🎙️ EP 35 : Coaching works…when your organisation is ready

Does Coaching work in any kind of organisation? As you probably guessed: no. In this podcast, we expand on the previous episode and talk about some of the organisational factors that should be in place to make coaching work.

We will borrow Rinses Likert’s timeless model of 4 organisational styles to show where coaching fits in. These styles are:

Your organisation is characterised by force and punishments. Not much carrot, mostly sticks. The organisation is used to be lead from the top. Members of the workforce participate to execute work, but are not expected to contribute ideas.

How does Coaching fit in here? Not much at all. In a system such as this, Leaders who want to coach will likely be met by peers who do not agree and team members who do not appreciate it. Coaching will likely be seen and used a tool to fix people and correct them.

It is strange to the outsider, but there are still many organisations out there that are mainly ruled by fear. It’s a sad state, and unfortunately, as simple coaching intervention won’t help much to fix that.

If this exists, Leaders have already gained a deep sense of the value of the possible contribution of their team members. They will deliberately seek their input before decisions are made. This could be typically for two reasons: (1) to find great ideas that the Leader has not considered and/or (2) to make people feel involved and create engagement this way.

The most enlightened Leaders who use this approach will even consult and involve their team members for team-based goal setting.

Now, the really important driver for this system to work well is the feedback loop: If employees see that their contribution was considered and shaped the outcome, it motivates and engages them to do this again. If employees see that they are being asked for input, but what they say just ends up

in a black hole with no response whatsoever, they will learn that it is a waste of time.

In the end, an organisation that manages to move from a mostly benevolant authoritative system to a consultative system can win a lot of trust with their workforce if they do it well.

This final system is most closely related to high productivity and motivation. Members of the workforce are expected to participate in decision-making by default. Leaders just know it’s better business and it is the main reason why they hired their people.

In this style, Leaders want to resort to authoritative measure only as a last resort. They know that by pulling rank and relying on positional power, they destroy trust and discretionary effort. Leaders in this system will want to form equal partnerships with their team members on the types of work that really matters.

Lastly, Leaders in this system exhibit a strong Coaching Mindset, that means they just believe that their people have lots to give if they just have the freedom.

These 4 organisation styles can exist at any level in your organisation. If you are unlucky to live in an exploitative authoritative company, the idea of coaching won’t thrive for example. However, you coulld also be in a Silicon Valley startup that is participative in general, but where our immediate Manager establishes rank and becomes coercive and dictating.

What science shows is that the last link matters the most. The own Line Manager is the direct link between a member of the workforce and the organisation. If that Line Manager establishes a participative system and uses coaching as a dominant leadership style, they have a chance to reap much higher engagement and productivity from their team members.

-Maik

Resources: Rinses Likert’s 4 Organisational Styles: https://www.businessballs.com/organisational-culture/likerts-management-systems/