The Case for Coaching (part Two)

There is now much more job movement than was once the case and I don't just mean moving from one organization to another. Where once the workforce of offices, factories and shops could all be found in one building building, it is now typical to find staff dispersed across a number of locations. This may mean you managing teams with members in different parts of the country or even different parts of the world. You may have members of your team who have an entirely different work pattern to your own and whom you seldom see. You may have to manage people who work from home at the same time as people who sit at the desk opposite yours. Against this background we need an adaptable management style that relies on empowering people to use their initiative and make things happen rather than waiting for you, the boss, to call all the shots. In short, we need a coaching approach.

At the broadest level there are the massive changes being caused by globalization and world wide competition. We are doomed if we carry on relying on business models based purely on financial considerations. The deployment of an organization's people is increasingly being seen as a vital part of its chances of success and there are moves for learning and development to be reported on in the annual report alongside profit and loss. Finally, there are the changes we have witnessed - and will continue to have to manage - from the relentless march of technology. The internet and the Web present a number of opportunities to be successful and change the way we work, but only if we're prepared to recognize that we, as managers, cannot keep pace with our staff who are actually using the new technologies day-in and day-out. As the great business strategist Gary Hammel once said "In the knowledge economy those who live by the sword will be shot by those who don't"

Against the background of these changes organizations have had to change their structures, processes and procedures. The days of fixed reporting lines seem gone forever; it is much more typical now to find people reporting to several managers. A lot of clerical work, to take one example, is now project based meaning over a period of time the same employee could be working for and accountable to several different managers. Similarly, somebody working in say IT may be involved in installation projects for a number of different departments and answerable to several different managers at once; each with their own requirements and management style and each convinced of course that theirs is the most important project and deserving of the highest priority. There are also people whose relationship with the organization as a whole is looser and far less formal than used to be the case. Go to any modern contact centre for example and you'll find agency staff, full time staff and part time staff rubbing shoulders and handling customer calls. You'll find interim managers and consultants occupying management roles, and freelance professionals peppered around the training, marketing and IT departments. This all makes the modern workplace a far more dynamic and interesting place to operate, but requires new ways of working.

Much has been written on the effect of these changes on the modern employee. We know that stress is on the rise, sickness absence at an all time high and the changing of jobs in search of something better much more common. But what of you the poor old manager? How can you cultivate the motivation and efforts of a group of people whom you really rely on but over whom you have no formal authority at all? How can you help a team focus on the key outcomes of your project when after each meeting they each return to their line managers who put them under pressure to concentrate on the 'day job'? You can't operate any kind of 'command and control' type approach when you have no mandate to do so and when you can be constantly undermined by those that do. You need instead to assert your moral authority; to engage with your people as equals and to operate as a manager who is able to get people focused, help them to manage possibly conflicting priorities and provide the learning opportunities that are becoming so highly prized. You need, in other words, to become a coach.

"Our people are our greatest asset", drones the average executive at the annual general meeting, whilst announcing an inflation busting pay rise for the board and a pay freeze for the staff. But actually it's true, all other aspects of a business model are replicable in a short space of time, but an ability to really galvanize a workforce puts you alongside the likes of Virgin and Toyota. It is reckoned that the average manager has a team of eight people. If we say that the cost to the organization of employing each person is about £20 000 then the average manager is presiding over assets of £160,000. It's time we esnured that we look after these assets properly and equip managers with the coaching skills to generate the maximum return on such a level of investment.

About the Author:

Matt Somers is the author of Coaching at Work (John Wiley & Sons, 2006) and Instant Manager: Coaching (Hodder & Stoughton, 2008). His consultancy practice is obsessed with helping managers become coaches and achieve the results that coaching promises. To get your FREE guide "How to Build a Coaching Culture" visit www.mattsomers.com

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