The Future of Workplace Coaching: Volume One

Discover how the union of artificial intelligence and human intuition is transforming workplace coaching in our latest episode featuring an expert with years of experience in the coaching field. We unpack the myth that effective leadership requires endless hours, offering instead innovative conversation models that can slot right into even the busiest of schedules. With a focus on the delicate balance between technology and the personal touch, our conversation traverses the future of coaching infrastructures, revealing how peer coaching and an ethos of approachability among staff are essential components of a thriving organization.

Our seasoned guest sheds light on the often-overlooked power of conversational coaching in driving organizational success. Listen to compelling insights on how automated coaching tools can support continuous personal development, but also why the human element of career coaching conversations is irreplaceable in retaining top talent. As workplace dynamics evolve, we stress the critical need for organizations to not just keep pace but to stay ahead by fostering these effective coaching practices, ensuring their workforce feels valued and engaged, ready to tackle the challenges of tomorrow.

Welcome to Coaching Conversations

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:37

the future of workplace coaching, I would not say is at odds. Yet some interesting developments are occurring. You know, anytime there's the implementation of new technology and new innovation, you know there's a knee-jerk reaction to things such as well. This will make it easier, this will make it faster, and I think about things like artificial intelligence in the workplace. And I think about things like artificial intelligence in the workplace. First of all, we have our own AI tool and we love artificial intelligence. We use it every single day. Now, with that being said, we also have to realize in the workplace, things are changing To a certain degree. We have a shortage of labor, shortage of skilled workers. We have people who want to work differently, meaning at home. They got a taste of the hybrid or the virtual world, and people like it. They don't have to drive into the office. People found out geez, I can do my work at home. And this conjures up a lot of challenges, not only for organizations, yet for their leaders. So workplace coaching is going to go through a transition. Now here's the really interesting thing Since the pandemic, coaching has exploded the need for coaching.

Speaker 1: 1:53

We now have coaching organizations that are bringing in not just one, sometimes 100 coaches into big companies, pairing them up with executives and leaders and coaching them to be better leaders. We also have companies like ours, where we go in and we teach leaders how to coach their employees. Now there's artificial intelligence tools that allow us to get coaching from a tool, from a piece of technology, and recently we've been implementing something called coaching automation, where we've actually productized things like being a better teammate, being a better listener, finding your motivation and what have you. There's one fundamental thing that we've held on to for 31 years, and there are times when I think you know what are we holding on too long? And that's this. The number one reason that people do not coach as leaders is they give you the reason of time I don't have time. I'd love to do it, but I don't have time. That's a smokescreen, I believe, for the real reasons, and that is what do I do and what do I say. So when we, as leaders, see technology coming down the path, we think, oh good, this will save me time. I'm going to have my AI tool work with my employees. Let me give you my first red light warning At the end of the year, there's going to be a review, assuming you do end of the year reviews and that leader is going to sit down with the employee and talk about a merit raise and their ratings and what have you? And what's going to happen is there's going to be a reaction. See, when we have end of the year reviews, there's a reaction. I was just talking to a manufacturing client who was given some bonuses and I was talking to two people inside the company and something happened where there was a dispute or discrepancy and I've never seen it. People got so charged up because when you deal with people and you deal with people's money, you better have everything in alignment. So if I look at an employee and say, geez, you're just meeting satisfactory in this area and that's what the AI tool is telling me, there will be a revolt at that company.

Speaker 1: 4:17

Number two, with the proliferation of technology such as artificial intelligence, people are going to ask questions Will this affect my job? How am I going to get trained on this If I don't understand it? Am I at risk? The funniest thing about leadership today and I've said this for 31 years and to a certain degree, I still believe this I do think leaders need to coach their employees directly.

Speaker 1: 4:46

I do think leaders need to have scheduled sessions with every one of their employees. Now I can hear the pushback, I can hear the you know, geez, I've got 12 people, I've got eight people, I don't have time. Now we at Progress Coaching talk about having a framework and we teach something called QALMS, q-a-l-m-s. We also talk about a conversation model that only takes 8 to 12 minutes. So even if you had 10 people and let's say there were 10 minutes per conversation and that literally can drive a coaching relationship, that's 100 minutes, right. So that's about minutes, right. So that's about an hour and a half a week out of 40 hours. So that's about a 20th of a leader's time. Yet what also happens? When leaders are in their office, they get a knock on the door and someone says hi, boss, you got a second, and it's typically leaders four to seven times a day. So let's go back to the future of workplace coaching.

Speaker 1: 5:56

I think, now more than ever, leaders need to be trained and be well-practiced in the craft of coaching. Number two technology is coming. We have to integrate it to our in-person coaching is coming. We have to integrate it to our in-person coaching. Number three I think we have to also create what I call coaching infrastructures. We have to get people to realize that we can also have coaching in multi-directional ways, meaning we can have peers coaching each other. We teach something called a coaching champion program. These are non-leaders who are trained on how to coach people even though they don't have the title of leader or the person that they're coaching is not their direct report. I think we also have to teach people how to become approachable and coachable.

Speaker 1: 6:56

I have never been more convinced, and research bears it out people lack self-awareness. When we hear something, we lack the emotional mentality, the emotional maturity to respond objectively. So I go back to that client where a couple people were telling me about the bonuses and there was a challenge and they were like yelling. They're raising their voice with me. I'm like I don't work here. Why are you mad at me? And what happens is people react aggressively because we don't calm down. So think about the trends. Here are the top trends. Artificial intelligence will be here. Use it strategically.

Speaker 1: 7:44

My advice is double down on leadership, conversational coaching skills. Number three build a coaching infrastructure. Get other people trained in coaching, if not for peer-to-peer coaching, simply for the value of succession planning. Number four use coaching automation. Have content automatically delivered to your employees to fuel their mind positively. Send them inspirational, motivational materials, articles, quotes, videos and then ask them questions that drive self-awareness, such as what are you going to do to exhibit the same behaviors in the video? What are you going to do to adopt mentalities that support this quote and what have you?

Speaker 1: 8:33

The workplace is changing. We need to become skilled Now. Last, something I have not mentioned, and that is it's been estimated over 40% of people are actively looking for jobs due to a lack of career coaching conversations. Of people are actively looking for jobs due to a lack of career coaching conversations. See, if we're not having those conversations about where somebody wants to go, we are taking a risk. We are taking an unnecessary risk Because, in the absence of the conversation and a recruiter calls an employee, guess what happens? We're willing to listen because our own boss isn't spending time with us. The workplace is changing. The need for workplace coaching, in my estimation, is going to even skyrocket, even with the expansion of technology, innovation and artificial intelligence.