Coach for Career Development and Engagement

Lana J. Chandler
June 10, 2008 | COMMENTS

“Coaching to the numbers causes a real disconnect for the leader as well as the individual,” contends Cathy Maday, speaker and leadership communication coach for Wingspan Coaching Corporation, based in Charlotte, North Carolina. “Numbers don't drive an individual's performance. Recognition, compensation, achievement and contribution, praise—these are the real drivers.”

Too often, leaders only associate coaching with improving sales numbers or working with poor performers. But taking that position limits how powerful and effective coaching can be. A proactive coaching program that focuses on empowering an individual with awareness, insight, feedback, tools and consistent accountability in their application can enrich both personal and professional lives.

The Ultimate Win-Win

“Coaching for career development and engagement is essential! It helps to create the ultimate win-win,” Maday says. “Employees feel more valued, fulfilled, and supported in their lives as a whole. The organization gets employees who take more ownership and initiative and who consistently and joyfully lead and perform with integrity.” The goals and values of both the individual and the company are in alignment, honored, and achieved.

Employees want to feel fulfilled and that they are contributing to something bigger than themselves. They want to be valued, empowered, and supported.

“Coaching should be a powerful, effective, and proactive resource that focuses on an individual's whole life agenda,” Maday says. “Professional impacts personal and vice-versa. The most effective coaches intentionally and collaboratively link the employee's goals (increased success, satisfaction, balance) to the organization's goals (increased sales numbers, improved performance). It's the best way to create the win-win.”

When you coach with career development in mind, people are more engaged. They are more aware of their contributions. They're working toward a larger goal. A branch manager, for example, goes up to a new teller and asks, “What are your career goals, whether in the institution or outside of it?” That's a huge factor in establishing trust!

“Whether the individual's career goal is aligned with what you envision or not, the person can be engaged. They can have fantastic performance, valuable contributions,” Maday says. “It's a complete win-win until the day they leave.”

Self-Leadership Is Key

“The main focus of coaching is self-leadership,” believes Maday. “It's a fantastic shift for branch managers and others to see themselves as leaders. If you're a branch manager, what takes it to a completely new level is talking with your team about their own leadership. They begin to see their responsibilities differently.”

The more you can coach employees to step into and grow in self-leadership is a win-win for everybody. “Helping people see how valuable and how powerful they are—those are tools that I teach. The self-leadership tools are all surrounded in relationships and communication,” Maday says. “You find out what matters to that employee. When you prompt that person for a change in behavior or to improve performance in a certain area, you can link it to something he or she cares about.”

When you're able to help employees understand that their career development and satisfaction is their responsibility, they take the initiative and are more receptive to feedback and accountability. With self-leadership, the manager moves into a support role. Then you can say, “This is your piece—how would you like for me to support you?” Employees begin to understand their power and that personal responsibility equals personal power.

Effective Strategies

To coach for career development and engagement, Maday advises:

• Create safety.
• Recognize that even your thoughts are a form of communication. Those thoughts shape everything in your life, which includes how you coach and support your team.
• Ask questions! Invite the employee to clearly identify and express their true personal and professional goals.
• Ask more questions. Don't think that a couple of questions will get the job done . Be curious and stay curious! Stop assuming that you “know” what the person means, where they are coming from and what they want. You don't. And even if you did, sometimes the greatest benefit in asking questions is to help the person learn to process and think through their own answers. “Many people do not know what they really want, nor are they able to clearly articulate it openly and truthfully,” notes Maday.
• Communicate the goals of the branch and/or organization.
• Discuss together how to align the employee's goals with the organization's goals.
• Establish a win-win action plan.
• Help employees understand and agree that their career growth, success, and satisfaction are their responsibility and that you are in the support role. The organization provides the tools and resources to help the individual create their success. Here's an example:

“In our culture at XYZ Bank, each individual gets to be in charge of their professional success and satisfaction. We believe in the self-leadership concept that states “I am responsible for myself and I am responsible to others.” When it comes to your goal achievement, your professional development, and your personal growth, you are responsible for taking the initiative in clearly stating your goals, establishing alignment with the organization's goals, and creating the support that best serves you. So, you are in the primary owner's role and your manager and the organization as a whole are in the support role.

“For example, we expect you to take the initiative to contact your manager and request meetings on a consistent basis so you are able to obtain useful feedback and tap into accountability that will help you gain momentum. We also look to you to outline what training and development resources you think will best serve you in your development and will best serve the goals of the organization. Does this make sense?

“I, as your manager, am excited to support you in any way I can. Here's what my support might look like. I might ask provoking questions to help you state your goals, challenging you to get out of your comfort zone and take action, and giving you direct and honest feedback. Are you ready for that? I will also support you by having an open door, and I will create a safe place for you to stretch, learn, and make mistakes along the way. If you find that you want different support than I am giving, will you let me know? Together we will find a way to work together well on your path to success.”

• Resist the temptation to care more for the employee's success than the employee does. This is short-sighted and sets both of you up for failure and frustration.
• Provide consistent, timely, useful feedback and accountability.
• Ask if the support you are providing is what the individual finds most helpful. If not, ask, “Will you be sure to let me know how I can best support you?” And, wait for an answer. (This creates a bi-lateral agreement and creates safety.)
• Celebrate and acknowledge progress along the way! Do not look for perfection. Consistently revisit and revise the goals, allowing for the natural maturation and evolution of them.

Wingspan Coaching Corporation (www.wingspancoaching.com) provides coaching, training, and speaking to organizations. Contact Cathy Maday at 1-704-281-3111 or cathy@wingspancoaching.com. This story appeared in Branch Manager's Letter at www.branchmanagersletter.com and is reprinted with permission.