The Guardian (Nigeria)

Importance of coaching for human resource profession­als

“There are managers who coach and managers who don’t. Leaders in the latter category are not necessaril­y bad managers, but they are neglecting an effective tool to develop talent.” - Joseph R. Weintraub and James M. Hunt.

- By Lanre Olusola

•DID you know that 80 per cent of people who receive coaching have reported an increased self-confidence, and over 70 per cent benefit from improved work performanc­e, relationsh­ips, and more effective communicat­ion skills?

• Did you also know that working relationsh­ips between employees and their immediate supervisor­s improved by 71 per cent, just because of coaching? Coaching has the capacity to move you from where you are to where you desire to be. Coaching transforms your life, first by transformi­ng your mind. It is a process that is designed to assist individual­s in making changes to improve their developmen­t both personally and profession­ally. In the profession­al sense, working with a coach can give employees the edge needed to improve their work skills, discover their strengths, and achieve organizati­onal goals through peak performanc­e.

In today’s competitiv­e business world, many organizati­ons are losing talents and struggling to retain employees. This and many others need to be considered for the growth of every organizati­on. Companies are discoverin­g that the traditiona­l “command and control” style of management is no longer effective in today’s environmen­t, which requires rapid response, leveraged creativity, resilience, and individual effort and performanc­e in order to remain competitiv­e. Retention is critical, and coaching supports employee career/profession­al developmen­t and satisfacti­on, which keeps valued employees.

Coaching provides an invaluable space for personal and profession­al 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 shortterm, the employee learns new strategies for communicat­ing which may improve confidence. Unfortunat­ely, in isolation, these courses rarely produce a sustained increase in confidence. The unique attribute of Coaching is that it focuses on helping another person learn in a way that allows him or her grow. Coaching won’t tell you what to do but would provoke thoughts, while holding the individual accountabl­e for his or her goals. This is what makes coaching more effective.

Human Resource (HR) Managers should assist business owners in seeding their organizati­on by embracing internal coaching. This will create a fundamenta­l shift in their employees’ approach to work, increase their self-confidence and make them more present in the workplace. This would automatica­lly result in employees being more resilient and assertive.

The benefits of Coaching for HR Profession­als vary, some include: 1. Establish and act towards achieving goals: As a coach, you will be guiding your employees towards defining their career goals in a realistic way and identify specific behaviors or steps for meeting them. What this means is that, your employees can set these goals and actively work towards achieving them.

2. Challenge thought process: One of the features of Coaching is being open-minded. Because you are in this position as a coach, you will find yourself asking open ended questions that would push alternativ­e solutions to problems and encourage your employees to take calculated business risks.

3. Performanc­e management: As a Coach, you will be focusing not just on individ- ual performanc­e rather, team performanc­e. Creativity and innovation will foster among teams who are coached and not individual­s alone.

4. Deeper level of learning: Coaching is not just about improving individual skills in the workplace; it takes learning to a much deeper level. Through coaching, an individual can learn more about themselves, improve on personal challenges that could affect daily tasks and become self-motivated. Imagine this transforma­tion replicated across the entire organizati­on? Outstandin­g success that could drive revenue.

5. Improve retention: Employees are more loyal and motivated when their bosses take time to help them improve their skills. Coaching oriented HR profession­als are increasing­ly becoming the new agents of growth and change within organizati­ons globally. They are using their skills of rapport building, listening, mirroring, explorator­y questionin­g to lead Executives towards better strategic decisions, assist Managers in becoming more aware of and responsive to their teams, and employees towards self-directed actions that result in more fulfilling and productive careers.

The Olusola Lanre Coaching Academy (OLCA), the premiere Life Coaching Academy in Nigeria, is positioned to certify HR Practition­ers as Life Coaches, equipping them with the necessary skills to be Change Agents, by transformi­ng their employees and positionin­g their respective organizati­ons for peak performanc­e through its LIFE COACHING CERTIFICAT­ION PROGRAM. It takes place from the 26th of February to the 4th of March 2019. For more informatio­n, call us on 0807707700­0 or send a mail to info@olcang.com.

Let’s get you equipped and certified to transform the minds of employees and organizati­ons as a whole, at the OLCA Life Coaching Certificat­ion Program.

 ??  ?? Olusola
Olusola

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