Coaching and Mentoring: Developing Managers as Coaches and Mentors
The local subsidiary of a significant global player in the bulk liquid storage business, with tank farms in various locations and an aggressive expansion strategy had identified a group of high potential individuals (HPIs) whose development they wished to accelerate so that they would be prepared to step into more senior management roles in the expanding business. We understood what they wanted to achieve was more than “just give us good managers”. They wanted to develop the whole person. We put together a Leadership Development Programme (LDP) that would enable them to grow as people and live far more satisfying and purposeful lives, as well as enabling them to acquire the leadership and management skills that would enable them to build teams, craft and drive a strategy, solve problems collaboratively and make smart decisions. We supported the learning with personal coaching in which each HPI was pursuing his/her individual development and learning objectives.
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As the work progressed, we discovered that, while the participants were loving the programme and relishing the changes they were seeing in themselves, their managers were not seeing significant behaviour change. When we investigated, we discovered that these senior managers were managing the HPIs in the same way they always had – and so they were getting the same behaviour and performance that they had seen in the past. Of course, we know that people behave in line with how they are led, so we resolved to do some work on the leadership style of the more senior managers. We determined that if they were able to introduce a coaching style into their way of providing leadership to their people, they would start to see their HPIs and other team members thinking things through and arriving at better decisions, being more proactive and decisive, and becoming less dependent on their superiors for guidance and decisions. We worked with the senior managers over a period of six months, including personal coaching for them, so that they could constantly raise their skills and reflect on their progress. Most of that group of HPIs were promoted.
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“This approach to developing leaders became “the way we do things around here” with each level of management going through the Leadership Development Programme appropriate to their seniority in the business, and then learning to become a Manager Coach in support of the next group of LDP participants. It really helped us to create a positive leadership culture and prepare our people for the future.” Managing Director, Petrochemical Storage and Logistics Company.
Just imagine if the people in your organisation:
Pie in the sky? No – these are conditions frequently found in high-performing teams. Progressive leaders are choosing coaching as a fundamental part of their leadership style. Coaching is a positive and enabling process that develops the capacity of people to solve today’s business problems and holds them accountable for their results.
Furthermore, as coaching becomes a predominant cultural practice in your organisation, it will create a performance-focused organisation capable of creating and sustaining a competitive advantage.
Immediately after completing this training and coaching programme, your senior managers will start to:
Just imagine if the people in your organisation:
- Knew the mission of the business and their role in creating success?
- Knew the organisational priorities and acted with a sense of urgency?
- Were committed to give their personal best efforts and did not hold back because of fear of failure?
- Freely contributed to organisational goals?
- Set and achieved business goals aligned to the achievement of organisational goals and the mission of the business?
- Consistently achieved the results they were capable of achieving?
- Sought out and responded appropriately to performance feedback?
Pie in the sky? No – these are conditions frequently found in high-performing teams. Progressive leaders are choosing coaching as a fundamental part of their leadership style. Coaching is a positive and enabling process that develops the capacity of people to solve today’s business problems and holds them accountable for their results.
Furthermore, as coaching becomes a predominant cultural practice in your organisation, it will create a performance-focused organisation capable of creating and sustaining a competitive advantage.
Immediately after completing this training and coaching programme, your senior managers will start to:
- Set their goals more effectively and those of their people;
- Adopt a coaching leadership and management style to achieve their respective business goals;
- Keep their people focused, challenged and accountable;
- Significantly improve their interpersonal, communication and people management skills;
- Create a culture of performance and productivity;
- Deal with under performers;
- Develop their staff as employees and people;
- Effectively deal with conflict;
- Build high-performance teams;
- In a results-oriented and sustainable context;
- Mentor people in your talent pool.