It’s a competitive world and business leaders face enormous pressure to grow their companies, develop new products and improve revenue and profits. Organizations cannot be successful unless their people perform at higher levels.
Leaders need to assure teams are effective and that their employees are committed, highly skilled and productive. Coaching and professional development, particularly when supported by an experienced and unbiased outside coach and mentor, can be extremely effective at developing and enhancing employee skills and motivation.
Here are seven benefits of business coaching:
1. Performance improvement: Results matter and coaching helps to position employees for enhanced achievement of targets. As employees learn new skills and more effective work habits, they will not only achieve current targets more rapidly, they also develop stronger leadership skills that will improve their performance and the performance of those around them.
2. Increased productivity: Under the proper leadership, coaching will lead to increased productivity. As employees become more motivated, work more collaboratively and improve their skills, they become significantly more productive. Notably, these effects transfer to other employees in your organization, as your work environment becomes more successful when all employees are positively impacted.
3. Skill development: As a coaching program is implemented, you learn what areas require skill development for your employees. Action plans to develop those skills, particularly plans where employees feel ownership, can be developed and successfully completed. The employees learn new skills and how to take responsibility for developing and growing their skills and capabilities.
4. Unbiased feedback: By utilizing an outside partner for coaching there is less bias in communications both ways. The coach can be more open and focused on working on what really matters to the individuals and teams, without any corporate politics or biases impacting the process. Importantly, the employee will often be more willing to “open up” to a coach from outside the organization. Honest and unbiased two-way communications helps assure an optimum outcome for the employee and the organization.
5. Professional development: The proper coaching and professional development program will result in accelerated learning, broader experiences and new and improved skill sets. Employee development cannot be an after thought and a solid program helps to assure results that might otherwise flounder as “priorities of the day” push employee development out into the future. The process requires that employees discuss areas that need improvement and then develop and execute a plan to address these areas. Mutual trust and respect is essential between the employee and their coach.
6. Attain organizational goals: Coaching and professional development can help the organization to more rapidly attain departmental and organizational goals. In addition to improving employee skills, effectiveness and morale, the alignment of human resources is improved.
7. Enhanced employee morale: Over and over again I have seen the positive impact coaching and professional training and development has on an organization. Morale improves as employees become more effective, learn new skills and feel management has made an investment in them. This last factor should not be minimized as it is a key factor in the enhanced employee morale observed.
Coaching is an investment in the long-term health of your organization. Engaging employees in productive coaching discussions and professional development activities is the key to influencing and motivating your team members. Done properly, these activities can have an extraordinary and positive influence on team-member productivity and organizational effectiveness.
High achievers already know this and many utilized coaching and mentoring to get where they are today. Coaching is a way we achieve more than we ever imagined. Don’t disregard the power of coaching and professional development for you and your team.
