Whether organizations have reduced head count or cut compensation, they are left with an interesting twist on an old dilemma.
In good times, keeping employees engaged is a challenge because they easily get lost in internal conversations — the “isn’t it awful,” “this is how it should be,” “it’s not fair” conversations I call interference. But in troubled times, the interference feels more real and has more power.
People’s belief in the survival of their businesses and their jobs has gone down and their energy has turned negative. There has been a massive change in people’s beliefs, energy and what they pay attention to — their faith, fire and focus, the key drivers of high performance.
When the people focus attention on how bad it is, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. They devote less attention to critical variables needed to perform well, so their performance gets worse, reinforcing their belief about how bad it is and sapping more of their energy. The worse their performance becomes, the more “isn’t it awful” conversations they get caught up in. It’s a vicious cycle. The harder they try, the worse they get. And the worse they get, the harder they try.
The danger facing companies forced to downsize or make cutbacks is when they most need people to be at their best, they often perform worse. Now is the time to tap into the possibilities that exist in all your people. And one of the best ways is by helping them reduce their interference.
Coaching has the power to reduce the internal and external conversations that distract people from doing what they need to do. If we don’t reduce the interference, in individuals and the organization, performance declines, morale is depleted and work cultures suffer.
Contrary to the popular definition in the executive coaching industry, the majority of coaching can and should be done as part of the day-to-day work of managers. Leaders and managers in their roles as coaches are in a position to increase or decrease interference. However, the frame of reference in which coaching is held can exert a significant influence on whether interference rises or declines. The beliefs about coaching will do one or the other.
Sometimes a coach perceives that the coachee is “broken” and needs to be fixed, that the coach is the expert and the coachee isn’t, there is a right way for the coachee to do things or the coach needs to compel the coachee to do it his or her way. When this happens, there’s a tendency to move toward prescriptive, assertive and controlling management behaviors that discourage accountability and promote compliance. It’s driven by the belief that knowledge will fix everything and the coachee can’t learn without the expertise of the coach.
This is an “outside-in” approach. It frequently creates dependency in the coachee, causes a questioning of his or her abilities, loss of the motivation that comes with full ownership of self-developed solutions, and paying too much attention to doing it right. It lowers faith (self-belief), fire (energy) and focus (attention to critical variables).
By contrast, the other end of the spectrum could be termed an “inside-out” approach, in which a coach believes the coachee has the ability to perform, learn and adapt; that the coach doesn’t have all the answers; and there are many ways to get results.
An inside-out approach is about tapping into the performance capacity already inside people. Coachees focus their attention on things they believe they can do that result in changing their energy levels from negative to positive. Managers shift from providing all of the answers to helping coachees find their own answers — increasing their engagement, commitment and accountability.
An inside-out approach can provide greater impact on performance and often is easier for managers. Whether it’s an inside-out or outside-in approach, the good coaching skills of leaders and managers can play a critical role in helping people navigate these tough times. In the words of 18th-century artist George Wood Bacon: “Fortunes are not made in the boom times … That is merely the collection period. Fortunes are made in depressions or lean times when the wise man overhauls his mind, his methods, his resources, and gets in training for the race to come.”
Could this be a giant opportunity staring “coaches” like us in the face?