Cultivating a Coaching Culture

Most organizations are still having challenges retaining and engaging their talent. I would argue that one of the most important things you can do to address these challenges is to cultivate a coaching culture in your organization.

So, what is that? Coaching culture is an organizational environment where coaching principles are deeply embedded in the way everyone interacts, learns, and develops. In this type of culture, coaching isn’t just occasional – it’s a fundamental approach to communication, development, and leadership. ?????

Why is this important?

• It’s the #1 thing that Senior Leaders should do to elevate employee engagement (Gallup).
• It's the #1 way to elevate culture (The Culture Solution).
• The best managers are good coaches (Google Project Oxygen).
• Gen Z and Millennials want bosses rather than coaches and they make up more than half of the workforce (Gallup).

5 Steps to Cultivate a Coaching Culture

#1 Develop Your Bosses into Coaches

To transform your bosses into coaches, you need to develop their skills in the following areas:

• The importance of and how to create a foundation of caring and trust.
• Giving feedback, positive and constructive, in a motivational way.
• Listening actively and asking open-ended questions.
• Coaching others by guiding them towards solutions – rather than giving advice or fixing.
• Helping employees discover and leverage their strengths.

#2 Insert Coaching Conversations into Your Culture

• Roles and Responsibilities -This is a foundational discussion that should be held once a year where expectations are discussed (and of course then reinforced regularly).
• One-on-Ones/Check-ins -?One-on-ones should be held with a frequency that probably differs based on the job role and the organization. It is important to use a loose agenda to help make the most of these meetings.
• Career conversations -These conversations help employees explore options and support them in meeting their career goals.
• Performance Conversations - Performance conversations are quarterly or bi-annual conversations focused on celebrating successes, learning from setbacks, preparing for future achievements, and planning for development. If you haven’t ditched the traditional performance review process, it’s time to consider doing this as research has shown that they are dreaded and ineffective in increasing performance. Get a toolkit here.
• Stay Interviews - These are periodic one-on-one interviews that identify factors that drive an employee to stay or leave the organization. Stay interviews are ideally conducted by the manager if it is a trusting relationship. Learn more here.

?#3 Provide learning and growth opportunities

Employees who have opportunities to grow and develop are 3 times more likely to stay. By virtue of transitioning to a coaching culture, employees will have more opportunities to stretch, learn and grow. Following are some opportunities to consider implementing:

• Career paths
• Workshops
• Mentoring
• Book studies
• Courses
• Stretch assignments

#4 Recognize and reward coaching behaviors

?Acknowledge and incentivize leaders and employees who demonstrate coaching competencies to reinforce these behaviors.

#5 Measure and adapt

Track the impact of coaching initiatives on engagement, retention, and performance – and refine the approach based on feedback.

#coaching #workplaceculture #feedback #hr #hrconsulting