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TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT
Maximizing Every Move
Discover the Strategic Game-Changer:
Leadership Coaching
For many organizations, rebounding from the recession
is like playing a serious game of chess. The wrong business
moves can set you back; the right ones can move you
forward; and each decision needs to be strategically timed
to keep you three steps ahead of your competition.
D
BY JULIE BOS
DESPITE THESE COMPLEXITIES, THE COMPANIES THAT ARE FINDING REAL SUCCESS in the postrecession economy usually share one secret weapon—a commitment to leadership coaching.
“No matter how sound your business strategy, how catchy your marketing materials or
how innovative your products and services, it’s still your people and leaders who ultimately
determine the success of your organization,” said Trish Kellett, Director of the Hogan
Coaching Network. “The continuing global talent shortage and the chronic shortage of
quality leaders have magnified the importance of leadership development, especially given
the fact that research shows that high-quality leaders make a huge difference in the delivery
of business results. It’s vitally important that any company’s leaders be high-quality ones.”
Julie Ogilvie, SkillSoft’s Vice President of Marketing, agrees.
“Our customers are recognizing that quality leadership is even more critical during a
down economy because of the intense competition and difficult business circumstances,”
she said. “During tough times like these, the role of leaders becomes even more important in
the organization.”
However, the recent economic downturn posed a roadblock for many companies seeking
good leaders.
“As the economy became more and more challenging, many organizations reduced their
spending on leadership development and as a result, some companies are now starting to see
their leadership pipelines running dry,” said Kellett. “They don’t have as many leadership
candidates and they don’t necessarily have people moving on a path toward senior positions. Recognizing this problem, they are now starting to reinvest in development to make
sure they have a strong leadership pipeline.”
Even if budgets weren’t an issue, time certainly is. Today’s leaders are busier than ever and
they don’t have the luxury of attending an executive learning retreat that keeps them out of
the office for days (or weeks) at a time. Organizations need development methods that can
adapt to leaders’ busy workstyles—and most importantly, deliver results.
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C O M PA N Y P R O F I L E
SkillSoft is a leading provider of
e-learning and performance
support solutions for global
enterprises, government,
education and small to
medium-sized businesses.
SkillSoft enables organizations
to maximize business
performance through a
combination of comprehensive e-learning content,
online information resources,
flexible learning technologies
and support services.
To find out more
about SkillSoft, visit
www.skillsoft.com
or call 877-545-5763.
36
Why Leadership
Coaching Works
It’s grounded in self-awareness.
Leadership coaching starts with a
strategic personality assessment that gives
each leader or high-potential employee
insights about his or her strengths, weaknesses and behaviors, and how those
strengths can serve as a foundation for
future career opportunities.
“Leaders who lack self awareness have
blind spots, they miss or ignore feedback
messages, are in denial about their weaknesses or are slow to change—all of
which can cause them to top-out or derail
in their careers,” said Kellett. “Strategic
self-awareness can make a huge difference. Leaders who know themselves can
listen to feedback, accept it and act on it,
which leads to success.”
It’s totally personalized.
Coaching discussions and activities are
done one-on-one and are totally personalized to each leader’s specific behavioral
and development goals. Therefore,
progress usually happens quickly—and
the leader’s increased knowledge can
be used immediately in daily business
situations.
It’s done in the context of the job.
Leadership coaching doesn’t happen in
a vacuum. It needs to connect back to
real-world business results. Therefore,
coaching sessions are designed to help
the leader answer several key questions,
such as:
• “How do my strengths and weaknesses impact the people around me—my
team, my colleagues and my boss?”
• “What skills do I need to develop in
order to be more effective?”
• “How am I being perceived by
others?”
• “What behaviors do I need to change
in order to be more effective?”
• “What things am I already doing that
I can leverage to be more effective?”
It works with your timeframe.
Success in any training and development program is often about how fast
you can get things done. Time is money—
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and people want knowledge fast. Fortunately, leadership coaching can be a very
flexible option.
While executive coaching sessions can
typically last up to six or 12 months, companies with limited time and resources
can take advantage of a concept Hogan
calls “speed coaching”—using tools that
boost leadership focus, agility and impact
in a short period of time. Speed coaching
usually targets “deal-breakers” (that can
cause problems if not fixed) and “gamechangers” (that can help people differentiate themselves and move up to the next
job category). Coaching engagements
focused on these areas can be done is as
little as a month or two.
It develops competencies
needed in the future.
“Coaching went from being remedial in
the old days—treated as a last-resort
before someone was fired—to how it’s
perceived today as a proactive development approach for leaders and employees
with high potential,” said Kellett. “It helps
people grow into jobs and helps them
develop competencies the business will
need in the future, as well as right now.”
It builds leadership skills.
At the end of the day, leadership coaching simply works. Research from a leading consulting firm* recently revealed
that coaching for managers was rated
one of the most effective methods for
development by 63% of respondents. In
addition, the new generation of “millennials” in the workplace finds coaching to
be more effective for development than
their older colleagues.
And more quality leaders mean greater
likelihood of business success. Statistics
show that organizations with the highest
quality leaders were 13 times more likely
to outperform their competition, three
times more likely to retain employee and
five times more likely to have highly
engaged leaders.
Beyond Coaching: Reinforce
Behavioral Change with
Today’s Tools
Once your organization sees the value
of leadership coaching, there are countnovember 2011
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C O M PA N Y P R O F I L E
Hogan Assessments has more
than 30 years of experience
helping businesses reduce
turnover and increase
productivity by hiring the
right people, developing
key talent, and evaluating
leadership potential.
The Hogan assessments
predict job performance by
assessing normal personality,
derailment characteristics,
and core values. The assessments are grounded in
decades of research and
evaluate every major job
less performance development resources
available to help your leaders remember,
apply and use their new-found knowledge back on the job. And many of these
tools have been tailored to fit the unique
demands of today’s learners. Here’s how:
People have less time.
Between budget cuts, increased workloads and limited time, leaders at all levels are stretched to the max—with little
time remaining for professional development. Fortunately, today’s e-learning resources have been transformed for easier
(and faster) consumption—and are available “on tap” at a moment’s notice.
“At SkillSoft, all of our online books,
courses, simulations and targeted
learning portals are designed to provide
learning in small ‘chunks’ that fit easily
into people’s busy schedules,” said
Ogilvie. “For example, busy executives
who may only have 20 minutes on a
lunch break can sit down and consume
several short videos, read a case study or
try a short simulation during the time he
or she does have.”
Leaders also want knowledge they can
apply quickly. In fact, according to a recent
study of SkillSoft learners, 86% of respondents said they were able to apply what
they learned within six weeks of the training—and impressively, half were able to
apply the learning within the first week.
People want social learning.
Another new trend is social learning.
Many companies are now using social
learning platforms, such as InGenius by
SkillSoft, to encourage employee connections across the company, regardless of
physical location. This not only boosts
knowledge-sharing, it also helps identify
people who may serve as viable mentors
or leadership coaches to high-potential
employees.
People like resources on demand.
When employees carve out some time
for learning, they want to find a relevant
resource quickly. They want robust
search tools to help them zero in on just
the right type of learning tool—whether
it’s a two-minute video featuring a wellknown speaker, a case study or a short
section of a best-selling book—without
wasting precious time on the search.
That’s why leading resource providers
like SkillSoft offer strong search functionality to help people easily identify the
most relevant resources that are best
geared for their unique timeframes and
learning styles.
The bottom line is simple: Companies
have found that investment in human
capital in the form of training and development yields high returns. Better yet,
those companies that recognize the value
of their leaders—and consciously invest
in their ongoing development—are becoming more competitive, successful and
profitable. Perhaps leadership coaching—together with today’s on-demand,
online resources—is the strategic solution
that will help your organization increase
its competitive advantage. ■
* From the DDI Global Leadership Forecast 2011
family. The portfolio of
employee selection, development, and leadership tools
allow companies to better
manage their human resource
capital and retain top talent.
Is Leadership Coaching Working?
A recent global survey done at a multinational pharmaceutical, medical devices and
packaged goods company questioned 202 recently hired MBAs who were involved in a
year-long on-boarding process that included four coaching sessions spread over one year.
Here’s what they said:
• 68.8% said that coaching “helped me develop skills that (or will) improve my job performance.”
• 76.8% said that coaching “helped me identify clear, actionable development steps or activities.”
• 80.5% said that coaching “helped me maintain focus on my development.”
• 76.8% said that coaching “provided me with a valuable forum to discuss my development
progress.”
www.hoganassessment.com
38
• 78% said that coaching “was a valuable development experience that I would recommend
to others.”
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