What You Need For Your Organisation

Asked whether partners and consultants at SteppingStone Global were classically trained coaches or more management-consultants stimulated some reflection on what clients are actually going to need in the near future, where we face troubling social, technological, economic, ecological, political, legal and ethical issues affecting all our enterprises, be these based in the Middle East, Europe, the southern hemisphere ….anywhere in the world.

Owners and C-Suites are going to need consultants and advisors to fill-in knowledge, mentors to facilitate the transfer of wisdom and executive-coaching to help them to think deeper. But most importantly, clients are going to need implementers who are prepared to role-up their sleeves and get involved. Too often, there is a tendency for consultants, mentors and coaches to advise but avoid immersion. Clients are looking for a return-on-investment and it is vital they insist on deliverables to maximise use of resources when recruiting ‘outsiders’.

Rose Cartolari from RC Consulting was recently quoted in Forbes magazine, saying: “In business and executive-coaching, I believe we will see more coaches who have strong industry and line experience. As leaders face increasing pressure to deliver results in the short term and create exciting futures for the long term, all while developing leaders, they themselves will require coaches and advisers who can help them think deeply through this range of complex issues.”

Jim Vaselopulos from Rafti Advisors added: “Ageing demographics will demand a vast transfer of institutional, industry and professional wisdom.” Youthful managers need the guidance and involvement of older experienced hands and need a variety of approaches to get the most out of external inputs.

In terms of executive-coaching, business-coaching, mentoring and consulting, there will certainly be a move towards a blurring of lines, where consulting will become even more important in augmenting gaps in knowledge, mentoring will be used much more effectively to facilitate the transfer of wisdom and executive-coaching is a container for people looking to extend their competencies, especially emotional intelligence.

Enterprises are going to need multi-competent input from those prepared to be implementers as well as advisers.

Those external-advisers who have held senior-posts in enterprises will certainly demand a premium given their involvement is anchored in the reality of hard-earned experience. Those who can switch between consulting, mentoring or executive and business-coaching will be sought after, especially if they can also demonstrate training-skills as well as a commitment to making things happen.

Undoubtedly clients will be looking for help with their functional-capabilities in whichever industry they operate and there are many specialists with competencies in different fields from finance through marketing or sales to logistics, digital-media or the specifics of drilling for oil. But there are knowledge and skills gaps which are common across all industries which are vital to improve in our tough trading-conditions; managing processes and leadership-behaviours.

Finding the right partners to play a part in improving a client’s productivity through addressing key processes such as planning, organising, staffing, directing, coordinating, reporting and budgeting is no easy task; especially when it comes to one who will aid with implementing, not just be an adviser.

Perhaps most important, when it comes to improving overall-performance of an enterprise, is finding the right partner who will focus on performance and productivity through the prism of people. Often described as soft skills but often the toughest to develop, leading people can be the hardest element to learn and practice in an enterprise. Helping owners, the C-Suite and key managers develop consistent leadership behavioural-competencies is the key to what clients are going to need in the near future, through specialists delivering consulting, mentoring, executive-coaching and business-coaching.