Corporate and Executive Coaching in the 21st Century
Increasingly, people working in modern organizations want more from work than a paycheck. Some of what they want:
- To make a contribution
- Enjoyment of work
- Freedom to exercise their natural curiosity
- Permission and encouragement to learn without fear of looking incompetent
- Support for taking risks and making mistakes without fear of reprisal
- Ability to practice new learning on the job
- To be respected and valued
- Career advancement
- Friendly, affirming work environment
- To feel trusted
- To work with colleagues they trust and respect
- To be rewarded for thinking and learning, not just doing
- Ability to control their own work
- Participation in developing organization vision and strategy
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Today's organization requires radically different leadership skills to survive in the rapidly changing global economy. Leaders must coach their organizations to be more flexible and responsive. To do so they must:
- Foster an environment which is conducive to learning and self-renewal
- Create an appetite and agility for continuous change
- View every organizational member as a source of valuable ideas
- Share their expertise as well as their mistakes freely with others
- Demonstrate a high level of patience and tolerance for differences
- Share power and decision-making with others through the organization
- Demonstrate commitment to their own learning
- Have a strong sense of purpose for themselves and their organization
- Be willing to share important organizational information at all levels
- Encourage relationships and the building of networks
- Demonstrate courage and inspire others through their own actions
- Respond to spoken and unspoken needs of others in the organization
- Have high personal and professional and ethical standards
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The rapidly changing marketplace, increased global competition and lean organizational structures require different skills and attitudes from all individuals in the workplace. Workers must be skilled in the following areas:
- Embracing change: Never has the pace been more rapid than it is in today's marketplace. Organizations must respond quickly and be innovative to survive and keep a competitive advantage. This requires a flexible, adaptable work force, including flexible work schedules and frequently re-forming work teams.
- Learning to thrive on uncertainty: Flatter, learner organizational structures mean that there is less day to day direction from the top. People will be expected to form networks both within and outside their organizations, respond to frequently changing priorities and assume personal responsibility for setting their individual direction.
- Staying abreast of technology: The Internet is rapidly becoming the hub of the global marketplace. The corporation's work force will need to develop and maintain its proficiency in computer and telecommunications technology in order to be viable. Teleconferencing and virtual learning are two examples of how organizations are orienting their practices in this global economy.
- Learning to make the most of network relationships: Increasingly, organizations are entering into alliances, mergers and joint ventures with former competitors. The ability to manage lateral relationships will be a critical determinant in people's ability to achieve results. Cross-functional work teams are becoming commonplace and require a more demanding set of interpersonal skills.
- Making the most of learning opportunities: Organizations that survive and thrive in the 21st Century will be those which are continually renewing and learning. People will be expected to assume full responsibility for managing their own learning in response to changing organizational needs. Learning will be different than in traditional organizations. Rather than a prescribed curriculum being handed down from "experts," people will be responsible for creating their own learning opportunities.
- Developing a different perspective on career advancement: Traditional career advancement consisted of upward promotions throughout one's career. In the future, career advancement will increasingly be evidenced by "career latticing" instead. People will develop a broad base of experience and more extensive networks by making a number of criss-cross career moves.
- Adding value: The organization can no longer afford a work force to merely meet expectations. Increasingly, standards are being raised to ensure competitive advantage and exemplary performance will be the norm. People who thrive in organizations will be those who pursue opportunities to add value. They will see themselves as stakeholders in the enterprise.
- Altering exceptions about employment: Contract work, outsourcing temporary employment, telecommuting, virtual organizations- they are a few of the changes in the way people are already being "employed" as organizations are down sizing and restructuring to be more competitive. The future work force will not expect to have a lifelong relationship based on dependency with one employer. Instead, people will have a series of short-term relationships throughout their careers. They will have to operate more like business owners whose customers are the corporation.
- Embracing new workplace leadership: Coaching will replace traditional supervision and mentorship. Reshaped organizations will have fewer leaders at the top than traditional vertical organizations. Leadership will emerge throughout the organizations regardless of job title or status. Individuals will have relationships with "leader coaches" who will encourage them in their development of new knowledge and achievement of breakthrough performance.
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WHAT IS DIALOGUE AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO ORGANIZATIONAL TEAM SUCCESS? Dialogue is synergistic conversation in which individuals actively seek a new level of shared understanding based on the blending of divergent points of view. Critical to dialogue is willingness of participants to observe, learn and accept the influence of others. True dialogue engages people in the process of personal and team transformation, which enables them to achieve extraordinary results not possible by any individual.
INDICATORS THAT DIALOGUE IS ABSENT IN TEAM MEETINGS:
- Participants have varying degrees of energy, attentiveness and commitment and this is not discussed.
- The agenda is pushed or rushed forward without adequate time being allowed for deeper probing of issues.
- Participants present their positions without inviting feedback.
- Participants are careful to not upset others.
- One or more individuals have a strong desire to influence others.
- Bullying, personal attacks or other aggressive behaviors are present.
- There is a conspicuous absence of discussion about certain topics, which have been rendered "undiscussable."
- Consensus building is absent and issues may be tabled or otherwise left unresolved.
- Arbitrary decisions are made by a group's leader.
- There are comments by group members about the need to be cautious in what they say.
TYPICAL REASONS FOR THE ABSENCE OF DIALOGUE
- People are reluctant to reveal their true thoughts or feelings for fear of looking foolish or incompetent.
- Ground rules for communication are not established or are ignored.
- Participants do not have compelling reasons to shift their positions to engage in collaborative conversations.
- Organizational norms reinforce dysfunctional patterns of communication, such as appearing to agree in meetings but behaving differently afterwards.
- There is a fear of reprisal for disagreeing openly with others who are perceived to hold greater power.
- Leaders are reluctant to abandon old paradigms of "command and control," or to interact with individuals as equal members on the team.
- Financial results are valued over relationships; team "process" is viewed as inefficient.
- Team participants and leaders lack awareness of how their behavior impedes the establishment of dialogue and/or the skills necessary for dialogue.
- An organizational culture rigidly preserves its "sacred cows", i.e. power and knowledge are vested in only those at the top, and people in lower level positions are not seen as having the same potential for achievement as those above.
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- Belief that the role of senior management is to direct and control:
- The organization's direction/strategy
- Lines of authority
- Standards and consistency
- Financial performance
- Product/service development
- Work processes
- Employee behavior
- Vertical organization structures which emphasize hierarchy and top down communications and which vest power and privilege at the top.
- Belief that vital organizational information (financial performance, external threats, emerging/new markets) should be available only to those at the top.
- Assumptions about people and motivation based on the principles of the "carrot and stick".
- Organizational "control systems" such as management information systems, finance, personnel and quality control which monitor employee behavior and feed information to senior management.
- Compartmentalization of people and work into units, departments, and divisions all working in isolation from each other.
- Belief that bottom line results are what matter most and that "procedure"" is time consuming and wasteful of resources.
- Problem solving strategies focus on putting out fires quickly.
- Belief that incremental improvements will sustain competitiveness.
- Belief that organizational change is unhealthy, threatens efficiency, and must be curtailed.
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- Belief that the role of senior management is to foster, support, inspire and coach.
- Continuous learning
- Deep participation of organizational members
- Collective responsibility
- Horizontal organizational structures which emphasize collaborative networks.
- Belief that vital organizational information (financial performance, external threats, emerging/new markets) should be available throughout the organization.
- Assumptions about people based on the principles of self-determination, personal integrity and mutual trust.
- Organizational information systems co-designed by leadership and organizational member that enhance responsiveness to internal and external needs.
- Cross-functional work teams collaboratively develop performance strategies and share accountability for results.
- Belief that the need for results must be balanced with the creation of an organizational climate that fosters interdevelopmental partnership.
- Belief that problems present opportunities for continuous learning and organizational renewal; responses are proactive.
- Belief that continuous learning and innovation will sustain competitiveness.
- Belief that organizational change is healthy, fosters examination of divergent points of view and leads to more effective actions.
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- Tightly controlled plans, standards and practices that discourage questioning or change.
- Training and supervision approaches which emphasize teaching of prescribed information, techniques and practices.
- Lack of recognition of people's differences in motivation, commitment, awareness and styles.
- Extreme focus on short term performance and results.
- Performance management systems which place limits on the creation and performance of work.
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