One of my mentors and coach Gary Markle, recently wrote about Company Goals and Coaching, in organizations; here are his thoughts and suggestions.
Garold (Gary) Markle is the creator of Catalytic Coaching and author of Catalytic Coaching: The End of the Performance Review.He brings real world experience over 20 years of teaching organizations how to cultivate their leadership and ditch their detrimental performance reviews for a proven Coaching process – Catalytic Coaching.
“Without a solid process to cascade (company’s) … goals down into achievable, actionable targets; chances are good some of them will go off the rails.
One company, “expanded their client base by 10%, increased employee retention by 10%, and streamline performance management. Senior leadership meets about these goals several times … A whole internal announcement campaign is developed that includes some company lunches and kickoffs; they created neat signs and nice posters with the goals clearly written”.
In the past months like January and February, getting started for the year can be challenging; and sometimes things don’t feel ‘right’…
“No real progress is being made … Gary continues to say:
- Things are getting pushed to the back burner.
- Two different teams seem to have worked on the same goal
- Marketing and Sales department can’t agree on the best drivers for obtaining new clients.
- No one has had a performance review because everyone is too busy and they’re a waste of time anyway. The worst part is that employee retention has gotten WORSE!”
“How did it all go so sideways? Goals … “looked great in the beginning and the energy was high.”
“The real culprits here were the paths of communication and consistent tracking. They seem intuitive but they’ll get you every time, without a process like Catalytic Coaching in place.”
Big Hint / Idea from Alysia: Get trained and use the Catalytic Coaching process in your organization. I have worked with over 6 organizations to implement these Catalytic Coaching processes; it works and is actually a fun process. Talent management conversation & coaching is shared between the Employee and their Manager (Leader / Coach) in a highly constructive series of coaching conversations. Try it!
Gary Markle continues …
“Using Focus Areas, top leadership can direct their team on what goals each person and department will be working toward:
- Then managers will Coach their own direct reports throughout the organization accordingly.
- This provides clear communication of expectations and understanding of each employee’s role in achieving goals in the Development Plan.
- With the employees crafting their own Development Plan under their Coach’s guidance, they’ll feel invested in accomplishing them. They’ll be invested in the company’s success.”
“Employees with clear direction, that feel supported by their managers, and understand how they productively fit into the overall company will be more engaged. That makes them up to 12% more productive, improving their problem solving, and ensuring they’ll stay at your company.”
Did you know that … (Gary says …):
- “Unhappy employees are a money sink. They could take their talent right out the door.
- New low level hires cost up to 50% of their first year’s salary to replace, according to SHRM.
- Mid-level employees can cost a whopping 150%! It’s worth investing in the right tools now to save money in the long run.
- Even worse, disengaged employees could stay at your company! That will cost you 34% of that employee’s annual salary, according to Gallup”
Gary illustrates that by using Catalytic Coaching company’s …
“Keep your company on track by:
- Cascading goals down in a way that results in individualized action items. Think of it like eating an elephant. That’s a whole lot of elephant and can be overwhelming. If the teams understand which part of the elephant they’re responsible for, then Coaches can better guide their people as to how to tackle it.
- Documenting and tracking goals throughout the year. Writing down a goal makes it more likely that you’ll achieve it. With Catalytic Coaching, this is done in the Development Plan and captured by the Energage Coach software. Reporting features empower you to strategically pull vital information to keep you on the right path.
- Keeping communication open so red flags and hurdles are caught early. Catalytic Coaching’s check in meetings will review progress, facilitate productive conversation, and allow for positive course correction when needed.”