However, he can’t seem to retain the people under him. In the last year alone, the turnover rate of his team was 70%. He’s known for his fierce temperament and can be heard shouting at his staff whenever something goes wrong.

The management team refuses to promote him further even though he is the most technically qualified for the job. The organisation has been hiring externally for the position to meet the business need but most do not stay more than 3 years as they lack loyalty to the organisation. The organisation has also been bleeding talent; high potentials resign due to the stress of working under this senior manager, and they eventually get poached by industry competitors. 

As a leader, what would you do? Demote him? Sit him down and give him a stern warning?  Replace him with someone else?

How about coaching him to be a better leader?

Coaching is deeply rooted in helping individuals achieve greater clarity and understanding of challenges and co-creating solutions that are achievable; therefore leading to steps towards desired behaviours.

In my perspective, Bloom’s three learning domains is an effective concept for coaching, since it's about learning new behaviours as well.

You can see how these terms are linked to the head (cognitive), heart (affective), and hands (psychomotor). Applying this, a skilled coach will be able to help the coachee achieve clarity and conceptual knowledge (cognitive) that he can leverage on to support his development. The coachee will be facilitated to confront truths and deep-seated beliefs about himself, and create space for the replacement of destructive attitudes; eventually adopting new beliefs that lead to the desired behavioural practices (psychomotor).

The concept is simple enough, but it takes an experienced coach to successfully partner with the coachee to effect that behavioural change. In the case mentioned earlier, an effective coach would be able to coach that senior manager to better manage his behaviours, leading towards better leadership and engagement of his team.

Going back to the story, what would've happened if another colleague had been skilled enough to recognise signs of help needed, and was able to coach this senior manager before his behaviour worsened?

Apart from placing emphasis and urgency in coaching individuals, an organisation needs to develop the necessary competencies for their leaders/managers to be effective coaches as well. This is the building block of a coaching culture. There'll be trying moments where cognitive knowledge isn’t translated into an attitude and desired behaviour, and this is when coaches need to be coached, to gain new perspectives and paradigm breakthroughs so that they can continue helping others. 

However, the reality is that many organisations still struggle to find a compelling reason to develop a coaching culture. There would first need to be a business case as to why coaching culture is important for itself:

1. A Critical Talent Management Tool

When organisations make coaching a key part of their talent management strategy and overall corporate culture, they show their current employees and job candidates alike that they’re committed to the ongoing training and development of their staff. Not only will such a coaching culture help to retain top employees and help prepare high-potentials for leadership positions, but it’ll also position the organisation as an employer of choice and enhance its ability to attract qualified, right-fit talent.

2. Engagement Driven By Everyone

Adopting a “leader coaching leader” concept, there’ll soon be a healthy practice where feedback-giving is a norm and even junior leaders can coach senior leaders too; this is the outcome of a strong coaching culture. There’ll be a community of support within the organisation, and an openness to learn, adapt and change, that’ll translate to business results.

3. Learn From Others' Mistakes

Side stepping the common errors that other leaders have made can save the organisation a fortune in the long run. An experienced leader would've seen the most common mistakes  in the workplace and can help the next leader avoid the same pitfalls too. Essentially, a small investment of time and effort in building a culture where feedback and sharing are appreciated, might go a long way to avoid some costly mistakes.

Conclusion

In a highly competitive and fast-moving global marketplace, we believe in the value of a coaching culture in an organisation. According to the Talent Development Association, 65% of employees that are in organisations with a strong coaching culture are highly engaged. The same report also shows that these organisations also reported stronger market performance.

Human beings are complex creatures; thus building real relationships and right behaviours take some effort. Open feedback and insights from coaches will help one realise their highest potential, and all the above mentioned keeps employees purposefully engaged with the organisation.

The story that I mentioned at the beginning was part of a personal experience. Unfortunately, this person did not eventually receive the coaching that would help him and help the team, and as a result, two attrition cycles of the same team happened within 2 years, leading to disadvantages on many fronts for the organisation.

Is your organisation supportive of efforts to coach? Do you already have a strong coaching culture in place? If not, what could you do about it?