Costs for attrition, losses from customer dissatisfaction, lagging “bottom of the barrel” sales, and poor procedural adherence; all of these vast revenue consuming elements can be dramatically reduced by the proper execution of one miracle business practice.
This remarkable method is well-known in contact center environments and has been in practice since modern business processes were developed. However, this procedure is almost always woefully misunderstood in theory, principle, and application. This visionary practice that can stimulate your bottom line revenues out of the doldrums and have them soaring at the top of the profit column is the process of establishing a proper Coaching Program for all levels of employees.
Usually, if the potential for starting or revitalizing a coaching program is mentioned, managers turn away in avoidance and employees shrug their shoulders to show a great lack of enthusiasm. When it comes to traditional coaching, it seems like everyone has been coached at some time and everyone has coached someone else one time or another, and little or no value was apparently gained for the tedious effort of participation.
The problem here is that proper coaching procedures are often not utilized by managers. The most common cause of this is that correct procedures for coaching are not taught in most corporate training curriculums. Unfortunately most businesses that require regular coaching sessions are blissfully unaware of how poorly their staff members are trained in the use of cutting edge coaching methods and, as a result, they are also unaware of how much potential profitability, efficiency and satisfaction is lost by the wayside every day.
Over 230 managers surveyed admitted that, though they were supposed to coach every employee at least once per week, they actually were only able to arrange coaching on average no more than once per month. This same surveyed group professed to only spending less than 7 minutes actually coaching the employee during the 30 minute allotted coaching time. The reason for such poor participation and such lackluster results is that proper coaching techniques have not been conveyed to those in charge and both employees and managers have never been in a position to see how beneficial and rewarding to all participants proper coaching can be. This is illustrated by the fact that 95% of the 230 managers surveyed confessed to having never participated in an official coaching training program. Obviously, without proper training, dismal results will inevitably occur.
Proper coaching methodology is not easy to learn, but the ROI for both manager and employee at all levels is all out of proportion to the time spent. A 2010 study on the impact of executive coaching by Manchester Inc. showed an average ROI of 5.7 times the initial investment - according to executives who estimated the monetary value of the results achieved through coaching.
Among the benefits to the companies that provided coaching:
- Increased productivity (reported by 53% of executives)
- Higher quality (48%)
- Organizational strength (48%)
- Customer service (39%)
- Reducing customer complaints (34%)
- Retaining executives who received coaching (32%)
- Cost reductions (23%)
- Bottom-line profitability (22%)
Among the benefits to executives who received coaching, the following were improved:
- Working relationships with direct reports (reported by 77% of executives)
- Working relationships with immediate supervisors (71%)
- Teamwork (67%)
- Working relationships with peers (63%)
- Job satisfaction (61%)
- Conflict reduction (52%)
- Organizational commitment (44%)
- Working relationships with clients (37%)
In addition, at one time in their history, Sears made a significant effort to modernize their business processes. In their "turnaround" effort, the company's mission was to have Sears be a "compelling place to work, a compelling place to shop, and compelling place to invest." They set up rigorous measurements for (among other things) employee attitude and satisfaction. One of their primary questions was "How does the way you are treated by those who supervise you influence your overall attitude about your job?". Their statistics showed consistently that as the quality of management improved, so did employee attitudes, and then customer satisfaction. The numbers showed that "a 5 point improvement in employee attitudes will drive a 1.3 point improvement in customer satisfaction, which in turn will drive a 0.5% improvement in revenue growth." In a billion dollar company (and really almost any company), 0.5% increase in revenue is substantial. Sears learned that when their managers fully value and develop their employees (i.e., using the coach approach), they could confidently predict future revenue growth in a particular district. When employee satisfaction increased 5%, revenue growth in a particular store increased by 5.5%
Out of the many proper coaching techniques to put into operation, it is good to include a high-quality understanding of basic human psychology, usually conveyed to a management group by a competent longtime coaching expert. Cutting edge programs will assist a manager to understand many different human proclivities, such as:
- Different levels of employees need entirely different types of coaching.
- Entry level employees as a rule usually work only so that they can live their lives. Therefore coaching for them is about how to improve their lives first. Improving the company is only secondary to these people.
- Management level people though, often live to work, so coaching them is about how to improve the company first while learning secondarily to improve their personal position in the corporation.
When studying corporations that have implemented business cultures that include a viable coaching training program that is ultimately well participated in at all levels, a more efficient, pleasing, and open environment is noted. During downturns, employees that are regularly, professionally coached tend to “stick around” instead of jumping ship. Viable new ideas and better methods of work production are the norm for regular conversations during meetings in coached environments. In addition, most attrition in places of work that use proper coaching techniques is usually positive, with the majority of people leaving positions because of promotions instead of dissatisfaction.
To see your company’s attrition decrease and your profits soar, it is wise to research, invest in, and implement a proper coaching methodology. Home grown coaching methods not based on validated tried and true coaching principles are part of the problem and not the solution. Instead, seek out the help of competent certified and trained professional consultants to get your new program up and running in a top professional manner.
Proper coaching programs will change for the better the entire culture of any institution, bringing prosperity, contentment, and efficiency up to unprecedented and highly desirable levels.
