A couple of years ago, when I first set up a Coaching Business, I conducted an on line survey across all of the business contacts I had amassed over 20+ years working in various roles in the corporate world. I was amazed at how many senior managers viewed Coaching as ‘wishy washy’, ‘a waste of time’, ‘touchy feely’ or ‘American hype’. Almost all thought Coaching was a concept that related more to Life (Life Coaching) than to the business environment. But is this the correct view?

From the moment you start in a new job you begin a process of learning and developing. Management call it ‘Training and Development’. While many shudder at the word ‘Coaching’ because they associate it with what they consider to be a ‘New Agey’ concept of Life Coaching, Executive Coaching can be a vital function within any organisation.

Staff management tends to be viewed as a directive process where staff are told what to do and how to do it. Staff reviews tend to focus on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and how the staff member has measured up to them rather than tapping into (or linking with) the member’s own internal KPIs.

Every member of staff is motivated to work. They have a desire (á la Mazlow’s Hirearchy of needs) for shelter, sustenance and security. This need motivates them to work for the money they need to satisfy their most basic requirements. Once these have been satisfied, each staff member changes their motivation focus to other needs such as a new car, a holiday, etc. From an internal KPI, each staff member will measure his/her performance against how they are achieving and meeting their most basic needs in their lives i.e. what’s important to them.

As a manager, you might say “so what? I need a staff who can meet the needs of the organisation and achieve their targets (KPIs) which will benefit the organisation as a whole”, and you would be correct. However there is a way to manage the core motivation of staff while ensuring they achieve their KPIs and benefit the organisation. It involves two concepts (traditionally ignored by many managers); Emotional Intelligence and Coaching.

Employee behaviour is always motivated by something. Management has long associated the behaviour of staff with their performance in their jobs. However, without an understanding of the motivation behind the behaviour, managers everywhere are left with fire-fighting the behaviour they see in their staff. Imagine, if a manager could identify the motive, they would understand the behaviour and if they could satisfy the motive, they could manage the behaviour. This concept seems radical, but it makes sense and has the potential to achieve so much.

Understanding what motivates your staff goes beyond the traditional day to day management style of many managers. In essence this theory appreciates the fact that each staff member is different. They are motivated by different things. They are not clones or robots. Management is definitely not a case of ‘one size fits all’.

Using Emotional Intelligence tests such as the iWAM (inventory of Work Attitudes and Motivators) highlights the key motivators of staff members in the work environment. On its own, this is a vital tool for management who want to understand what motivates the people who work for them. Remember, ‘if you understand the motive, you will understand the behaviour’. Understanding the motivators of individual staff members, enables management to manage the individual based on his/her unique patterns. The result is simple; if you engage with staff based on their individual motivation patterns, they will become more engaged, more motivated and achieve their KPIs more consistently. Staff reviews become more effective and the KPIs more relevant for the individual rather than the current short cut of ‘one size fits all’.

Now let’s look at the second concept; Coaching. Coaching is not a ‘wishy washy’ concept. In essence, coaching is a future focused process that seeks to achieve specific agreed goals within a given time line. That sounds very like most business plans, doesn’t it? So why are managers afraid of the concept.

I believe, one of the main reasons behind the ‘fear’ lies in the fact that the concept of coaching requires a one to one relationship with an employee or team as well as enabling the individual to set their goals. Most managers already meet with staff on a one to one basis during annual reviews in order to plan and set targets for the coming time period. The difference is, in the review meetings, it is the manager who sets the targets, not the staff member (the person who is actually doing the job every day).

What would happen if a manager was to combine a knowledge of staff motivation with a coaching approach (where the employee who, as already noted, knows their job inside out and can positively contribute to how it can achieve more). Such an approach is not something that managers can just ‘turn on’. Adopting a coaching (or developmental) approach requires training in order to be effective. Coach training is not only for people who want to set up a business in Life Coaching, it is vital for those within organisations who find themselves working with staff in a management or developmental role.

The benefits of adopting the management approach that has been discussed here include:

• Improved staff motivation and engagement
• Improved staff retention
• Improved performance
• Reduced costs in recruitment (if you understand what motivates your existing staff in a specific role, you can focus your search for new recruits using the same motivational patterns, thus attracting more suitable candidates)