Given that this year continues to be filled with new workplace challenges and uncertainty, it may be a good time to consider working with a coach. In our past article “top 3 reasons to get a coach,” we noted that one of the most crucial coaching moments is if a leader’s organization recently faced a major change. Since most organizations have undergone major changes this year, whether it be telecommuting, delivering contactless services, or any other, below we highlight three ways leaders can benefit from having a coach during these times:
1. Identify Upcoming Challenges
One of the most common changes workers have gone through this year is transitioning to telework. Although this has brought a new set of obstacles, these challenges may actually stem from pre-existing issues that are being exacerbated in this new virtual world. An experienced coach could help spot these pre-existing weak points and create solutions before it spirals into something bigger. For example, a coach might notice if a team doesn’t have a solid plan on how they onboard new employees and identify that this might be an even bigger issue when they try to integrate a new team member remotely.
2. Come Up With a Strategy
Major transitions inevitably come with obstacles, resistance, and communication issues. Not to mention, it can be an emotionally charged period of time for many employees. A coach can help a leader come up with a strategy for this by pinpointing the behavioral and communication styles of the team, agreeing on actionable goals to ensure success, and navigating the emotions that come with resistance to change.
3. Learn Coaching Skills
By leaders undergoing coaching themselves, they can learn skills along the way on how to serve as a coach for others on their own team. When an organization is undergoing a lot of change, it is important to check in and see how employees are performing without them perceiving they’re being micromanaged. This is especially true now that managers can’t physically see their employees working, but still want to evaluate their performance. Learning coaching skills is a great solution to this since you are checking in by providing developmental feedback, discussing goals, and creating a more open line of communication.
Main Takeaways
In summary, working with a coach when adapting to a new workplace reality has several benefits. A coach can help leaders solve pre-existing issues before they become exasperated by the change, set actionable goals and navigate how to execute those goals, and gain coaching skills themselves to create a culture of development and communication within their team.
Do you think you could benefit from a coach? Take our Coaching Readiness Inventory:
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