One of the key questions I have been asked is ‘Why would an organisation or individual invest in coaching at this time?’ Being in the middle of a pandemic, where we have entered into a recession and businesses are struggling to stay afloat, some are closing, reducing headcount and cutting costs – it’s a valid question!
My answer = investment in coaching is needed now more than ever, to support individuals, teams and organisations to bounce back, to not only survive, but thrive.
When dealing with crisis and survival, the business response is to focus on the immediate tactical actions and activities that need to take place such as: closing offices, redundancy processes, scaling back of costs and expenditure, rationalisation of products/services etc… The next phase is to ensure those changes are successful, to bounce back and start thriving again. Therefore, the next phase has to focus on people. Their behaviours, leadership, motivation, engagement and ways of working, to help them overcome, adapt and reengage, to move forward. But budgets are tight. Any investment needs to deliver more for less and at pace. This is where coaching comes in, it’s cost effective and timely with high impact results.
Team Coaching
The days of the competitive, individualistic, heroic and expert leader are over. With the scale and pace of change, in our volatile and uncertain world, the power of performance and competitive advantage is within the collective knowledge, skills and experience of our teams. An organisations strength will come from the collective sum of their teams.
However, very few organisations invest in their teams, typically only holding ‘one off’ events like team building and training, which research has shown has very little evidence of impacting team performance (Katzenback and Smith 1993; Wageman et al. 2008). See my previous blog on What team building really looks like – https://wordpress.com/post/dbktcoaching.com/226
Team coaching is cost effective and is a high impact development intervention, which can help organisations to recover and thrive. It also develops key skills and ways of working that will stand organisations in good stead for the changing future of work, which is self-managed and networked teams.
Individual Coaching
Having one to one coaching enables you to explore and develop in areas that are relevant to you and your journey, which can be immediately applied to your life and work. Training courses are often generic and whilst useful, don’t cover the individual feelings, thoughts, challenges you are experiencing.
I’ve also noticed that COVID has presented an existential crisis for many of us. It has been a period of deep reflection and reassessment of how we want to live and work. It has invoked for many, the need to live a more purposeful life, with more meaning. This has generated a shift and change in people, where they are looking to tread a different path, to the one they were journeying along. One to one coaching can support with processing these thoughts and generate actions for next steps along your new adventure. It can also help to unjumble and clarify the confusion that COVID may have sparked within you, to figure out what you really want to be doing.
Resilience is another key factor, my heart goes out to Leaders and HR professionals at this time who are dealing with unprecedented and turbulent times, which is unrelenting and ever changing. Everyone is looking to HR and Leadership teams to provide clear direction and reassurance, which over the last 9 months has been an impossible task, with the ever changing and often unclear guidance from Government. Having a confidential and safe space to process your own thoughts, feelings and emotions can really help to restore resilience and get leaders and HR professionals back on track and feeling confident.
A large number of people have also lost their jobs and finding a new job role may be proving challenging. Coaching can help with processing this change, helping you to figure out what you want to do next and set goals/actions to aid your career planning and job search.
A few people have said to me this is a crazy time to set up a small business, but I feel it’s exactly the right time – providing this level of support for leaders and teams is needed now more than ever.
At DBKT Coaching we work with leaders and teams to thrive in the changing world of work, so organisations can achieve their purpose, and by doing so deliver great results. We offer leadership and team coaching.
Get in touch with us at DBKT Coaching on 07443438294 or email dbktcoaching@gmail.com.
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