These days, it seems like a lot of our clients want their employees to know how to coach. They throw words around like "we want a coaching culture" or "our people need coaching skills if they want to lead today's talent more effectively".
These days, it seems like a lot of our clients want their employees to know how to coach. They throw words around like "we want a coaching culture" or "our people need coaching skills if they want to lead today's talent more effectively".
We are frequently called in to work with a team, department or organization after they have completed an employee engagement survey. This could be well known like The Great Place to Work or an internally created survey the company designed and delivered. Some of the categories measured include levels of trust, competency, strategic alignment, and engagement with management.
It's that time again, time when the kids go back to school. With both of my boys now in high school, this is not a new drill for me. Yet, every year is different. There are new teachers, new students, new attitudes, and new chances to learn. For most kids, there's an excitement to going back to school—a sense of hope and optimism.
And being new at something can also make one vulnerable—Will I make friends? Will I like my history teacher? Will I have any classes with my best friend? Will I get teased?
Here's what we're hearing in our workshops, training programs and in one-on-one coaching: there's a yearning for authenticity and a sense that it is very hard to come by in business settings. And, it's not authenticity in a vacuum - people aren't saying, just let me be me no matter what. It's more of a question of: How can we, together, create something that matters, that encourages each of us to contribute in a meaningful way?
We all want a workplace in which we are engaged in productive work; a culture of engagement in which we can safely identify and discuss issues as they occur, truthfully and with resolution. To work with others we trust and who trust us. But less than half of us believe that our organizations have environments in which healthy dialog is encouraged. What can you do about it?
