Impact of Coaching and Mentoring (Blog — Article version)

In today’s climate, as business leaders and managers we need to retain and motivate key staff. When times are hard employees can be fearful and building trust is vital in order to get the best out of people.One significant advantage of coaching is that your employees will begin to take ownership and responsibility for their actions and self- development. The good news is that the manager as coach does not need to come up with solutions. Instead you will be listening more closely to your staff, reflecting back what you hear and questioning them in order to bring out their ideas and solutions. Coaching programmes

From my point of view coaching is not a tool, it is a way of being. At best it is a way of being with someone so that they begin to believe in, and progress, their own ideas. Coaching your employees can best be achieved by setting up a certified coach training programme for managers so that they can coach their staff successfully by:

• ensuring there are clear agreements and confidentiality
• • creating and maintaining the energy and space for them to further their own potential
• • encouraging them to take calculated risks
• • challenging their negative beliefs
• • enjoying with them the sense of achievement.
• • working with them to enhance their potential
• Successfully done coaching can greatly enhance the self-belief and motivation of staff, particularly in times of change and uncertainty.
• Coaching works best when you can create a calm and relaxed one to one session where issues can be explored and workers feel supported. Coaching is to a great extent a particular mindset and way of being in a respectful conversation with another person. A manager as coach will believe in the potential of the employee, listen to them and work with them to nurture that potential. Coaching is most effective in an atmosphere of openness and honest communication. Many companies, who employ a coaching style of management recognise that employees are motivated by having well-being and work- life balance high on the list of company values.
• Enabling them to enhance their skills and knowledge by requesting training and mentoring is also very effective. It is interesting to see that a study by the International Personnel Management Association noted however, that ordinary training typically increased productivity by 22%, while training combined with coaching increased productivity by 88%
• By using coaching techniques such as deep listening and effective questioning skills you create space for your employees to reflect on their learning. Training takes time to be implemented and this is where coaching can really aid this process. The one to one sessions allow the employee to bring up concerns or areas of difficulty in a non- judgemental space. Employees are then more willing to take responsibility for their progress and feel motivated when they are encouraged and valued.
• Coaching and mentoring involve pairing experienced professionals with employees that
• could use help adapting to the environment and culture of the workplace. This can
• include pairing a mentor with new employees to help them settle into the surroundings
• and get off to a good start. Coaching often comes in play when a new employee or
• current employee can benefit from personal guidance on specific job duties, processes
• . or responsibilities. Small businesses can also use mentors to help develop other
• employees along a specific career path, such as management.
• On an organizational level, coaching and mentoring can provide a host of benefits.
• Mentoring and coaching can help encourage loyalty to the company. When experienced
• professionals help mold the career of and provide opportunities for mentees, these
• individuals may feel a greater sense of connection and commitment to the business.
• Coaching helps an employee feel comfortable with management and encourages open
• communication, resulting in a positive work experience. This can allow the company to
• save money that would have otherwise been spent on the continual recruitment and
• training of replacement employees.
• Taking advantage of the expertise and knowledge of experienced employees and
• professionals can help bring younger or less experienced employees up to speed. This
• results in better efficiency across the organization when bringing on new employees. In
• addition, coaching and mentoring can help guide an employee along on her career path
• resulting in an employee well versed on company expectations. Coaching specifically
• allows individuals to resolve issues and concerns within the boundaries of a trusted and
• confidential relationship. This can help reduce frustrations on a personal level and
• improve the job satisfaction of the individual, providing a benefit for the organization.
• On top of developing employees, coaching and mentoring can improve the function of
• the team, department and entire organization. Coaching and mentoring allows
• managers to identify the weaknesses and strengths of each employee. This allows the
• organization to capitalize on the resources at hand to keep the whole team working
• smoothly when employees request vacation or take a sick day.The impact of employee
• ill‐health on employers is pronounced and expensive. The Health & Safety Executive in
• . 2011 reported that common mental health problems (stress, anxiety and depression)
• are a leading cause of self‐reported sick days. There are consequences for employers
• who promote well‐being in terms of reduced costs of employee absence. Therefore
• . understanding the relationship between health and work has been a priority in other
• HSE research. The impact of work on psychological health is not a passive process:
• individuals can shape their own well‐being. My Research Network companies were
• . interested to understand if coaching may be one means through which employees can
• equip themselves to do so.
• Before coaching overall average general (non‐work) well‐being score is higher than the
• well‐being at work scores. Both results are similar to those of the general population, so
• . our sample of employees was not unusual.
• I found evidence of statistically significant increases in perceptions of well‐being among
• . employees soon after a period of coaching. This is line with some international study
• findings of managers being coached by external professional coaches. This was despite
• the fact that the coaching in our study was focussed on the attainment of a range of
• organisational goals rather than improvements in well‐being per se.
• . Overall there is emerging evidence from the literature that coaching can be effective as
• a positive individual change methodology. However, how coaching improves well‐ being
• . is less clearly understood.
• Respondents were asked how their method of working and their feelings towards work
• had been impacted upon by the coaching sessions. In the main, respondents felt that

. coaching had impacted positively on both the way in which they worked and their

feelings towards work.

Coaching outcomes associated with higher general well‐being:

. ■ Made me feel better equipped to handle whatever comes my way.

■ Made me more aware that if I’m in trouble then I can usually think of a solution.

■ Made me more aware that I could solve difficult problems if I tried hard enough.

This suggests that the initial enthusiasm that coachees have about the coaching

programme and the benefits it brings their well‐being may wane over time. This may be

. due to the fact that they forget the coaching they received and the positive outcomes

this has had for them in terms of their well‐being, or their work situation does not

. change, and so they do not reflect back on the coaching as positively as they did when

they had just received it. External factors such as budgetary pressures may also have

an individual impact.

Although a debate continues in the literature about on a definition of employee

engagement, the concept has gained considerable traction among employers.

Before their coaching this sample of 100 coachees are relatively average on the

engagement scale. Engagement scores at time of research in were only positively

associated with the coaching outcome ‘made me better at handling unforeseen

situations’ and negatively associated with the outcome ‘made me more aware of my

motivations.’

Few of the coaching outcomes appeared to be associated with higher engagement

scores after reaserch. Indeed, one element of the coaching ‘made me more aware of

my motivations’ was negatively associated with engagement; those who felt that the

coaching helped them to become more aware of their own motivations reported lower

engagement scores than those who felt the coaching had not helped them to achieve

the same. This may mean that those respondents who feel that they now understand

their own motivations better may then question their organisation more or feel less

engaged with it as they realise that they cannot accomplish what they want at their

current organisation and so disengage with it. This seems particularly harsh on the

organisation that has invested in the coaching programme. My study was exploratory:

further research is required to establish whether this phenomenon holds true for larger

number of respondents.

Before coaching the coaching clients, on the whole, were fairly satisfied with their jobs.

After time of research, after coaching, some of the outcomes described in the survey

were in the main associated with items in the job satisfaction scale.

Coaching outcomes associated with higher job satisfaction:

■ Helped develop new work skills.

■ Helped me deal efficiently with unexpected events.