One of my ex-bosses had a bit of a catch-phrase (thanks for the legacy John). You can tell it’s a catch-phrase because a) he said it all the time and b) I have never forgotten it!
That catch-phrase isn’t very sexy, but it IS really powerful in a business sense:
“What is the problem you are trying to solve?”
You might not use the word problem – substitute it for something more positive if you like. For example:
“What is the organisational culture we are aspiring to, that will enable us to meet the needs of our stakeholders?”
Even that question is likely to arise out of the first. The basic premise is this: there is no point putting a solution in place if you don’t know what the problem is that needs to be solved, or the desired state you want to create that will solve that. That only leads to wasted effort and money down the drain.
This applies in all sorts of fields, but I am particularly interested in creating a coaching culture. Yes, there is lots of research out there that shows that coaching increases engagement and productivity, so yes coaching is a good thing to do in its own right. Yes, there is other research that shows that adding coaching to a development programme will massively increase the chances of changing behaviour back on the job.
But on their own, these aren’t going to make coaching a part of your culture. For managers to invest in coaching, they need to see how it will enable them to achieve the business strategy, where other things cannot. So the coaching strategy must be tied to the business strategy, which in turn addresses the aspirational organisational culture and leadership culture. Just like individual objectives should trickle down from team objectives, functional objectives, organisational objectives, and collectively feed back into achieving those organisational objectives…so too should your coaching strategy filter down from your organisational goals. That means that HR cannot do it alone – the business must be on board.
What are your thoughts on that?
