By Ruth Ballard, PowerUp Leadership
As we enter the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for effective leadership is being expressed across every field. The strain on workplaces is no longer seen as a temporary inconvenience, but as a new reality. An increasing number of employees are leaving their roles out of frustration, disappointment, and a desire for fulfilment. Dissatisfaction can no longer be explained as an unavoidable side effect of difficult circumstances: this crisis has exposed a lack of strong leadership at every level. For many organizations, a turn to remote work meant attention drifted from making intentional choices about their team’s dynamic. Employees have been asked to take on more self-directed responsibility with less support, and they have lost the trust built through day-to-day interactions with their team members and senior leaders.
The need for coaching in our workplaces (remote or in person) becomes clearer than ever. A turn to coaching for leadership development will be pivotal as organizations will quickly fail or flourish in a new business reality. Here are three examples of the crucial support a coach can provide businesses as they face current challenges:
Focus on Employee Development & Career Development
We’ve established that external pressures have contributed to a broad sense of employee dissatisfaction, but Forbes suggests that a major cause of the great resignation has been career stagnation. Due to unpredictability and an emergency response mindset, many workplaces have placed a seemingly indefinite pause on employee growth. Employees have begun to feel that opportunities for personal and professional development have fallen by the wayside. An emphasis on coaching in the workplace is essential to combatting this issue. Meaningful coaching conversations can support employees actively build skills and create meaningful, forward-moving team engagement and trust filled professional relationships. A coach can both provide support to employees and assistance to organizations as they develop these essential skills and priorities in their leaders.
Increasing Resiliency & Mental Health
Mental Health is the issue underscoring the need for coaching in our workplaces. Employees and leaders alike have been dealing with personal and professional upheaval from the pandemic for over two years, leading to a widely expressed desire to give up. We are all overwhelmed by the idea that the dramatic changes, career stagnation, and isolation we’ve experienced can sometimes feel like it has no end in sight. We acknowledge that this pervasive mindset is having an impact on the workforce, but what are we actually doing to combat it? The last few years have proven that organizations must expect the unexpected. The best way to survive challenges is to reinforce and invest in our most valuable asset: our people. A coach can give leaders and employees alike the tools to communicate their needs, build resiliency, and develop self-confidence. Investing in the personal and professional growth of your team will support improved mental health alongside business growth.
Embracing Transformative Change
Anytime a workplace faces a significant change of circumstance, a strategy must be outlined to ensure a smooth and supported business transition. Yet we often falter when providing concrete and meaningful support to employees impacted by dramatic change. Employees are tired of receiving short-term solutions to a problem that has become decidedly long-term. A coach can help an organization develop meaningful strategies to lead their people, whether they work remotely, in-person, or in a hybrid model. A coach can help a leader foster an environment of open communication and trust, where employees feel engaged by work and valued by their team. Coaching increases honesty and vulnerability, so employees can ask for assistance when they’re struggling, avoid becoming isolated, and increase their resiliency when unexpected circumstances arise.
Looking to develop coaching-based leadership at your organization? PowerUp Leadership’s New Online Leadership Development Coaching Program will help you easily launch a leadership coaching program with materials provided by a Certified Coach. The course includes everything human resources needs to design and launch a leadership coaching program