive impact. Managers can play an important role in any coaching scenario, providing support and follow-up in a way that ensures their employees are held accountable and make progress in performance. Like other coaches within the organization, managers' coaching effectiveness can be significantly improved with training and practice.
Coaching Colleagues
Coaching colleagues in the organization can be very effective and economical. The aim here is to pair managers to coach each other. Managers take turns coaching each other, mutually helping each other to achieve their development goals. It is important to make the right pairings, provide strong training and create the right expectations. These groups also need to be followed up to ensure that coaching takes place on a regular basis.
Epilogue
Coaching has always been an important and effective "Leadership Development" tool, but its importance and necessity has increased even more with the era of remote working. You may already be using one or more of the above-mentioned executive coaching methods in your company. Regardless of which model you apply, in order to get the most out of the coaching process, we recommend that you first create a motivational profile of the person to be coached and conduct a 360-degree feedback assessment. In this way, the person receiving coaching will find the answers to the questions "Who am I?" and "What motivates me in this life?" and will also realize how other people perceive him/her. Then, based on this data, you can manage a continuous and consistent coaching process with a development plan.
Do you think your remote managers need coaching to adapt to the new situation and lead effectively? Which method do you think is the most effective? Please share your views with us via the form below.
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