Why is coaching becoming so popular and sought-after
Personal development and coaching are becoming hugely popular in the workplace as the millennial generation seek the fastest way to become successful and improve their earning potential at work. Many workers are turning to techniques such as mindfulness and meditation to manage their increasing stress levels whilst working in today’s “always-on” culture.
What makes coaching so impactful is that people already have the ability and resources within them to be successful and live more positively; the coach enables the client to discover their capabilities, make sense of who they are, and how they see the world through their filter, develop a growth mindset and channel new behaviours.
Coaching is bespoke, so the individual benefits from a customised service that is the most effective and efficient for them, this is measurable by setting a commitment to change and achieving SMART goals that they are held accountable for by the coach, and themselves.
According to the ICF, 70% of individuals who received coaching benefited from improved work performance, relationships and more effective communication skills, with 86% of companies feeling that the investment they made into coaching was worthwhile.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, People Management recently reported that fear of failure holds back 2 in 5 people in the workplace. In coaching the client will discover their fear isn’t real – the said failure hasn’t happened yet because this perceived danger is in the future. Coaches help their clients get to the root of their fears and dispel them; replacing fearfulness with helpful behaviours that minimise failure such as working smarter, making sense of busy thoughts to increase focus, finding a better work-life balance. Just think about how your people, business productivity and profitability could be boosted if 40% of your people had coaching to overcome their blocks (i.e. their fears) and reach their best potential and become high performers.
During and after the pandemic, employee fears have increased. Many workers are struggling with mental health challenges, perhaps experiencing anxiety for the first time. A coach can use strategies to help employees to increase their resilience and overcome their personal fears as they adapt to the new normal of economic uncertainty and social changes such as working remotely.
Benefits of Coaching
The overall benefits of coaching include:
- Improved and enhanced performance, productivity, attendance by addressing personal struggles, increasing employees’ resilience and onboarding new starters;
- Organisations can more effectively deal with their people and culture issues by coaching managers to deal with difficult situations and people;
- Better change management by identifying and understanding the employee’s values, which can be aligned to the most effective communication style when planning for and introducing change;
- Improving team cohesiveness and cooperation by team coaching exercises to build trust and understand the power of perception;
- To improve retention of talent, by supporting their development, including role transition (promotion) and to invest in leadership development in line with succession plans;
- To support employees through life’s challenges and give others a helping hand;
- Help address employee mental health problems, minimise risk of (long-term) absence, burnout and stress;
- Providing employees with key feedback that’s context-specific, constructive, in a non-judgmental way to support change and minimise defensiveness;
- Support business owners and leaders with confidential space to talk and think where there may not be an in-house HR person or coach.
How can you introduce coaching into your company?
Employees will appreciate the investment in their personal development and view it as part of their total reward package. We would recommend organisations reflect on the benefits of coaching and map them to their own organisation to identify how coaching can transform their people and business.
Clients can expect to talk to a trusted, empathetic coach to identify and understand their own barriers and develop strategies to overcome them. As well as being provided with tools and techniques to use between sessions to achieve their weekly goals. Clover Coaching would recommend a package of five weekly sessions for the person to demonstrate positive progression and organisational benefits.
If you would like further guidance or support on coaching or require advice on other people management matters please contact Clover HR on 0121 516 0299 or email us at info@cloverhr.co.uk
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