Coach to the Contrary

The research and prac­tice of coach­ing in the United States suf­fers from some­thing I see too often in many other areas of busi­ness research and prac­tice. As Amer­i­cans, per­haps we are too eth­no­cen­tric for our own good.

Lead­ers insu­late them­selves by lim­it­ing their study almost exclu­sively to U.S. insti­tu­tions, com­pa­nies and authors.

Recently, Europe’s largest HR and pro­fes­sional devel­op­ment orga­ni­za­tion (over 135,000 mem­bers) com­pleted a 2 year study enti­tled “Shap­ing the Future” (Research Lead: Dr. Jill Miller).

This study was not only extremely well researched, but the ten con­clu­sions are superb insights for those who are in posi­tions of lead­er­ship where they are respon­si­ble for sus­tained performance.

So, for­get for a moment that “organ­i­sa­tional” is spelled dif­fer­ently. This study is rel­e­vant to your business.

Here are the ten points, directly quoted from the study:

1. The organ­i­sa­tion change response needs to be truly agile and endur­ing, not a knee-jerk reac­tion that quickly dis­si­pates: Organ­i­sa­tions need to ensure change isn’t just a tem­po­rary break from the norm, main­tained by employ­ees only while the imme­di­ate “storm” is pass­ing. Instead, change should man­i­fest itself as a more proac­tive agility, cre­at­ing organ­i­sa­tions open to new direc­tions, aware of the lim­i­ta­tions and risks of not chang­ing, and equipped to keep mov­ing and adapting.

2. It’s a fine bal­ance between align­ment and flex­i­bil­ity: While align­ing employee, cus­tomer and other stake­hold­ers’ val­ues, behav­iours and objec­tives with a wider organ­i­sa­tional pur­pose is impor­tant, over-focusing on this align­ment can cre­ate bar­ri­ers to the flex­i­bil­ity needed to enable the organ­i­sa­tion to change.

3. Shared pur­pose can only be achieved by find­ing human con­nec­tions beyond short-term profit or effi­ciency tar­gets: By fos­ter­ing amongst employ­ees a gen­uine sense of shared pur­pose and mean­ing at work, stronger con­nec­tions, engage­ment and per­for­mance can be delivered.

4. Col­lab­o­ra­tive lead­er­ship brings sus­tain­abil­ity, so organ­i­sa­tions should avoid default­ing to a direc­tive and dri­ven approach to lead­er­ship in tough times: Rein­forc­ing a col­lab­o­ra­tive problem-sharing approach can drive longer-term, sus­tain­able change, agility and engagement.

5. ‘Mid­dle man­age­ment’ have a valu­able trans­form­ing and trans­lat­ing role but are often side­lined, bypassed or cut out in change processes: Suit­ably skilled mid­dle man­agers can play a key role as trans­form­ers and trans­la­tors in bring­ing change to life. As trans­la­tors they can facil­i­tate two-way com­mu­ni­ca­tions between lead­ers and the front line and as trans­form­ers they can bring change to life. Much of this can be lost when change involves “delay­er­ing” this middle-management tier, rather than refo­cus­ing, retrain­ing and draw­ing on their skills and experiences.

6. An over-focus on today’s needs is not true tal­ent man­age­ment; it’s tal­ent tun­nel vision: Iden­ti­fy­ing and devel­op­ing the capa­bil­i­ties indi­vid­u­als will need in the long-term is cru­cial to meet the organ­i­sa­tional imper­a­tives of tomorrow.

7. Truly under­stand­ing employ­ees’ locus of engage­ment can avoid the risk of over-attachment and under­per­for­mance: Organ­i­sa­tions need to get under the sur­face of employ­ees’ engage­ment and bet­ter under­stand whether they are truly engaged with the organ­i­sa­tion and its core objec­tives, or if they are only engaged with some selected parts of their roles, or with indi­vid­ual man­agers and col­leagues. This more selec­tive engage­ment can under­mine sus­tain­able performance.

8. Per­cep­tions of unfair­ness under­mine employee engage­ment: Per­cep­tions of unfair­ness or organ­i­sa­tional injus­tice can sti­fle employee engage­ment and act as a blocker to performance.

9. Process-heavy organ­i­sa­tions are often still insight-light: Overem­pha­sis on backward-looking tar­gets defends exis­tence but doesn’t prove worth. Organ­i­sa­tions need to cull data that doesn’t add value and be curi­ous with the remain­der to uncover real insight.

10. Lead­ers don’t always know best about the long-term vision: Effec­tive mech­a­nisms for upwards com­mu­ni­ca­tion – that fil­ter impor­tant sig­nals from the ground from the back­ground noise – can pro­vide real insight and chal­lenge for lead­ers, and inform longer-term planning.

There are many ways to bring ben­e­fit to your orga­ni­za­tion through the use of these insights.

Please con­sider how you can make use of these points within your own com­pany. I want to encour­age to think beyond the obvi­ous and make some cre­ative applications.

Then, please share your dis­cov­er­ies with me and the read­ers of this blog!

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Tags: Change, Coaching, Leadership, Performance, Research