February 17, 2010

Letter from the Editor

I’m on a high! I just returned from San Diego. Being in sunny 65-degree Southern California is enough to make me high, but that isn’t the only reason for my excitement.

I presented Coaching for Talent Development and Employee Engagement at the Training 2010 conference. The three-hour workshop is a perfect format for introducing this topic and I was honored by 74 people who attended (which for the last session of a long week was pretty amazing!).

Many attendees came up to me after the session exclaiming that “this was one of the best workshops I ever attend.” While flattering, I believe that some of the kudos go to the topic itself and THIS is why I’m euphoric! Coaching as a means for performance improvement is taking off in many companies! And I’m ecstatic.

I recently read a survey that stated that 1/3 of employees surveyed indicated that they will look for a different place to work once the economic dust settles. One third! Look around your department or company and try to imagine operating without a third of your employees. Worse yet, try to imagine what would happen if that third were your top performers!

Many companies are seeing coaching as a way of engaging employees, not just for increased performance and productivity, but for longer term benefit: retaining top talent.

Coaching, if nothing else, is a way of building a relationship with employees. If your managers aren’t coaching, you may be missing the opportunity of a lifetime!


Terry

The Need for Coaching: A Budgeting Imperative

In Training Efficiency: Optimizing Costs, a 2008 survey referenced in the Jan 2009 issue of HR Magazine, 54% of trainers indicated that they were under “significant” or “intense” pressure to cut costs. Almost half had had budgets cut from the previous year. Bersin & Associates, in their report, Enterprise Learning, Recruiting and Talent Management 2009, state that: “Our trend research clearly shows that corporate learning is going to absorb much of the budget cuts in corporate HR. Over the last five years, L&D spending has steadily increased (since the 2000 recession). This naturally results in a proliferation of learning programs being developed and delivered by business units, sales and customer service, manufacturing locations, and corporate HR.” “Organizations,” they believe, “will focus on restructuring HR and L&D to increase efficiency and business alignment.”

In the article, Tom Starr, principal at Booz & Co., suggests that it is critical to determine what training is essential to the business. Starr suggests, “Build a taxonomy of what is critical and invest disproportionately in those areas. Be more selective in who it is you’re training. For instance, in retail banking, a pivotal role is the branch manager. You want to make sure to provide training for [pivotal employees].”

Bersin & Associates agree, stating that organizations should invest in those training programs that are strategic AND customized for the company — programs that will give the company a unique competitive advantage.

Furthermore, companies looking to thrive in this challenging economy need to take advantage of the knowledge and relationships that currently exist on the job. “Mentoring, coaching, and shadowing will all likely become more important during the downturn,” suggests Michael Grohs, research analyst for the Institute of Corporate Productivity. 

Bersin & Associates agree stating that, “We all know that formal training may accommodate 10 percent of the development needs of workers. How do we harness the informal and coaching needs of employees without spending millions of dollars on knowledge management projects (most of which fail)? The answer is to unleash the power of collective knowledge within companies.” They suggest in their graphic¹ that we need to optimize coaching on the job.

Coaching, it seems, will continue to play an increasingly important role in performance management. 

Bersin & Associates state that, “While ranking, rating and calibration sessions continue to be vital parts of [the performance management] process, the real value of performance management is in the coaching and development areas. Approximately 60 percent of organizations tell us that they focus on coaching and development (versus competitive assessment), and these companies are generating 20 percent to 30 percent higher returns from the process.”

¹The information from Bersin & Associate’s report was used with permission from the company. For your free copy of the Bersin & Associates report, Enterprise Learning, Recruiting and Talent Management 2009, please contact us at info@unlockit.com.

The Need for Coaching: An Employee Imperative

According to a variety of studies, many employees — good employees — don’t feel that they receive the coaching they need to improve performance. After surveying 2,600 U.S. workers, New York-based Mercer Human Resource Consulting (April 2003) found that:

• Only one-fourth of employees indicated that their managers coach them to improve performance.
  
  

• Forty-two percent say that their manager gives them regular feedback on their performance.
  
  

• Just 29% say that they are rewarded when they do a good job.

Towers Perrin, another New York-based consulting firm, concluded from surveying 35,000 U.S. workers that only one-fifth of workers are highly engaged in their jobs. BlessingWhite, in their 2008 report on employee engagement state, “There is a clear correlation between engagement and retention, with 85% of engaged employees indicating that they plan to stay with their employer.”

In a 2009 study by CIPD, 34% of 3000 employees surveyed indicated that they would change jobs within the next year in an ideal world. Claire McCartney, Talent and Resourcing Adviser at the CIPD, advises: “The recession may keep your best people with you for now, but you need to take the time to focus on building employee engagement by providing employees with clarity around career paths and setting work that is meaningful to them, if you want them to stay put when better times return.”

Coaching for TD&EE: Three Solution Packages

Entelechy’s new coaching website (www.coachyouremployees.com) features our Coaching Solution Packages, three versions of Entelechy’s comprehensive coaching program designed to meet your specific organization’s needs:

Gold Solution (Cultural Change) — designed for the company looking to realize the benefits of implementing a coaching culture throughout the organization.

Silver Solution (Competency Development) — designed for the company looking to develop coaching as a management competency throughout the organization.

Bronze Solution (Skill Enhancement) — designed for the company looking to initiate coaching into the managerial skillset.

We created three versions of the Coaching for Talent Development and Employee Engagement solution because our clients asked for them. Some clients simply want to enhance the skills of their managers and supervisors (the Bronze Solution) whereas other clients wish to make coaching a key cultural element (Gold Solution). Still other clients wanted something in the middle.

You can review case studies of other organizations that have initiated coaching programs to learn of their challenges and how they used coaching – and Entelechy – to address them by visiting http://www.coachyouremployees.com/coaching/casestudies.htm. 

We’ll continue adding features and tools that will help you, the manager and supervisor (and those who support them) develop and engage your employees.

Now is the time to equip your front-line managers with the tools they need to succeed – and help your organization survive today’s economic challenges and prepare for tomorrow’s recovery. Contact Entelechy at 603-424-1237 or info@unlockit.com for more information on Coaching for Talent Development and Employee Engagement and give your managers the tools they need to lead their employees through the inevitable changes they face with the economy’s recovery.