Two thirds of responders to a recent survey complain that people in their company need to step up - they need and want them to take more responsibility. One way to instill that in the culture is through a commitment to coaching. But very few companies are actually committing resources—time, money, strategic thought and execution—to providing managers with coaching skills that ensure the development of talent and the encouragement of individuals taking more responsibility.
In our leadership development work, whether providing executive coaching to support an individual moving into a more senior position or training leaders across functions within an organization, there is one speed bump we run into nearly every time which needs to be addressed before significant progress can be made. It is the belief that the leader must be The Expert and he/she must have all the answers. The Expert should be directing others, telling them what to do, and solving the problems. Often, this tends to be a cultural issue, organizationally embedded, where hierarchy and silos are more the norm than is risk taking, vulnerability or unbridled creativity.
As my daughter swam in the state long course swim championships this recently, I thought about how her swim coach needs to train and develop her swimming talent just like a manager who needs to train and develop the talent on his team. After each race during the competition, he talked to her about what she did well and what to focus on for the next race. He makes training fun sometimes and more challenging at other times to push her to higher goals; and listens to her when she reaches a plateau and is frustrated from her lack of progress.
Every organization faces conflict among team members, breakdowns in communication and behaviors that create more dysfunction than function. How your leaders handle these challenges becomes the standard which all employees follow. If the team leader is selfish and has a “me first” attitude, then employees will follow suit. If the leader is compassionate and good at listening, then, likewise, the others on his/her team echo that behavior.
We work with companies to create cultures where business results flourish. Most of the time, we are called in because an engagement survey has produced some abysmal results, or retention of top talent is waning or because a new change transformation initiative is failing.
Partnering with a C-level executive or a top leader in HR usually produces a desire to see leaders at the top engage in developmental practices that support their people so that the people take better care of the results.
