FM CAREERS - TRAINING
JUNE 2022 57
OPEN COACHING Simon Lyle, Managing Director of Randstad RiseSmart UK on how
The turbulence of the talent
market dubbed ‘The Great
Resignation’ continues and
has created a hyper-competitive job
market. Job postings outweigh the
number of job seekers, and attrition
continues to be the statistic of
concern. Employers need to change
the approach to talent radically and
quickly, to retain existing sta , nurture
skills and development and open up
mobility inside the business. To go
from ‘The Great Resignation’ to ‘The
Great Retention’, if you will.
Until now, coaching has been
reserved in many organisations for
current or future leaders, or to develop
specific skills for promotion. It's not
been explicitly linked to retention,
development, engagement, or career
mobility objectives across all employees.
But coaching can be the enabler of the
conversations that inspire and support
the ongoing development, satisfaction,
engagement, and performance of
individual employees' careers in all
facets.
We wanted to explore if coaching,
when o ered to all employees (not
just high-performers and execs), could
help e ect important business goals
and create a redefinition of work for
employees. We surveyed employers and
employees at the start of this year on
their views around coaching, specifically
coaching that is ‘democratised’ for all
employees, and combined it with the
observations drawn from our experience
in helping businesses worldwide with
workforce matters.
COACHING TO HELP COMBAT
ATTRITION
The right coaching solution not only
empowers an organisation's employees
to consider staying, but it enables
employers to proactively a ect an array
of other workforce deliverables such as
career development, talent mobility,
onboarding e ectiveness,
and supporting a more inclusive
workplace.
Employees we surveyed who are
already engaging with coaching
appreciate the opportunity, view it as
valuable, and hope to continue receiving
it. Even those not currently engaged
with a coaching program clearly want
to receive it - 90 per cent say they would
engage with an employer’s coaching
program if o ered the opportunity to do
so. And expectations are running high;
three-quarters (75 per cent) of those
without a coach, would expect to find it
a very or extremely valuable experience
if they did.
Previously, it has been about coaches
working with select high-performer
individuals and executives, helping them
develop, but it is cost-prohibitive for it
to be rolled out beyond specific groups
deemed worthy of investment.
CHALLENGES TO DEMOCRATISING
COACHING
From our research, we have been able
to identify there are seven challenges
to the wider adoption of coaching.
All of them are solvable but need to
be acknowledged first before being
remedied.
Perceptions of privilege -
Employees are unaware of what
is available to them and view it as
being typically limited to the cliques
of future. Unfortunately, this lack
of inclusivity leaves others feeling
le out.
Generational distinctions - There is
enthusiasm for employer-sponsored
coaching among Generation Z (48
per cent of respondents), Young
Millennials (41 per cent), and
Older Millennials (50 per cent), but
this enthusiasm drops o among
Generation X (38 per cent) and Baby
Boomers (35 per cent). Knowing
that the various generations have
di ering attitudes towards coaching
is incredibly important, as is knowing
what triggers your audience to
engage in coaching.
Gender di erences - How you
deploy coaching for di erent
genders should be considered wisely,
as should how you communicate the
expected benefits. Subtle di erences
in approach can determine how
someone uses the opportunity and
whether it sees them remain in your
business or leverage an exit.
Uptake and engagement issues
- Communicating the value of
coaching, its availability, and
its continued use were cited as
key challenges for businesses.
This has a lot to do with internal
communications challenges inside
major enterprise businesses.
Funding matters - Our research
among employers certainly shows
that funding of coaching is the
barrier to a broader reach. Cracking
the finance challenge is the major
hurdle initially, but by working with
a provider that gives you both the
flexibility and scalability of payment
models and program design, will go
a long way to helping your roll out to
all employees.
Establishing a clear return on
investment - The biggest measure
is the crossover benefit of increased
employee confidence. Then, more
subtly, it is increased employee
engagement and commitment, and a
desire to grow to be a good manager
or leader within the organisation.
Resourcing variables - Direct
managers coaching teams was voted
by employees in our report as the
top reason for not using the coaching
o ered by an employer. Certified
external coaching was clearly more
appealing and was also rated as
giving the highest performance too.
MOVING FORWARDS
The recommendations we make in our
report give guidance on the direction to
take. Employers should deliver coaching
via external coaches at no cost to the
employee. Coaching should be led by
an employee’s needs rather than those
imposed by HR. However, it should
have some crossover to support those
big-ticket items for the business to get its
initial buy-in.
The democratisation of coaching is not
only essential but eminently achievable
for businesses. Only by aligning the true
value of coaching with business goals
can organisations begin to unleash
worklife possibilities for all employees
and move forwards and out of this
turbulence.
employers can move from the great resignation to the great retention
by expanding coaching opportunities beyond the exec level
FACILITIES MANAGEMENT JOURNAL JOBS