Group Coaching with Leaders Drives Engagement

An engaged workforce is a result of its leadership. Leaders should drive engagement, yet according to the Harvard Business Review only 30% of employees are engaged costing the US economy $550 billion per year on productivity loss. In the same article, HBR reported that 82% of people don’t trust their boss and 52% of employees quit their jobs because of managers. These numbers are staggering and costly. The good news is that group coaching is an effective leadership tool that can help overcome the challenges of employee engagement and retention.

Here are 6 reasons why group coaching is the ideal tool for developing your leaders, engaging your workforce and increasing retention.

Builds Trust - There is transparency and accountability with no hidden agendas.   Group coaching fosters open and honest communication while instilling accountability.  Leaders begin to view themselves as a team taking on company initiatives versus their particular area of responsibility. It breaks down barriers and allows their belief system to influence their respective teams.

Strategic Focus – There is no personal agenda. Since group coaching involves a coach with an outside perspective to lead the conversation you can be assured that all agendas and communication are strategically focused and aligned with the pillars of the strategic plan.

Cross Collaboration - Leaders lead by example and ultimately their cross collaboration will lead to the same among their team. Group coaching extends collaboration beyond leadership by encouraging the discovery of opportunities for the workforce to engage with each other to achieve company goals that are only viewed as departmental. The result can be special projects among multiple departments that presents a challenge and requires open and honest communication.

Avoid Duplication - It provides a forum to identify opportunities to share resources and best practices.

Forward Thinking Attitudes - Facilitation of the weekly group coaching meetings keeps the leaders focused on solutions and can create a paradigm shift in collective thinking.

Fun -  It can be lonely at the top.  Interacting with your colleagues in a productive group setting creates cohesiveness and allows for friendly competition.  This will allow leaders to encourage the same among their teams.

So, here's how group coaching works.

Groups of 6 meet weekly, virtually and in person for an hour. All group coaching sessions are led by an executive coach who steers the agenda. The first 30 minutes is focused on strategy, best practices and cross departmental collaboration. The second 30 minutes is spent understanding behavior and communication styles and includes 10 minutes of leadership development training.

To measure the effectiveness of the group coaching a leadership team assessment is administered before you begin the program and at quarterly intervals. This allows the team to assess themselves before the program gets started and requires them to continue to assess their effectiveness. Additionally, key performance indicators such as productivity, engagement and retention are tracked to ensure measurable progress is taking place.

Employees want more than donuts, a cool looking office and flexibility. They are demanding integrity among leaders and team members, mentorship and a culture that demands a forward thinking, collaborative, and creative learning environment.  If leaders engage more with each other, align, build trust and leverage resources they will naturally be able to create a culture that follows their lead resulting in increases in productivity, employee engagement and add to their bottom line by increasing employee retention.

Companies will also be able to attract top performers who are driven by results and are looking for a customized approach to help them hit their targets. Establishing customized cross-functional group coaching programs is an innovative, creative and interactive alternative to the canned one size fits all leadership development workshops and weekly staff meetings.

Transforming your culture is a system-wide approach and it starts at the top.   Group coaching is one more tool in the leadership development tool box that is an alternative approach to helping your company go from good to great!