THE VALUE OF COACHING
Akintola Benson –Oke writes that training enhances individual and organisational performance
The ultimate goal for all organisations is to attain that optimal state of performance and effectiveness where its units and teams and departments are headed by persons who understand what leadership means and who have developed their leadership potential and have enhanced their performance skills. It is only at such a point in time that organisations can experience exponential growth.
However, no matter how often or how seriously one discusses the importance of leadership skills for every officer of the Lagos State Public Service, the efforts would be meaningless until a clear path to acquiring the critical leadership skills is created and adopted.
As I have indicated at several other fora, once the Lagos State Public Service is able to attain that optimal state of effectiveness and productivity through the aid of coaching, no problem will be too complicated, no task too herculean, no challenge too huge for it to confront head-on.
Indeed, this is the vision of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s administration for the Lagos State Public Service: that the state government would invest in every public officer by designing and delivering coaching instructions that would increase the knowledge and skills of every officer such that the multiplier effect on the public service would be dynamism, responsiveness, effectiveness, machinelike precision, and exponential productivity.
I wish to call your attention to the general benefits of coaching as has been identified by top human resources and productivity practitioners. The Institute of Coaching has identified both personal and organisational benefits of coaching.
According to the institute, the personal benefits of coaching are as wide-ranging as the individuals involved. Numerous clients report that coaching positively impacted their careers as well as their lives by helping them to: establish and take action towards achieving goals; become more self-reliant; gain more job and life satisfaction; contribute more effectively to the team and the organisation; take greater responsibility and accountability for actions and commitments; work more easily and productively with others (boss, direct reports, peers) and communicate more effectively.
Coaching in organisation and leadership settings is also an invaluable tool for developing people across a wide range of needs. The benefits of coaching are many; 80% of people who receive coaching report increased self-confidence, and over 70% benefit from improved work performance, relationships, and more effective communication skills. Some 86% of companies report that they recouped their investment on coaching and more.
Furthermore, coaching provides an invaluable space for personal development. For example, managers are frequently presented with employees struggling with low confidence. The traditional approach would be to send them to an assertiveness course and hope this addresses the issue. In the short-term, the employee learns new strategies for communicating which may improve confidence. Unfortunately, in isolation these courses rarely produce a sustained increase in confidence. Although external behaviour may change; it needs to be supported by changes in their internal thought processes. This is often where coaching is most effective.
Indeed, superiors have been advised not to underestimate the impact of coaching on their people as it frequently creates a fundamental shift in their approach to their work. For example, increased self-confidence enables employees to bring more of themselves into the workplace. This results in employees being more resilient and assertive.
In terms of benefits for the organisations such as the Lagos State Public Service the following benefits have been identified: One, it empowers individuals and encourages them to take responsibility.
Two, it increases employee and staff engagement. Three, it improves individual performance and, therefore, organisational performance. Four, it helps identify and develop high potential employees. Five, it helps identify both organisational and individual strengths and development opportunities. Six, it helps to motivate and empower individuals to excel; and seven , it demonstrates organisational commitment to human resource development. As a matter of fact, it is clear by the public statements and actions of the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s administration that, in envisioning a civil service peopled by leaders, we are mindful, as Robin Sharma observed, that “Leadership is not about a title or a designation. It’s about impact, influence and inspiration. Impact involves getting results, influence is about spreading the passion you have for your work, and you have to inspire team-mates and customers.” The purpose of training, therefore, is to begin the monumental task of helping every officer of the Lagos State Public Service become impactful, influential and productive to such degrees that the output of the civil service will inspire our dear citizens.
To be clear, what we want to achieve is where every public officer is able and empowered to set a clear vision regarding his/her duties and effectively communicate it to colleagues, providing them with a clear understanding of the desired direction; understands that effective planning is important when it comes to meeting organisational goals; is able to provide stability, inspiration, courage and direction during times of crisis and when dealing with relationships between co-workers; aims at improving employee relations and more closely aligning the team and individual objectives and an indispensable contributor to growth such that the public service maintains its effectiveness, productivity and competitiveness.