Dephy is Founder and CEO of Paddee Connexions, a leadership consultancy serving top executives and business clients.
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Coaching is an increasingly adopted solution for organizations and businesses to enhance their workforces. It provides support, it enables employees to gain necessary skills and to assimilate into new workplace cultures, it identifies new talent, it provides motivation and much more.
Coaching is a highly resilient industry—growing at a healthy 6.7% in the U.S.—as it is able to deliver the results that are required by businesses and organizations.
But in the post-pandemic era, how can coaching support the needs of organizations and businesses that are operating in an increasingly uncertain and volatile business landscape so that the businesses can survive and thrive?
Can coaching help companies harness newer values, trust and productivity in a new normal? What can be done differently, what needs to be done differently and where do such conversations begin?
Here are some suggestions for businesses to use coaching as a process to assist and bolster business efforts and increase survivability during these times.
A Process For Discovery
One of the most powerful and valuable outcomes of the coaching process is that it can lead to discovering significant new ideas, opportunities, ways of thinking and other possibilities that are much different than those unearthed without the process.
Business leaders and stewards of companies can apply and use the coaching process on themselves in order to reach in and draw out more from within themselves that fits with what is needed at the time.
The coaching process can be so much more powerful for the business when it is used by those who hold ultimate decision-making or executive power to influence the business—i.e., the C-level executives, business founders, visionaries, influential shareholders and also executive and non-executive board members. By positively affecting how they see the world, they can make different and more valuable decisions for themselves and the business.
Adapting To Change
Change is always a constant, but at this time, there is very little predictability and data for businesses to support their decision-making.
These are stressful times, as business leaders may have to rely on gut feelings to steer their companies on major investments and other efforts to gain higher profits.
In this respect, the coaching process helps corporate leaders, executives and managers to examine and consider or uncover any unconscious elements within themselves that contribute negative feelings and may adversely impact business decisions.
Thus the coaching process helps with being able to learn more ways to make powerful and insightful decisions, strategies and plans.
Being In A Place Of Higher Possibilities
In today's era of volatility, change and uncertainty, taking next steps in business can be difficult as there is a higher risk of loss than ever before.
But business leaders know the business must continue forward—despite how they, as stewards of the company, may feel about the risks and decisions to be faced.
Through the coaching process, there are opportunities to learn of any limiting thoughts or beliefs, or perhaps become aware of bias or assumptive thinking, and be able to know how to shift those and to reach beyond. It leads to awareness and the ability to choose to come from a place of better and higher possibilities.
Countering Loss Of Productivity
A portion of business loss due to productivity can be said to be due to confusion or nonalignment of business teams in producing the required results. Frictionless internal processes help drive up not just revenue, but also morale, focus and attentiveness to results.
Through the coaching process, there may be some opportunities to recognize and take more notice of what's contributing to process bottlenecks or slowdown. It can also allow leaders to learn ways to address individual concerns, such as confidence, accountability or even teamwork.
Communication, Leadership, Productivity, Effectiveness And More
These, and many other aspects of the key business activities in an organization, can certainly benefit from exploring the use of coaching processes to develop higher thinking, resilience and adaptability toward changing scope and job responsibilities.
Using the coaching process, top management and business leaders can get more out of their thinking, skills and knowledge and conserve energy for creating more value for the business.
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