Do you have staff or supervisors in your company who don’t ‘play well’ with their colleagues? Because of their behaviour, their communication, or lack of it? What impact does that have on cooperation in their department, team goals and the aims of your company?
‘Character’
“It’s just the way I am” is a statement that’s frequently heard from employees during their performance review. It’s often referred to as their ‘character’, a fixed fact. The good news is that it’s not totally true. In fact, our brains are definitely capable of change: that’s what happens when we learn new skills or acquire knowledge during training or education. People can change, but they often have to be facilitated in this change. What they need is a critical look at their communication processes through asking the right questions. Understanding their communication processes, cause/effect and possible ‘smoke screens’ allows someone to actively change things about themselves.
Corporate coaching
Corporate coaching offers a solution. The appointment with the employee or supervisor takes place at your premises, so there will be no lost time. After a number of conversations with a coach (an hour a week is enough), the individual involved will often know what’s causing the problem and what they could do differently for a better result. Then they’ll get started with assignments and exercises to try out new behaviour. They’ll evaluate the results together with the coach. What went well? What could have gone better? Depending on the employee’s self-reflection skills and their willingness to change, the behaviour could be effectively changed after just a few sessions!
Coaching in business
A reaction from a supervisor after corporate coaching: “I was always sceptical about coaching and its application in the business world. After a few conversations with the coach, I started to realise that the expectations I had were mostly my own expectations, and that they didn’t correspond to those of others. What might be logical to me might not be logical to someone else, so you have to communicate. Personally I think everyone, from the lowest to the highest level, could benefit from coaching. To help people cooperate better, so that you get more out of the individual, the team, and ultimately the company. Sometimes we get stuck in our habits and the ways we behave and communicate. A small change in a sentence or certain behaviour can make a world of difference for yourself and the other party.”
Research results for coaching
Utrecht University / XpertHRA: “Large-scale research into Resource Development Instruments shows that coaching is an effective tool. There is a positive effect in 79% of cases. Important goals are: improving initiative, creativity and commercialism, improving cooperation and increasing flexibility among staff. The best results are for solving functioning issues. A big advantage of coaching over other tools is that results are often achieved more quickly. Whereas training courses often take three to four days, an hour-long coaching session may often have concrete results.”
Want to know more about coaching employees in the workplace, or the Employability Budget? Make a no-obligation appointment through the Contact page.