One of the things that we need to think about is the future of leadership.

Traditionally, organizations have reserved coaching for people at the top levels. They use them as developmental tools to help leaders grow and the overall organization to grow.

But our job as leaders is to get the very best out of the workforce that we invite into our organizations to help us be successful. And often we don’t invest in their growth and development at the more junior levels. We just hope that when they come to us with their existing skillset, they’re going to help us be successful.

And we know that hope isn’t a strategy.

A couple shows back we had New York Times Best Selling Author Kevin Kruse on the show and had a great discussion about the importance of employee engagement. And one of the best ways to engage your employees is going to be to coach them, to invest in them, to show them that they are the cornerstone not only to your success as a leader but to the organization’s success as well.

The days of command and control and leading from positions of authority are over. And we now need to invest in and coach our workforce to get the very best out of them. When we get the very best out of them, they are satisfied. When they are satisfied, they are engaged. When they engaged, they become more productive.

The end result is that they deliver the very best experience to our clients and customers.

Today I’m very excited to welcome back Jen Roberts, the president and founder of Difference Consulting, a company specializing in helping companies build, develop and leverage the unique talents of their own people and teams internally through strategic consulting, executive coaching and proprietary leadership development programs. She is a member of the Forbes Coaches Council, an accomplished author, and you can read her stuff on such websites as Forbes and the Association for Talent Development.

We had a really great show with Jen a few weeks back, and we’re excited to have her back with us today.

On today’s show:

* What are some of the typical behaviors that managers employ to drive engagement in performance today?

* Failing to provide training and development isn’t intentional

* The differences between mentoring and coaching

* Why is it important for senior leaders to create a coaching culture within their organizations?

* People join companies, but they leave managers

* What are some of the benefits of fostering a coaching culture?

* Autonomy leads to a feeling of ownership

* Tips to developing a culture of coaching

* How to find out more about how Difference Consulting can help set up a coaching culture within your organization

Links:

* Difference Consulting

 

When we talk about building a coaching culture within organizations, it’s really about companies focusing on building amazing managers and giving them the skills to be able to create environments where their employees love to work and can really perform at their best.

What are some of the typical behaviors that managers employ to drive engagement in performance today?

Typically, manager approach employees in a kind of ‘command and control’ approach.

It’s not because they want to display their authority or power in their position necessarily, but because of the speed of business. We are moving so fast and organizations are growing so quickly in size and complexity that they’re just trying to keep their head above water.

Often managers unintentionally become their own worst enemies in the way that they approach their employees. So rather than creating a coaching environment, it can often be more of a dictatorial style or management.

The speed of business often leaves managers with a lack of time,