Recently Deccan Herald carried an article which was originally printed in the New York Times, titled “Google’s quest to build a better boss.” The article talked about “Project Oxygen” an initiative at Google where the people analytics team analysed performance reviews, feedback surveys and nominations for top-manager awards enterprise-wide. The purpose of this exercise was to identify traits that employees found of value in their managers. In the order of priority employees wanted bosses who were even-keeled, made time for one-on-one meetings, helped people puzzle through problems by asking questions, not dictating answers, and took interest in employees’ lives and career. In the ranking order the technical ability of the boss came dead last.
These findings are a reflection of the traditional manager-supervisor relationship at work place where the focus is on results and outcomes only. The business world is changing rapidly but unfortunately the management style has not kept pace with the changing attitudes and expectations of the workforce.
For Google rewiring their managers in the soft skills will be as complex as writing new software codes, but there is hope. The solution is in skilling managers in “Developmental Coaching.”
What is Developmental Coaching? Developmental-Coaching is a management tool, a powerful leadership skill, in the hands of the managers which promotes self-directed learning in the employees. A word of caution, in order to implement “Developmental Coaching” a certain mindset and environment is essential. However, creation of this environment will automatically address some of the wants of the employees which were highlighted in the Google survey.
Developmental-Coaching has one of the highest success rates, compares well in terms of cost and complements the existing methods. It has to be kept in mind that Developmental-Coaching is a distinct skill and does not come automatically with the “title”; it is learnt like any other skill.
In organizations where Developmental-Coaching is used as a way of work-life, benefits flow all-around. The employee exhibits greater sense of job satisfaction as he is learning and experiencing growth; the manager learns a very important leadership skill of improving the performance of his team; and the organization benefits by getting improved productivity, retention and customer service. Finally, with Developmental-Coaching in place year-end Performance Management exercise is not the beginning of an attrition cycle but a normal event of the year.
We will cover the entire topic of “How to introduce Developmental-Coaching” at workplace in these pages over the next several months. Keep reading and commenting!
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