Business improvements are four times more likely when leaders mentor employees and support their coaching efforts, suggests research by health and hygiene firm Kimberly-Clark. Senior leaders might not always have much time for coaching but to get maximum business impact from coaching skills training, their buy-in and support is vital. This is the conclusion reached by Kimberly-Clark following a robust evaluation in the US. “The staggering thing is that if leaders coach the managers that report to them, the impact of coaching is four times as high. The conclusion for us is to encourage senior leaders to coach. They are very busy and not always the best coaches because they can be very directive and have lots on their plate. But that’s our journey and we are looking at how best to do this,” says Rick Woodward, learning and development director at Kimberly-Clark. Consultant Peggy Parskey, an expert in workplace measurement and evaluation, conducted a survey in April among 224 of Kimberly-Clark’s team leaders in the US who had attended coaching training the previous year, and 202 team members whose team leaders had been trained. She interviewed 30 team leaders who attended the training, some of whom were strong supporters of coaching, and some of whom were not.
She found that 25 per cent of mentored team leaders reported a 20 per cent increase in productivity against only 4 per cent of those who were not mentored; 17 per cent of mentored team leaders reported a 20 per cent increase in quality compared with 2 per cent of those who were not mentored; and 14 per cent said retention improved by at least 20 per cent compared with 3 per cent of non-mentored leaders. Participants attributed significant business benefits to their coaching, including a $117,000 (£58,000) reduction in overtime, faster machine installation amounting to savings of $5 million, and better employee relationships, with people being more direct. One team leader said: “My coaching reduced frustration in the team. We made a $1 million turnaround on a production asset. I believe 30 per cent of that came from the coaching.” Another said: “I challenged my team to increase productivity and waste utilisation. Productivity increased by 10 per cent and waste utilisation improved by 21 per cent.” Although business improvements were more likely when coaching was reinforced by the team leader’s manager, only 51 per cent felt their managers supported or reinforced their coaching efforts. Even though 92 per cent of respondents felt coaching was a high priority and 80 per cent thought team leaders expected them to use these skills, only 29 per cent believed senior leaders demonstrated coaching behaviours. Twenty-seven per cent of respondents felt tools aided their efforts. “The message is, don’t just put tools out there, help people,” Woodward says.
From the top
In the wake of these findings, the organisation plans to drive coaching skills training from the top, encouraging senior leaders to take training themselves and setting up an expectation that senior leaders and directors demonstrate coaching behaviours. The company plans to make coaching training a requirement for new team leaders and to build consistent coaching messages into all of its leadership development programmes. It also aims to integrate coaching more strongly into performance management, building it into leadership-quality behaviours such as being visionary and collaborative and reinforcing coaching as a key team leader accountability. Coaching certainly has the blessing of Tom Falk, chairman and chief executive of Kimberly-Clark. Talking to his senior leaders recently he underlined the importance of talent management and the value of quarterly discussions to coach employees and provide feedback. And in 2005, in a video message launching a new performance management system, he said: “Working relationships with frequent two-way dialogue are essential to how we work towards our shared objectives. Nothing makes a difference like the coaching and feedback we experience from a manager and colleagues.”
Deep impact
“From this, I took the initiative that we really should do something with coaching,” Woodward says. He brought in training consultancy Performance Associates to roll out a one-day coaching skills training course to more than 400 team leaders in Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Poland, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. “Coach training itself wasn’t new. We’d been doing it for years with lots of worthy stuff but it wasn’t making much difference, so we looked for something that would have a real impact,” he says. The training included a juggling exercise and was “well-delivered, passionate and interesting”, reports Woodward. “The programme is powerful and lively and is really getting the message across that it is not about teaching someone how to do something but the skill of artfully using questions when you think it is a coaching moment,” he says. The training has three parts. “Coaching for performance” aims to build practical day-to-day coaching and feedback skills, shifting participants into an “asking” rather than “telling” focus. The one-day “Helping others succeed” programme provides team leaders with feedback on their coaching and helps them to assess and understand individual team member needs. The third offering is the one-day “Tough conversations” training, which enables participants to acquire and practise the skills they need to prepare for, deliver and follow up on difficult discussions. When Woodward was transferred to North America, he brought the UK consultants over to deliver the training to another 500 or so managers in the US, involving some Chicago-based consultants to ensure the training transferred successfully across the Atlantic.
Success story
Last year Kimberly-Clark introduced a senior leaders’ version of “Coaching for performance” and it is investigating the use of storytelling to engage them. The leaders meet twice a year and at the most recent meeting in June, a storytelling session on coaching, introduced by the chief executive, was well received. A separate evaluation of “Coaching for performance” by LPA Associates in Europe in November 2005 also showed clear business benefits, including better presentations, more accurate forecasts, increased motivation, clearer objectives, and the decision by two individuals not to leave the organisation. Some 82 per cent of respondents gave examples of how coaching had improved their leadership and just under 70 per cent reported behavioural improvements and increased commitment in their team members. Participants reported measurable improvements in their team members’ performance and ownership of objectives, and commented on their own reduced management time. Eighty-two per cent of respondents could give examples of how the workshop had influenced their thinking and approach to managing people. Eighty per cent of participants could describe the positive changes in their behaviour and practices as a result of the coaching skills training course. The key change has been that they “ask rather than tell”, and many report the positive impact the course has had on their personal lives as well as their business lives. Woodward says he acknowledges that Kimberly-Clark’s story “is not fantastic” and that he doesn’t know all the answers. But, he says, “we are seeing a strong impact on the business. We take coaching very seriously and appreciate that it’s a journey, not a conclusion. You never tick the box; it’s a continuing process.”
Rick Woodward, along with Gary W Short, director of talent management at Kimberly-Clark, will be speaking at this year’s CIPD annual conference and exhibition in Harrogate on 18-20 September 020 8612 6248 ›› www.cipd.co.uk/ace
Volume 2, Issue 5