“Transformation at Workplace”

Exploring the Potential of the employees through a Coaching Conversation

It is a well-known fact that organizations hire individuals as executives of particular department after assessing the knowledge and experience relevant to the function. These employees are quite capable of handling challenging situations to fulfil desired outcomes of the organization. 

As leaders or departmental heads of the company, transformative coaching will be an essential attribute when carrying out day-to-day activities in getting things done effectively to achieve targets. This can be done through exploring their expertise or heightening their potential. In most situations, executives approach their leader to find “solutions” for a particular problem; sometimes they prefer advice from the leader to complete the task. As a result, executives tend to rely on solutions from their leaders and they continue to engage in their routine work without finding their own solutions. 

The following tools and techniques could be applied to coach executives through transformational coaching principals:

1. Always direct the executives towards “What is Possible and Positive”

It is important to keep the executive in the domain of “What’s possible” and keep him/her in a “Positive Mind-set” throughout the conversation. The leader needs to be in the ‘Present’ mind-set throughout the process of coaching the executive in question. If the executive is in a negative frame of mind, then the leader should identify and direct the conversation to a positive frame. In most incidents, executives seek their leader’s help when they are frustrated. Therefore it is important to bring them back into a positive mentality. I have witnessed how some executives approach their leader when KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are not achieved due to various reasons. At such instances the leader must help the executive uncover from within, what is possible and what he/she is capable of.   

2. Expand the mind through “WHAT" Questions

It is commonly observed that most leaders use “Why” and “How” questions when an executive presents a question to them. As a result, the response will be a short answer or a series of actions where the mind would lead more towards linear thinking. Manufacturing organizations are mostly involved in “Problem-solving” activities. Therefore, “Why” questions are important in order to arrive at the root cause of a problem. However, “What” questions would expand the mind through vertical thinking and they will emerge with realizations. Furthermore, it is vital to understand their domain of mind-set when presented with an issue (Doing, Thinking or Feeling), so that the inquiry can be adjusted based on the experience of the executive. 

3. Direct the concern towards the “Executives’ Perspective”

In most cases, the employee narrates their story in relation to those involved around him and they fail to explain their experience. This is because the organizations are structured under different functions which paves way to pass the responsibility to another employee. Points summarized and structured in a systematic way can be used by the leader to highlight the key points in the conversations. Then, it would be easy to establish actions since “self-ownership” of the problem would be held by the executive.  

4. Agreement of a “Defined Focus” for the conversation  

There could be many facets to a particular problem. The leader is not able to accommodate all types of problems during an allocated time period. Therefore, it is important to focus the conversation towards to a specific point and have a mutual agreement with the executive, so that both parties will be on the same page throughout the conversation. If the leader expands the mind correctly, then the specific question raised by the executive will be directed to the Desired outcome –The Goal.

5.  “Identify and Uncover the Gap” based on the focus

A leader should understand the current situation of the “Focus point” and where he/she needs to be placed at the end of the conversation. Rich experience of the current situation and end goal of the moment will help the leader to “lift the Iceberg” of the executive. When these points are established then specific questions need to be asked in order to “Uncover the gap” with their vertical learnings. As a result, “Closing the gap” will not occur with his/her perspective. 

6. Ask the “learnings” of the conversation

A request for realizations of the conversation will play a major role establishing actions to the focused statement. The Leader may realize that some deep level unconscious thought emerged to the conscious level of the executive. Encourage them to verbalize action points through “How” questions. Allow them to convert their own thinking into actions which will create the deeper transformation of the executive at the workplace. 

7. Creating accountability

Actions need to be created through the accountability of the executive and those will lead to a sustainable change in the workplace. Requesting resources and supporting factors will improve the feasibility of the designed actions. It is vital to assign accountability to a third party as well. Since these actions are reflected through the executive’s learnings throughout the conversation, the attainability will be high.

8. Let executive do the “Heavy Lifting”

We see most leaders are talking more than his/her subordinates when they are discussing the problem, challenge or concern,. This merely represents the ‘solving’ mind-set. The leader must give more opportunity to the executive to talk. Then the leader can reflect the relation to the narration the executive verbalizes. This can be done with proper summarization, deeply listening to the conversation and staying in the “Now Moment”. 

9. Make him/her feel “Comfortable” to proceed the conversation

Sometimes employees of the organization tend to have a tight schedule. Therefore, it is important that they are in a comfortable environment to begin the discussion. Pre-planning and requesting a feasible time will allow both parties to have a comfortable discussion. The Leader can take some time to settle them at the initial part of the conversation, so they are ready for the transformative shift.

10. Monitor the “Transformational Shift”

After establishing the specific actions laid out by the executive, they need to be executed to ensure  sustainable change. Monitoring the actions can be done through a review or catch-up  conversation. Therefore, the leader can identify what needs to be fine-tuned in the workplace while providing a positive feedback and encouraging them to maintain momentum and alignment to the role and the overall organizational vision.

One of the major challenges in organizations is to sustain results. This is mainly because suggestions or realizations will be given by the leaders rather than subordinates. However, it should ideally be the other way around through harnessing the potential of the employee. This is the power of “Transformational coaching” where results and sustainability are guaranteed as teams are empowered to learn and grow while finding their own answers.

“Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximize their growth.” - John Whitmore

Nilantha Bandara, 15th Dec. 2020.