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There are three indisputable facts when it comes to providing coaching and training to managers and employees:

1. We know that about half of the training is wasted, we just don’t know which half
2. We find it hard to justify using an external resource, mainly due to us not wanting to admit we can’t do it ourselves
3. There is not an obvious direct correlation between the benefits received and the cost of the service, it is hard to justify the cost

There can be no doubt that investment in human capital has a far greater long term ROI than investment in any other area with all of the major studies confirming that any increase in employee engagement levels will deliver increased revenue, profitability and customer service levels. So why are most business owners and CEOs not committed to improving their business through improvements to their people capital? The answer, I believe, is actually quite simple. The value of a company’s human capital is not measured in the Balance Sheet and therefore it is not a focus for management teams or company boards.

Surely there is something wrong when we have a situation where if a desk is broken and discarded, and removed from the Asset Register, that the “value” of the company is reduced and yet, if the most productive and effective employee leaves there is no change to the “value” of the company. Which of these two scenarios is going to have a deeper negative influence on short and medium term performance?? And why is one of your best employees leaving in the first place, guaranteed nine out of ten times it will be due to your manager/s not displaying the quality of leadership and people management skills that your employees want and expect.

So, now that I have hopefully established a case to invest in your people managers and make them effective leaders and confident people managers, what coaching should be provided within the organisation and what is best provided by an independent, fearless, external coach?

Internal Coaching

Internal leadership coaching will only ever be truly effective if the executive manager providing the coaching is absolutely committed to the process and truly believes that people managers have the greatest impact on employee performance. At MultiRater Surveys we take the approach that the most effective people strategies are the ones that are easy to use and do not add to existing workload; in fact we want to free up each manager by reducing the amount of time spent on the squeaky wheels and reinvest that time into high performers, clients and strategy.

A simple, yet highly effective, internal coaching process is to conduct an online 360 Leadership Development Survey (e.g. the “MRS360L”) and from these survey results identify a maximum of four development areas from the list below:

Once you have selected the three or four development areas from the above list, develop a Leadership Action Plan with actions, outcomes required and due dates (Download our Development Summaries which will assist you to identify the required actions for each of the above development areas).

External Coaching

Using an external coach is an absolute must for all Business Owners and Chief Executive Officers and most General Managers. Why??  Because of one simple reason - rarely are there any internal employees, managers or company directors that have the courage and fearlessness to help these business leaders confront the barriers that prevent them from maximising their leadership capability and people management skills. Effective leadership development cannot occur if those that are facilitating the development have any level of fear or apprehension, they must be independent and courageous.