Category: Executive Coaching

The Value of an Organization’s Purpose

The famous organizational consultant and motivational speaker, Simon Sinek, has brought to the attention of the world, the power of ‘why’. He stated that every successful organization and action is born out of this power of ‘why’. He has used the example of the high sales of Apple’s iPod to demonstrate that the power of why connects with the consumers and they associate themselves with the organization.

The ‘why’ here is the purpose and the mission of the organization. An organizational mission is a purpose statement and a rough plan inclusive of the organization’s values, strategies, and objectives. Every organization has a mission whether it is formally written or not.

An organizational mission is a guide for the major decisions taken within the organization as the mission includes the goal that the organization aims to achieve. Generally, the mission of the organization is one which was brewed from the mind of the founders of that organization. The mission is, therefore, a mirror image of the mission and the purpose of the founder; but this can evolve over time as the organization takes its own identity.

Shapes the culture of an organization and provides a basis for bonding and a better understanding of the organization. The newly added human capital to an organization can be easily trained by keeping the ‘why’ of the organization in mind. The employees also direct their behavior on their own as they continue to understand the organizational purpose and connect it with their individual purpose.

It is rather beneficial for every organization to formulate an organizational mission. There are many advantages to adding a formal mission in the organizational culture. As the purpose of an organization is imbibed within the employees, they are more likely to work happily and efficiently towards the same.

The mission statements also work as a guide and help leaders and managers to take actions accordingly. If all the employees are aware of the objectives of an organization and the ethical fulfillment of those objectives, then the organization has a higher probability of reaching its goals in a rather shorter time period. The mission and the goals stated in the mission are vital to boost positive behavior and reinforcement of goal-oriented behavior.

The mission statement of the organization should be concise, realistic and impactful. It is critical to formulate an accurate and clear statement; an ambiguous mission statement can lead to diversions from the goal of the organization. An ideal statement is known to include three major components – the target audience, the product/ service provided by the organization and the USP of the organization. It is important that a statement is objective and is not over the clouds, filled with fancy and unnecessary words. An unrealistic mission statement can lead to a wasteful utilization of the resources of an organization.

The business magnate Richard Branson has also stressed the value of an organizational mission towards directing the organization and pushing it towards the realms of success and progress. Hence, it is advisable for organizations to identify their mission and work towards formulating an encouraging and guiding mission statement.

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Best Practices for Defining Organization Values

Organization define the core pillars of their identity and principle which affect the way their business is conducted through company values. Each company have individualised set of core values which support the vision and decision-making processes within the organization. These core values have a significant role and are essential and guiding force as the company grows.

This is the reason why a lot money has been spent on researching the best practices for defining company values and there are two main observations that are emphasised as important:

    1. The guidelines can only be helpful to some point as each company have their own story when it comes to defining company values. Thereby, there is no right way to do it.
    2. It does not entail just defining company values but also ensuring these values are in practice throughout the organization.

It is said that great company culture begins by ensuring that the company values are great. In order to ensure that the company values are great the process of defining company values should be appropriate. One of the most important point to remember is that the process of defining company values should be ideally be independent for each company and this is elaborated further in the upcoming paragraphs.

Process of defining organization values

It should be carried out as early as possible. This should be done as it would act as a framework when the company is going through the process of recruitment. It is also important during the decision-making processes. While defining company values, they should be polarized in nature so that it will attract the right kind of employee for the role and weed out those who will not fit in. It is often believed that the process of defining company values should take place while the company is in its initial stages of development.

While defining company values, it has been proposed that they use bottom-up and top-down approaches.

For the bottom-up approach, a team was to identify the best exemplars co-workers of the organization and describe the key attributes of that employee. The attributes were then put on a white board and then grouped it into similar categories which gave about ten groups. Then the list is shortened by keeping in mind the core values of the company. Further, this debate was used to start naming and ranking the groups. Now the top-down approach is to be implemented and this is where they are important. While defining company values, they should also be provided by the senior management. However, there might be some issues while a disagreement arises on a value chosen collectively.

These two approached create the first draft of the company values. These company values are reviewed and challenged each quarter and read aloud during the meeting each week, create interview questions based on the company values and further incorporate them into activities to ensure they are completely understood and practice the company values.

It has been found that this generation is too big in number to ignore. The millennials at 83.1 million surpasses baby boomers in 2014 census itself and are said to represent one quarter of the U.S. population. Millennials do give significant importance to company values and in the role of customer and employee, millennials favour companies whose values align with the millennial’s personal values. This makes company values an important part of driving sales and attracting top talent.

A study found that an average of $7,600 pay cut would’ve been accepted by millennials for a healthier work-life balance, better company culture, career development and a meaningful job which are factors that improve overall quality of life. Defining company values that are strong and solid ensures direction and builds a reputation. It sets the tone for company’s interaction with customers while marketing its products and making important decisions. If company values are taken seriously, it will help in developing a strong brand identity and a cohesive business plan.

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Why Should there be a Facilitator in each Workplace

Facilitation skills are a provision of opportunities and resources that support a group to succeed in achieving its desired goals. The word ‘facilitate’ comes from a Latin which means ‘to make easy’. It is the art of focusing the collective group energy on a specific goal. It is a diverse field which relies on facilitators who have a broad collection of facilitation skills and approaches.

A facilitator is a person whose role is to guide people through the process to a successful result. This process could be a meeting, training and development session, team building or any situation involving a group of people where the desired goals or targets have to be met. A facilitator contributes structure and processes to interactions so groups are able to function efficiently and make high quality decisions.

Facilitation skills are essential to successful Team and group work. That means it is also critical to the company’s success, especially given the presence of conflict in today’s time. While conflict may at first seem destructive and not very comfortable, it can be very creative. But conflict needs effective management so that it remains part of a creative rather than destructive process. This is where effective facilitation skills are extremely helpful to keep the team on track, keep the relationships intact to successfully achieve business outcomes.

Everyone in the company benefits from good Facilitation skills. Those that benefit the most from them are more likely to be team leaders and supervisors. Facilitation skills enable a team to arrive at satisfactory outcomes with different agendas and varied chosen outcomes.

 7 Steps to achieve effective facilitation skills:-

Facilitation helps everyone to feel that they worked together to achieve the best possible outcome of the task. Clearly facilitation has an important role to play in the success of any business. Furthermore, facilitation skills can also help team members to understand how to improve their business communication. When learning how to improve speaking skills and presentation skills, facilitation skills are important. Here are the steps to achieve effective facilitation skills

1. Set the ground rules 

Always begin by setting the objectives. Having an outline structure and time for reflection is very helpful. Start by helping the group to clarify an outcome that is practical to achieve in the given time and aim to create an environment of trust and confidentiality.

2. Always be impartial 

The challenge is to influence the group and not dominate it. This means being able to suppress your own ideas and encouraging others to talk. A facilitator needs to only encourage the group to consider his/her ideas not as a dictator.

3. Understand group dynamics 

The key is to unlocking the group’s potential to achieve its goal because this is where one can get into the interaction between group members. It is important to make use of questions to clarify, concentrate on the emotional temperament and try to read the body language for any answers.

4. Use your own personality 

A facilitator’s role is being all about the energy and confidence with which he or she brings their facilitation skills forward. To create an open and honest environment, people need an empathic personal presence and the group needs to respect and believe in you. They also need to feel confident that a facilitator will be able to deal with any obstacle and guide them in the right direction.

5. Intervene only when necessary 

It is important to continuously notice what is going on with the group and then decide what to do about it. A challenging group can be tricky to handle. Facilitator may need to ask difficult questions which might draw attention to difficult process issues which the group may find uncomfortable to deal with sometimes.

6. Handling tough situations 

Dealing with difficult people and conflict are two of the major challenges to an effective facilitation. With conflict, there are tactics and skills that one can develop to respond to such situations because success is often determined by how an issue is addressed.  If one comes across a tough individual, one may choose to confront that person in private and give them feedback their impact on the group.

7. The art to practice 

Having good facilitation skills is an art and not a science. The skills that are involved – good observation and listening, observing body language, understanding human psychology, can all be achieved through continuous practice. The more we practice our facilitation skills, the more comfortable we will become as a facilitator.

Continue: The Importance of Facilitation Skills

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The Importance of Executive Coaching and Mentoring

It happens so often that the terms executive coaching and mentoring are used alternatively but they are rather different from one another.  

Executive coaching equips an individual to deal with confidently and completely with critical near-term issues, aid you to perfect leadership and management skills and is also said to focus on the needs that were recognized in the 360-degree review that was conducted by the coach, the company or an external agent. The focus of an executive coach is on the short-term outcomes. It is designed to achieve the optimum results in a minimum amount of time. Executive coaches are also said to motivate, inspire and encourage while insisting the clients are in lieu with their priorities and objectives.  

Executive mentoring deals with a broader aspect in comparison to Executive coaching. Unlike executive coaching, mentors help their clients with the immediate as will as long-term goals that stretch well into the future. Executive mentoring focuses on teaching an individual to how to execute or impart wisdom in using their skills. Mentors provide their assistance in a range of activities that range from personal to professional to ensure their client’s growth and development.  

Efficient functioning of executive coaching and mentoring ensures that employees are provided a platform to learn, connect and grow within the company and to get a boost for their career paths. 

The significance of executive coaching and mentoring is as states below: 

Retention  

Executive coaching and mentoring promote loyalty. This sense of loyalty towards the company or organization develops as commitment and connection felt by the mentees when the mentors help them provide opportunities and mould their careers. Positive work experience is encountered when the employee feels comfortable with the management encourages open communication and this is carried out by executive coaching. The money spent on continual recruitment and training of replacement employees is eliminated.  

Personal Development 

The expertise and knowledge of the experienced employees results in a better efficiency as this may aid the younger and ewer employees to learn the methods of the organization. Executive coaching and mentoring may further guide the employees in become well versed of the expectations of the organization. Coaching, and the boundaries of a trusted and confidential relationships provides a platform for the employees to resolve their issues and concerns. This acts as a benefit to the organization as it aids in the reduction of frustration on a personal level and improves the individual’s job satisfaction.  

Team Efficiency 

Apart form providing individual focus on the employee, executive coaching and mentoring improve the functions of the team, department and the entire organization. As the managers receive executive coaching and mentoring, it helps them identify the weaknesses and strengths of each of their employees. This is so that even when the employees take request vacation or take a sick day, the organization can capitalize on the resources available to ensure that the entire team works efficiently.  

Therefore, we can see that executive coaching and mentoring can provide an array of benefits for the any kind of organization. Thus, the implementation of executive coaching and mentoring in an organization can become an excellent contribution to ensure the overall development of the individual employee as well as the organization.  

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Six Reasons to Utilize Executive Coaching Solutions

Executive coaching solutions can be described as the solutions proposed and prepared by coaches to tackle the problems in certain areas and to improve the quality of the coache (executive leaders). Executive coaches provide solutions that would act as catalyst to challenge and support the coache (executive leaders) in identifying their leadership skills and acknowledge the change that is required. These changes are ensured to be impactful and to be sustainable for a long period of a time.

Some of the methods followed by executive coaching solutions are given below:

1. Self-directed learning

Executive coaching solutions place emphasis on ensuring that the coaches help coachee (executive leader) identify their area of problems or impasse through a structured questioning approach rather than the traditional method of directing or advising. Being self-directed is the most efficient way to learn, think, invent, solve problems, visualize, rethink and re-engineer. This is directed to help the coachee to form definitive ideas, regulate relationships between concepts and optimizing their thoughts.

2. Solution-focused effort

Executive coaching services do not focus on just searching for the cause of the problem but is also about finding the best suited solution. It is about creating a vision towards an end goal and working towards that goal while simultaneously being focused on the solution. The focus is on positive change as opposed to deficit focused change. The first step is recognized as identifying the reason for coaching – as an amazing opportunity for growth, development, self-insight and career progression.

3. Positive feedback

Executive coaching solutions focus on an approach that is directed towards positive reinforcement where the frequency of a desired behaviour is increased by increasing the favourable stimulus. That is, the solution is more focused to identify the verbal appreciation or such reinforcements that is found to be favourable to the coachee in order to increase the desired behaviour of the coachee. Positive feedback is found to act as a signal to the brain to perform more of something. The executive coaching solutions try to avoid pointing out what the coachees do wrong. Encouragement and support are seen to increase the coachees confidence and performance.

4. The stretch

Executive coaching solutions believe that people work better when challenged and stretched. The term stretched is used to describe the ability to push people to their limits and help them exercise their potential to their fullest. These challenges and the stretch should be designed to be appropriate for each individual. When the coachees are stretched appropriately to think differently and perform actions that are different in nature help the coachees feel invigorated. This gives the coachees a chance to showcase their knowledge in different ways in order to develop their thinking along new lines.

5. Leadership acceleration

Executive coaching solutions circle on the idea that increased responsibility is accompanied by heightened expectations. This entails preparing leaders for the next role in the stepping ladder of leadership while exploring their competencies and discover potentials shifts in their leadership styles. Executive coaching solutions aim to gear the leaders for their next roles while producing stand out results.

6. 360-degree feedback and development planning

While practicing positive feedback is a method of executive coaching solutions, 360-degree feedback and the development planning managers and peers provide insightful feedback that enhances self-awareness of a leader, identify strengths and targets required development plans. This maybe facilitated by developing a customised 360-feedback process or by optimizing the organization’s existing feedback process.

7. Enhancing high potential performance

The current business environment demands rapid and accelerating change which compels leader to deliver results in the highest possible level. Executive coaching solutions also help the leaders excel and progress in their current roles. The substantial difference in the leadership is brought about through introspection, stakeholder feedback, development planning, ongoing coaching support and progress measurement.

Executive Coaching can be a great solution for HR-based practices and for developing the senior leaders.

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Role Of An Executive Coach

Coaches wear multiple hats – trainer, therapist, manager, facilitator and mentors!

Although each of these roles demands specific skills, knowledge and experience, executive coaches are expected to value add in the following areas:

Enhancing self-awareness: Irrespective of the objectives of the coaching journey, personal, business, sports and relationship, almost all coaching journeys should have enhancing “self-awareness” at its core. Self-awareness essentially relates to one’s knowledge of own strengths, limitations, scholastic aptitude, goals and aspirations. Coach must himself seek to know how much self-knowledge the subject already has, how easily they are able to enhance the level of self-knowledge and how much self-knowledge is really required given the coaching objectives. Many times, coaching involves reframing the existing situation a coachee finds herself in. And it is essentially that the genesis of the change happens in the level of self-awareness.

Modelling the outcome: Coaches must be able to demonstrate clear thinking, a strong internal locus of control, effective communication skills and high trust behaviours to enable the coachee to find motivation in the journey. As a role model, coaches must demonstrate a high value system, a professional demeanour and sincerity and openness to assist the coachee to demonstrate the same.

Address the root of the problem: It’s not an easy task to quickly arrive at the core of an issue effectively. Experienced coaches get to the core of the issue swiftly and can broach upon sensitive issues with easy and in an environment of high trust and openness. Because coaching is a partnership, and should not typically, create a performance pressure for the coach, the coach must invoke a coachee’ s assistance in arriving at the core issue. The method of questioning and appreciate enquiry can quickly lead the partners in the conversation to the core issue.

Sharing expertise / information: While theoretically, coaching is not about sharing experiences, some situations demand that coachee share their own experience. Experienced coaches do that with simplicity and without creating an emotional obligation on the coachee to follow suite.

Giving feedback: Most of us do not like receiving negative or constructive feedback! And therefore, it is upon the coach to find a way to give m=both positive and negative feedback that can enhance self-awareness and set us on a path of development. Coaches must learn to give feedback in a safe and constructive manner no matter how sensitive the issue. This is a core skill for coaches.

Building accountability: Keeping the coachee on track, with a sense of self accountability is pertinent part of a coaches’ job role! Whether the coaching conversation is about the vision, goals, strategic planning, creating action or exchanging perspectives, coaches drive a sense of self accountability in the coachee. Coaches need to learn to be persuasive and when the coachee hits a roadblock, coaches know that while some of these blocks could be genuine, it is essential not to leave the coachee off the hook easily.

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