Disc 3: Getting managers committed to coaching
Technical support: Hello.
HR manager: Hi, it’s me again. You helped me to install “Supporting managers in supporting coaching”.
TS: Yes, we ended with you bringing heart and soul back into managers. How did that work?
HR: Not bad. Quite a few managers are on board. But there are still some who don’t understand what we’re trying to do. One even suggested “good kicks up the backside”. However, there are enough for the next stage.
TS: Right. The next stage is “Getting managers committed to coaching”. Can you install that disc? What was that? You’ve got “Permanent fatal flaws” coming up on the screen? That’s serious. Go back a stage and ensure that your managers are not in survival mode. Insert the disc and bring up “From survival to competency learning mode”.
HR: Done it. That’s fascinating. It’s telling me that we cannot expect managers or employees to make the best use of coaching, or indeed learning, if they are in survival mode.
TS: Many organisations waste time and money creating coaching and learning opportunities for staff who can’t make best use of them because they are in survival mode. This program will ensure that your staff, and your managers, stay in competency learning mode – which gives them access to imagination, creativity, self-awareness and emotional intelligence. Do you have our program on the brain and how it affects learning? Good. Click on “From survival to competency mode”.
HR: I have and it tells me to send some programs to the bin. There goes “Motivating through fear”, “Machiavelli for managers” and “Dominating your staff”. It’s also opened up some new programs: “Empowering your staff”, “Transformational learning” and “Enthusiastic employees”. We could do with a few of those.
TS: I bet you could. This program is based on research that shows how staff enthusiasm drops dramatically after a few months in the job. No prizes for guessing why: 65 per cent of employees don’t leave their jobs, they leave their managers. The sooner we get managers involved in coaching, the more staff will grow.
HR: Okay. Managers are now in competency mode, which means they know how to support and challenge staff in new learning through coaching. Oops! My machine is closing down the program and asking if I want to save what we have done.
TS: That happens a lot. As soon as you get close to new learning in an organisation, a big reaction takes place. Press save and get back to me when your organisational hard disc is up and running.
Next issue: supervision for coaches
Volume 3, Issue 3