Known Outcomes of Coaching & Mentoring (Part II)

What else do we know about the known outcomes of coaching & mentoring within organizations?

1.      Healthier Individuals: Organizations are more effective when the individuals within them are psychologically robust.  The most effective people possess high self-esteem and self-confidence.  They are optimistic about the future.  Rather than being filled with negative emotions, they approach issues from a positive point of view.  When leaders invest in coaching, they greatly increase the probability that the individuals being coached will feel better about themselves and their performance.

2.     Resilience: Things seldom go exactly as planned.  Problems arise.  Potholes suddenly appear in the road.  Nearly all leaders want their direct reports to recognize these challenges and meet them without the leader having to be there to micromanage them.  It is especially important that employees not lose heart or conviction about the organization’s mission or vision simply because a roadblock arises.  Leaders would prefer not to be like the “plate spinners” who have to scurry about keeping every plate from wobbling and falling off the stick; instead, they would like people to create their own energy and have an inner ability to maintain balance and not be tipped off center by challenges.

3.     Heightened Creativity: The coaching conversation is a perfect venue for the leader to convey the expectation and hope that each employee will approach issues with his or her own ideas and innovative approaches.  The leader can convey that fresh thinking is not only welcomed but also expected.  If coaching is a mutual exploration of better ways to approach challenging situations, rather than merely occasions when they boss gives direction or advice; then creativity may be enhanced.

4.     Increased Risk Taking and Exploring: One of the strongest criticisms of organizations today is that they are risk averse. People are afraid to try something new and different.  People are stuck in ruts.  Effective coaching consistently includes opportunities for the individual to explore new approaches, new work processes, new assignments, new goals and grand schemes for improving the overall functioning of their team or the whole business.   The manager/coach can not only encourage an employee to pursue such a project but also provide a safety net of support for that employee.

5.     Mindset of an Owner versus a Hired Hand: Just as parents breathe huge sighs of relief when their children reach the stage where they start making wiser, well-thought-through decisions, so leaders wish their colleagues to develop along similar lines.  Most leaders rejoice when a colleague moves from requiring continual direction on a particular task – and from incompetence to competence. This new level of mastery includes him taking initiative to solve problems, find resources, making better decisions based on solid logic and experience.  Many organizations that we work with state that they wish their employees took more initiative and were innovative.  

       Strategic leaders long for employees to be proactive and creatively take calculated risks to improve organizational performance.  However those same organizations and leaders rely on organizational systems to drive performance, and these organizational systems (performance reviews, merit increases, and bonus structures) are not necessarily designed to promote behaviors that are in alignment with risk-taking, innovation and taking initiative.  Coaching promotes greater ownership and commitment on the part of the employees. It helps create citizens, not just consumers.

Known Outcomes of Coaching & Mentoring (Part I)

1.     Giving new meaning to work: organizations function best when workers feel they are engaged in a useful cause, not merely performing menial, dissociated tasks.  Coaching provides perfect opportunities for the coach to communicate to each individual how that person’s job contributes to the overall mission of the organization.  While this message can be delivered partly in group meetings, it is best done in one-on-one coaching conversations.  IT is an essential message though, because people today need meaning in their lives more than ever.  The overall impact of being part of a family has declined in society.  There has also been a general decline in the influence of religion in most people’s lives.  The net effect is that for a  good many people, if their work lacks meaning and purpose, then their lives lack meaning and purpose.

2.     Engaged & Committed Employees: One powerful driver of productivity is the level of employee engagement and commitment.  When people move from indifference to true passion for the mission of the organization, it has an incalculable impact on output.  There has been much discussion and debate about the various percentages of people who are highly engaged, not very engaged, neutral or actively disengaged in their work. The differences in these employees attitudes have obvious consequences for a wide variety of performance outcomes. Think of the results you’ve seen from an employee who was highly committed to the organization and who delighted your most difficult customer compared to those from an uncommitted employee who seriously ticked off another long-term loyal customer.  Managerial coaching shows strong evidence of increasing an employee’s level of commitment and engagement.

3.     Higher Productivity: One of the most appealing outcomes from coaching is higher productivity, using whatever metric your organization chooses.  The measurable outputs from your people increase when they receive periodic coaching. The reasons are not at all mysterious. Coaching refocuses people on the most important objectives.  It lets them know that their leader is paying attention to their performance.  It helps them to develop better work habits, working both harder and smarter.  All the known drivers of productivity can be increased through the leader’s coaching.  Peter Drucker, famed executive and leadership coach, hypothesized that if an organization could increase employee productivity by 10 percent, the organization’s profits would double.  Whether or not these numbers are absolutely accurate, the bottom-line impact is hard to ignore.  How could such a small increase in productivity affect profitability so greatly?  The fixed costs of the organization have already been “paid for.” If productivity were to increase by even 5 percent, almost all of the benefit would drop right to the bottom-line.

4.     Stronger Culture: There is strong evidence that an organization’s culture has a huge impact on its performance and productivity.  By culture we refer to “how things get done around here” and how people treat one another in their daily interactions.  Leaders influence organizational culture by the example they set and the behavior they reward or curb in their daily discussions with people.  The climate and the culture are molded by the time leaders spend in having performance and career development discussions with their direct reports.

5. Strengthened Bonds Between Supervisor & Employee: The effectiveness of leaders is controlled in large part by the strength of the bonds between them and the people they lead.  A distant, cool relationship between boss and direct report seldom has the strong impact on performance that a warm, positive relationship has.  Coaching is an extremely effective tool to not only cement that bond but also continually enhance its strength.  

The Extraordinary Coach: How The Best Leaders Help Others Grow, John Zenger (2010).

Leonard: Coach & Mentor Extraordinaire

Thank you for sharing your time and experience with us today, Leonard! Here are some of his takeaways from a lifetime of coaching and mentoring:

- put responsibility on the mentee to set his own professional goals; ASK him (her) what he wants for himself

- If you ask a mentee what he needs, be prepared to follow through. Don't ask if you don't intend to do anything about the issue he raises.

- Yes, it is time consuming. It is still part of the job.

- There should be a balance between coaching technical skills, team skill and leadership skills

- One of the hardest things to learn was how to take bad news. "If you don't learn how to take bad news, you won't hear any until it is too late to do anything about it."

- Be patient when people bring bad news.

- Fear & intimidation do not help us to achieve our goals.

- You need to find out what is in your heart and follow it - even if it means leaving here!

- Find a career, not just a job.

- Don't persuade someone to stay if they want to leave.  But be willing to take them back.

- Don't be afraid to make a decision.  Accountability is something people largely want to avoid.

So much good stuff to reflect on. Thanks again, Leonard!

Visionary Leadership

"Visionary leaders are better able to make good decisions than those who lack a clear vision.  They have far more clarity on what they do or build, how they bring it to market, how they operate, and how they conduct themselves.  The clarity of their vision gives them increased confidence; they seldom get confused about what to do next, and with that confidence comes a great calm. They have the ability to energetically, methodically, steadily, and cooly handle the challenges that come their way - challenges just like the ones you face."

"Visionary leaders communicate their vision with excellence.  They clearly convey their purpose, convictions, and direction; and their compelling style of communication draws in those around them.  Their conviction and confidence causes others to want to be a part of their vision and the future at which they're grasping."

"Visionary leaders are full of passion, excited about the opportunity ahead.  They're passionate about what they're building or bringing to market, passionate about working with the team they've selected, and passionate about making a contribution to their community or society." (from Daniel Harkavy, Building Champions, Becoming a Coaching Leader, )

Visionary Leadership - An example from Spartacus

The rebellious Thracian Spartacus, born and raised a slave, is sold to Gladiator trainer Batiatus. After weeks of being trained to kill for the arena, Spartacus turns on his owners and leads the other slaves in rebellion. As the rebels move from town to town, their numbers swell as escaped slaves join their ranks. Under the leadership of Spartacus, they make their way to southern Italy, where they will cross the sea and return to their homes.

Watch this clip to see what happens as Spartacus and his motley crew face their antagonists in a final showdown:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKCmyiljKo0

Each man, by standing up, chose death.  But the loyalty of Spartacus’s army was not to Spartacus the man.  Their loyalty was to a shared vision which Spartacus had inspired – the idea that they could be free men.  This vision was so compelling that no man could bear to give it up and return to slavery. (Peter Senge's reflections)

9 Responsibilities of a Leader

By way of reminder - as we prep to look at Visionary Leadership, I wanted to remind you all that the #1 responsibility of a leader is to:

1)  Keep the vision:  You have a deep, clear understanding of where you and your organization are headed. You draw on your knowledge of the environment and understanding of the organizational mission, vision and core values. You find opportunities to create (or remind) colleagues about a vision, seeing all the elements – the customer, the constraints, the possibilities, where people inside want to go. You are responsible for casting broad long-term vision, as well as immediate short-term vision – see big and little.  You look down to anticipate roots in the path and look up to see the broad mountain vistas.

2) Interface between the organization & the world

3) Step into the fire (Accountability)

4) Understand business as well as your industry

5) Shape culture – values & expected behaviors

6) Define success – what does success look like

7) Coach and teach

8) Develop oneself

9) Hold on to optimism

Defining Purpose, Vision & Values

"Because we so often lack deep roots - firm beliefs and compelling values - we are easily buffeted by the prevailing winds.  If we lack a strong sense of purpose, we cannot hold our ground when we are challenged by life's inevitable storms."

Hopefully this chapter helped you to be able to think in a more concrete way about your life purpose statements. The authors suggest that our personal visions grow out of our personal values. Connecting to that purpose is a deep well of internal strength and satisfaction.  The challenge we all face is to find ways to use the workplace as a forum in which to express and embody our deepest values.

Technically speaking, the "vision" is the "what" (do we want to build together or what do I want to build, create or influence?)  A vision statement is a declaration of intent about how to invest one's energy into one's future.  If you have one - and regularly revisit it - a personal vision statement is a source of sustaining direction and a fuel for action.

The "purpose" is the "why" of your vision.  Why are you exerting all of that energy towards that particular outcome? Well, we determine that through drilling down into our own personal core values. 

Core values drive your purpose - vision is the expression of your purpose.

Have you spent some time isolating three or more personal core values that will help shape your direction and decisions going forward? We feel more passion for and derive more pleasure from doing what we freely choose and most enjoy.

Core values help us determine our behavior which we want to be consistent with our vision.  A value is ultimately just a roadmap for action.  Values that we fail to reflect in our behavior are ultimately empty.  When our behaviors are aligned with our professed core values, we are considered "authentic".

Tomorrow, we will start down our final pillar of leadership: SOCIAL SKILL - a place that brings together the other pillars.  We will look at what it means to be a visionary leader.  Visionary leadership is about the ability to take charge and inspire with a compelling vision.