Empowering employees through behavioural coaching

Effective coaching plays a pivotal role in fostering a thriving workplace, writes Terry Smagh.

Imagine the frustration of a high-potential employee leaving your organisation because they felt they lacked development opportunities. Our recent study at Infor found that 53 per cent of candidates cited dissatisfaction with growth and development opportunities as their primary reason for leaving their jobs. This problem can be addressed through coaching, which provides the necessary support for growth. Coaching has become one of the fastest-growing development initiatives in today’s organisations. Unlike traditional training methods, coaching is highly personalised and involves a collaborative relationship between a coach and an employee, aimed at achieving mutual goals that enhance performance and boost organisational productivity.

The role of the coach

While coaching is a two-way relationship, the coach plays a vital role in the employee’s success throughout this engagement. Picture an architect designing and building a house. The architect begins by drawing plans, then guides the construction crew as they lay the foundation, frame the house, and finally finish with the interior details. Similarly, a coach helps the employee to design a blueprint for development, guides the employee to lay the groundwork, develop and practise new skills, and refine those skills once the foundation has been set. However, just as a well-thought-out design won’t result in a completed house without the joint efforts of the crew, a successful coaching engagement requires the employee’s effort as well. Together, the coach and employee guarantee that the relationship is carefully crafted and long-lasting to ensure success.

Challenge-focused coaching

While coaching needs to involve input from both the employee and coach to be successful, it can be useful for the coach to initiate the interaction. One way a coach can do this is to identify specific challenges or opportunities that an employee is facing. For example, a team could be struggling with an employee who isn’t working well with the other members. A coach can work with this employee to identify any behavioural gaps that hinder their ability to collaborate effectively. Once these gaps are identified, the coach and employee can create an action plan to improve their teamwork skills, fostering better collaboration and a more harmonious work environment. This approach begins with the situation to identify the behaviour that, once improved, will contribute to the employee’s success and aid their development journey. It is worth noting that coaching doesn’t have to be a grand initiative; it can be as simple as offering feedback in the moment. In this case, a manager could observe a specific instance of the individual not engaging in collaboration and offer feedback that could help encourage teamwork behaviour.

Growth-focused coaching

In addition to coaching in a specific situation, there are many benefits to extending coaching to growth opportunities. This involves identifying an individual’s behaviours or skills that need improvement. While these behaviour or skill gaps can be discovered in a variety of ways, our advice is to use an objective data-driven approach, like a behavioural assessment, to understand the individual’s underlying behavioural tendencies and preferences. Even without an immediate situation at hand that requires the individual to adjust their behaviour, the coach and employee can discuss upcoming situations that may be a good opportunity to practice such behavioural shifts. Sticking with the same example of improving an employee’s teamwork skills, the coach and employee together can set small, meaningful goals around engaging in more collaborative behaviours to ultimately be a more helpful and successful team member.

Benefits of coaching

Effective coaching plays a pivotal role in fostering a thriving workplace. By creating a supportive and psychologically safe environment, coaches will allow employees to explore their strengths and weaknesses, grow and develop their skills, and ultimately reach their full potential. This strategic approach not only addresses immediate career needs but also prepares employees for future roles and helps them advance to the next level. In turn, investing in employee development can increase engagement and retention rates, both of which generate significant returns for the organisation and help employees feel more empowered.

Coaching, however, is more than just improving performance metrics. The core concept of coaching is the opportunity to lead another individual to reach their highest capabilities. Coaching is more than just a “one-size-fits-all” approach; rather, it’s designed to address an employee’s unique developmental needs. Investing in coaching can enhance your own leadership capabilities, which, in turn, positively impacts those around you. Just like an architect feels a sense of accomplishment when they see their house design come to life, a coach can find joy and meaning in seeing employees achieve their fullest potential, knowing that they gave them the tools and guidance along the way.

Terry Smagh is the senior vice president and general manager (Asia-Pacific and Japan) at Infor.