Why it Is Critical to Add Coaching to Your Development Programmes

A recent active leadership poll on LinkedIn, indicated that one of the key drivers for employees to be engaged, happy and productive in their roles was access to ongoing development.

Many organisations are implementing strategies to do just that and improve their EVP (employee value proposition)?to both retain and attract staff.

However, many businesses are missing a critical part, and that is including access to ongoing coaching for their team, so the development programmes they have in place will deliver even better results, both for the employee and the business results of the organisation as a whole.

Though it might sound cliched, there is a reason why the biggest sports names and business leaders continue to have a coach; it works.

This is especially relevant when you consider the change occurring at the moment for all of us. We are in uncertain times where our employees suffer burnout and imposter syndrome and struggle to ‘be’ resilient.

Giving access to development is one part of the process. When those moments of uncertainty hit and our brains overact, coaching can help our teams manage their minds and navigate the path ahead.

As a quick recap, before we explore why coaching is key for your people, let’s remind ourselves of what it is.

What is Coaching?

According to John Whitmore, the originator of the GROW coaching model, coaching is about unlocking people’s potential to maximize their own performance.

Something John didn’t originally mention was how coaching can give us perspective on our thoughts so we can become the ‘watcher’ of what we are saying.

Who hasn’t had a conversation with a good friend stuck in a loop taking a different meaning from a situation?

A friend of mine was recently going for a senior role and was convinced she wouldn’t get it. There was actually no logic behind this. She had been asked to consider the role by the hiring manager. Her results were exceptional. Only two people were going for the position, including her, and she was an internal candidate who could be up and running immediately.

Her brain was giving her thoughts that just weren’t true; she got the job, by the way.

Here is something to consider.

Even though our brains have developed to invent A.I. software to answer any question we have-thank you, Alexa, there is also a primitive part of our brain locked in the past.

Let me explain more about the two parts of our brain that govern our actions and thoughts.

Our primitive brain is responsible for many of the automatic responses of our body, like breathing and keeping blood flowing and ensuring we stay ‘safe’: By the way, it’s going crazy at the moment with talks of recessions, inflation and the fuel crisis.

We also have our decision-making brain, for scientists, the pre-frontal cortex, that assesses data and enables us to make informed choices.

The challenge is that our primitive brain wants to keep us safe and out of harm’s way all the time, which is OK; however, it tends to see anything new as a challenge and threat to our survival.

Unfortunately or not, its initial development was aimed at protecting us from being eaten or banished from the tribe. Yet for 95% of the population, this is no longer an issue, and yet, this part of the brain continues to bombard us with over sixty thousand thoughts a day, the majority of which are negative and generally untrue to keep us safe.

My children, now young adults, will often inform me they are starving.

They aren’t; they are hungry, that is all and dinner, served by their amazing dad, is only an hour away.

The trouble is many people have either forgotten this fact about their brain or weren’t aware of it in the first place.

This is where utilising the power of a coach can help.

How Coaches Can Help The Ongoing Development of Your People

A coach is an ‘outsider’ in the most positive sense of the word and gets to hear our thoughts and assess what we think is going on.

They can then take a questioning role to allow us to see our brains and thinking patterns.

A coach works with you step-by-step, bringing you to a greater understanding of yourself, what you are thinking, and the results you are experiencing in your life.

As our world changes, so is the need for professional and personal coaching, and it is growing exponentially for one fact alone; how effective it is.

Coaching Helps You To Leverage The Impact of Your Development Programmes

Most organisations want to improve their leaders and everyone in their organisation, and they do this through implementing leadership development and training programmes.

This involves face-to-face training and online learning, interactive live streams and webinars, all designed to help people learn.

However, what do you do to ensure the programmes you run are used to make the change you want?

Hope for the best and ask the participants at their next review ‘how it’s going’?

A risky strategy.

This is where coaching helps.

Many studies from recognised research continually demonstrate that an adult’s chances of retaining information increase if they?learn by doing with support .

In the past, leadership and coaching were handled separately, and coaching was only offered to those who were ‘struggling’.

A question for you?

Who hasn’t attended an inspirational programme and then, when you returned home, got stuck with exactly what to do next; and started overthinking and procrastinating on taking action or putting into practice the gems you learnt?

I’ll say yes to that question.

For organisations to train and support their leaders to grow and who can take their organisation through change and uncertain times, coaching comes with our highest recommendation.

Until next time,

Julia

About Julia Carter

Julia Carter is the MD of?Zestfor?Ltd ?and?specialises in working with leaders and managers of virtual teams to improve team effectiveness.

If you want to learn more about the coaching options when you work with Zestfor,?contact me here ?and I will be in touch.