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One of our Blue Chip Coaching clients, a senior leader in a large insurance business, was interested in measuring the return on investment of the management coaching programme we ran with him and a number of his senior managers and management teams. 

For him, the benefits of the management coaching programme easily outweighed the costs.  One example he identified would be losing a manager he hadn’t invested in by way of management coaching - “My view is that the loss of a single manager would pay for a year of coaching for the entire team.  So it’s pretty simple maths to me, though I think these issues are often overlooked.”

In order to ensure that management coaching and leadership team development programmes produce the desired return it is essential that the management coach is familiar with the environment (culture and business) that the manager or leadership team is working in.  Our leadership team development and management coaching programmes always include an assessment and gap analysis phase to ensure that this knowledge is developed and the measures for success agreed for the coaching programme are defined, realistic and measurable.

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View more about Blue Chip’s management coaching.

When embarking on an executive coaching or leadership team development programme, it is critical to establish the measures of success and the return on investment required. 

At an executive level, the outcomes for the programme will normally include a number of areas that ultimately add value to the business. 

Examples include:

• improved employee productivity and motivation
• relationships with key stakeholders
• customer/client satisfaction
• improved team or business culture.

When a Fortune 500 company engaged a consulting firm in the United States to measure the return on investment from its leadership development programme, the results were impressive.  Leadership coaching produced a 529% return on investment and significant intangible benefits to the business.  Key areas improved through the leadership coaching programme included decision making, team performance, employee motivation and productivity.

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View more information about Blue Chip Coaching’s coaching programmes.

Only the team members can do that. An executive coach telling a team that they appear to be dysfunctional or not operating at full capacity will not work.

Blue Chip Coaching’s approach is to start with a gap analysis process involving all members of the leadership team and designed to provide evidence to the team (based on their own honest, confidential feedback) of the current dynamic.

When the team can see the whole picture (not just their individual take on it) the platform is there for change. For example, if the gap analysis indicates a lack of accountability between the executive team members this can result from trust issues and/or a lack of clarity around expectations in respect of accountability.

Examples of improved executive team function and performance resulting from our leadership team development programmes include:

An executive team openly tabling and agreeing how to resolve trust issues

• Agreement around the robust debate of issues critical to the leadership team and the business
• Agreed behaviours within and outside the leadership team environment
• Debate and agreement on the nature of the strategic contribution required from each member of the executive team
• Agreement on responsibilities and accountabilities of all leadership team members

A high performing executive team is critical to the ability of an organisation to drive results and execute the company strategy in a sustainable way. Therefore developing your leadership team is vital.

It is critical that, at this level, the leadership team members are each committed to achieving the organisational results and not just those of their own divisions or functions.  Frequently leaders are faced with silo type behaviour that threatens the ability of the executive team to operate at its most effective level.

As a team comprises a group of individuals, the dynamic and effectiveness of the team will be highly dependant on the way the individuals in the team relate with one another.  If there is a fundamental executive team dysfunction, such as a low level of trust or openness as between team members, the ability of the team to perform at a highly effective level is seriously reduced. 

Equally, if a top performing leadership team is aware of what drives its positive team dynamic, measures can be taken to ensure this is protected even when some team members leave and new team members join.

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Read more about how dysfunction within a team can be addressed and how leadership team development can be integrated into your company.

Leaders’ performance can be improved and enhanced by effective leadership coaching.

Leadership coaching is about supporting and facilitating leaders to clarify what he or she wants to achieve and to identify and work on the key underlying areas that will enable that leader’s success.  These underlying areas vary from leader to leader. 

For example, in some cases increased levels of self confidence will enable a leader to operate significantly more effectively.  In other cases, the development of skills to manage stress or conflict make the most difference to leadership performance.

Leadership performance is enhanced in many ways through a leadership coaching programme. Outcomes from a programme can include:

• The leader develops an increased level of self awareness of how he or she is as a as a leader.  As a result of the gap analysis phase and the facilitation by an executive coach who is objective and comfortable to challenge the coachee, the leader develops a clear understanding of leadership strengths and gaps (including behavioural gaps) and an increased ability to manage the gaps.
• The executive sets a clear vision of where they want to be, how they  will achieve that and setting clear objectives and success measures to work with.
• As executive coaching offers the leader the opportunity to step back from the detail and see big picture, leaders develop enhanced ability to think more broadly and strategically about what will enable their success and that of their leadership team and the business in the medium to long term.

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Find out more about Blue Chip Coaching’s leadership development coaching.

Leadership performance is driven by a number of factors including the leader’s ability to influence and get buy in and commitment from others in the team or organisation. 

The ability to influence other people at a leadership level is driven by several factors including the leader’s proven technical or industry capability and effective leadership skills. 

These leadership skills include some of the core emotional intelligence skills such as:

• self awareness (knowing yourself)
• self management (the ability to manage yourself)
• managing relationships with others
• having empathy and the ability to see the big picture, not just your own perspective.

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Find out more about how leaders’ performance can be improved through coaching.

If motivation levels are flagging, despite your career success, you may need to examine some key questions.

Key Values and Priorities

When you as a leader are clear on your work values, you have a foundation for leadership that will allow you, your team and your organisation to benefit. Are you clear on your values and their priority? 

Take a little time to ask yourself the following:

• What is most important to me about my work, my career… what else… what else?
• How satisfied am I that these values are being met in my current role?

What to Consider

The values you uncover are key to your motivation and energy. Your work values will be unique and where these are satisfied in your role you will find yourself getting out of bed midweek with a spring in your step. High workloads and even high pressure will be manageable with little personal cost because your leadership and work is consistent with who you are. Where your values are not being met then this will often lead to high levels of stress and mean that your performance is compromised or not sustainable. Uncovering your values is interesting, finding ways to ensure you can deliver against these values in your leadership is essential for you as a person, for the team you lead and the organisation you work for.

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View more life and work coaching tips from Blue Chip Coaching.

A Challenge for Business Leaders

Why is it important to hold on to employees?

While unemployment in New Zealand is likely to rise over the next year, much of that unemployment rise will be in the unskilled labour force. Recruiting highly skilled workers and managers in most industries is still relatively challenging. Perhaps more relevant are the time and costs involved in the recruitment and induction process and the impact on business which is not captured adequately by accounting entries as it encompasses the impact on staff and clients when good people leave.

What makes an employee happy?

People generally join organisations but often they leave managers. In an article published by Hay Group, 70% of service employees’ reasons for exit were experience of their manager. This is not too surprising as we already know that managers and leaders account for a significant component of employees job satisfaction.

So what are some of the key compenents that give them that level of satisfaction?

Staff are more likely to be retained if they feel…

• Cared for, understood and valued by their manager or leader
• They have clarity about their development plan
• They are provided with the support to achieve their development goals

As a managers or leader are you doing what you can to retain those people you most value?

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To read more about developing leaders with the coaching skills required to develop and retain staff go to Team Development.