What does it take to run an effective coaching session? Does the coach need to have undergone a comprehensive training program in order to provide value to their mentee? Do they need to develop a 12-step action plan following the session to help put their mentee on the right path?

According to coaching expert Michael Bungay Stanier, often it’s just about learning how to ask better questions.

“If you can coach somebody in five minutes or less, everybody wins. And sometimes that’s having the discipline to ask them good questions, and then [staying quiet] and listening to their answer,” he said in a recent episode of AHRI’s podcast Let’s Take This Offline.

His book The Coaching Habit has sold over a million copies worldwide because, in his words, it “unweirds coaching”.

“I didn’t write the book for coaches because they already love coaching. What I was trying to do was [write something] for all the people who are like, ‘My organisation is making the coach. I don’t really want to do it, but I have to. Where do I start?'”

He wanted to help them see that coaching can be baked into your everyday interactions without a huge amount of extra effort and time, which is exactly what time-poor managers need.

7 questions for an effective coaching session

Often, what trips managers up when running a coaching session with their team members is adding structure to their line of questioning. They might go into the conversation with the goal of learning about the employee’s learning and development ambitions or to understand more about how they want to progress in the organisation.

However, Bungay Stanier thinks it’s often best to just let the conversation unfold naturally and learn what’s on their mind.

Following decades’ worth of experimenting, he landed on what he believes are the seven most important questions to ask in a coaching session:

1. “What’s on your mind?”
2. “And what else?”
3. “What’s the real challenge here for you?”
4. “What do you need?”
5. “How can I help?”
6. “If you’re saying yes to this, what are you saying no to?”
7. “What was most useful for you?”

They might seem overly simple, but that’s the point. And he says that, time and time again, they prove to be fruitful questions.

One that he often gets positive feedback on is: ‘What’s the real challenge for you here?’. Because we’re prone to trying to solve other people’s problems, we often jump at the opportunity to impart our hard-earned wisdom and advice, but that’s not always useful.

“We’re all so wired to get on with stuff. Our advice monster shows up and we start trying to solve the first thing that has come up,” he says. “But the first thing that shows up is never the real challenge. It’s just the first challenge.”

“If you can coach somebody in five minutes or less, everybody wins. And sometimes that’s having the discipline to ask them good questions.” – Michael Bungay Stanier, author and coaching expert.

People are testing the waters, assessing how safe it might be to disclose the actual challenge they are facing, he explains. 

For example, they might mask their deep dissatisfaction with their manager by instead talking about frustrations they’ve experienced during a recent project.

“Curiosity takes you closer to figuring out what’s really [concerning] the person that you’re working with. So it works both at a strategy and a cultural level.”

For HR professionals, being the person who can figure out the root of an issue will make you “immensely more valuable to your organisation”, he says.

“And you have far more impact because you’re willing to say, ‘My job is to figure out what the real challenges are.’ That is a strategic act.”

The way the question is structured also helps, he adds.

“It’s not just, ‘What’s the challenge?’. Because, if you ask somebody [that], you’re going to get a bit of a restatement from what you’ve already heard, when you asked them, ‘What’s on your mind?’. When you add the word ‘real’, what you’re saying is, the first thing you told me isn’t the real challenge. So immediately, you’ve got them thinking. 

“You can feel the difference. What’s the challenge, what’s the real challenge? It’s like a different question, even though there’s only one word added. 

“But then I think the magic happens when you add ‘for you’ at the end of that question: What’s the real challenge here for you? Now they’re not talking about the problem out there. They’re talking about, ‘Here’s why I am wrestling with this. This is what’s hard for me around this.'”

Download a one-page guide to Bungay Stanier’s 7 questions for an effective coaching session.

Coaching the coaches

A lot of what Bungay Stanier talks about will relate directly to HR practitioners, who themselves need to be effective coaches to leaders, managers and employees. However, often they’ll be the ones teaching managers to level up their approach to coaching employees.

Sometimes that means being willing to tell managers that they’re prone to giving too much advice, rather than listening deeply to what their mentee is saying to them (or what they’re not saying).

 “You could say, ‘There’s a really important place for advice, just not as fast or as omnipresent as you’re currently delivering it. So let me introduce curiosity as an element of leadership that is underdeveloped in you right now,”’ he says.

But what about those leaders who don’t want to be coached?

“For most leaders, if you come up to them and say, ‘Hey, I’m from HR. I’m here to coach you.’ The typical reaction is [to resist that]. So I usually don’t make a grand announcement that the coaching has begun. 

“When you push into a system, it pushes back. It’s a survival mechanism driven by your lizard brain – your amygdala. So don’t make a big deal about it. Just be curious.

“So if I’m starting to work with a leader, I’ll go, ‘How can I help? So what’s the challenge here for you? And then I go, what else? So what’s the real challenge? So what do you need?’.

“You can call that coaching, or you can call it having a conversation where you’re trying to be as helpful as possible.” 

This is an excerpt of a conversation from AHRI’s new podcast, ‘Let’s Take This Offline‘. Listen to the full episode here.

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HR professionals are often involved in supporting a coaching culture, training others to coach, and coaching employees themselves.  

One-to-one coaching is a well-established practice, and can be very effective, but it often doesn’t address challenges that occur at a team level. Team coaching is starting to gain traction in many organisations as a way to address more complex ways of working and relationships within a team, and boost team value and performance.           

I previously worked intensively with a team as their coach over a three-year period. The team, team leader, wider stakeholders within the organisation, including HR professionals, and I, grew our team coaching experience and knowledge together. 

The frameworks and tips below represent our collective advice for HR professionals wanting to bring team coaching approaches to life within their own organisations.

What is team coaching?

Before diving into the practical tips, it’s worth defining what team coaching is.

Put simply, it’s like one-to-one coaching, using many of the same techniques (open-ended questions, active listening and holding silence) but instead of working with one person, you work with a collective, treating them as one entity.  

It’s intentionally flexible and organic, tailored to the particular environment in which the team finds itself, and does not have a predetermined outcome. It’s not the same as training, consulting, facilitating, teaching or team building. Although, in reality, there may be some overlap.       

For example, when working with a team who aren’t used to collective development, it might take time for them to warm up. In that instance, a team building approach might be a good place to start to build psychological safety, before moving on to coaching over time.  

Topics covered in a team coaching conversations could include:

• Improved collaboration
• Prioritisation
• Delegation and accountability
• Problem-solving and decision-making 
• Understanding stakeholder relationships and their needs

The aim is to unpack how the team is working together, encourage awareness of themselves and others they work with, and, ultimately, increase their value to the organisation.                          

Bringing team coaching to life

Now, on to the practical insights. The suggestions have been grouped into three important areas: the team, the team leader, and yourself as the team coach.

Content has come directly from lessons the team, team leader, stakeholders and I learnt while working together over three years. 

Tips for coaching the team

Tips for coaching the team leader 

David Clutterbuck, a thought leader in leadership and team coaching, emphasises the critical role of team leaders. 

They usually approve spending on development and decide how much time to invest in particular activities. Also, as we discovered in this case, the leader’s style significantly influences the team’s progress.

Tips for self-coaching           

Tatiana Bachkirova, emphasises the importance of the coach themselves being the most effective tool in coaching. What you bring, the way you behave and your ability to role model all make an impact in team coaching.

To ensure you remain the sharpest tool in your own toolbox, looking after yourself, reflective practice, self-awareness and self-care are critical.                    

Final words of advice

 This article alludes to the complexities of team coaching, reflected by the years of study, practice and supervision it takes for professional team coach certification. 

Don’t be put off. Although often challenging, the rewards for the team, leader, oraganisation and yourself are high. Integrating just some of the practical tips and tools suggested in your work with teams will bring team coaching approaches to life.Further reading

Clutterbuck, D. (2020). Coaching the team at work. London & Boston: Brealey.

Clutterbuck, D., Turner, T. & Murphy, C. (2022). The team coaching casebook. London: Open University Press.

European Mentoring and Coaching Council (2020). EMCC global team coaching accreditation standards framework. Retrieved from https://emccglobal.org/accreditation/tcqa.

International Coaching Federation (2020b). ICF team coaching competencies: moving beyond one-to-one coaching. Retrieved from https://coachfederation.org/team-coaching-competencies.

Zink, H. (2023). Team coaching in organisational development: team, leader, organisation, coach and supervision perspectives.  London: Routledge.  

Helen Zink is a growth coach working with leaders and teams, with business and leadership experience at a senior level. Helen draws from a large toolkit, including coaching, team coaching, applied positive psychology, change management and other strategic tools and methodologies. She is a certified Senior Practitioner Team and Individual Coach with EMCC, has an Advanced Certification in Team Coaching and is a Professional Certified Coach with ICF, MSc (Coaching Psychology), MBA, BMS (hons), and others. 

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When it comes to maths, Jun Gu would probably tell you he’s mediocre at best. At least, that’s what he told one of his classmates while studying Organisational Behaviour and HR Management at The University of Toronto. 

So when Gu received top marks in a unit that involved maths, his classmate was a little confused. 

“I thought I was mediocre at maths, while my American colleague thought he was really good,” says Gu, who is now an Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at Macquarie University. 

“My classmate asked me, ‘If you think you’re bad at maths, who are you comparing yourself with?’” 

Gu shared that many of his friends in his native country of China had won mathematics awards at international events. For Gu, if he wasn’t winning international awards at maths, he was average. By contrast, his classmate figured he was great at maths because he never needed a calculator when counting change. 

We all have different standards by which we compare ourselves, explains Gu. These standards are formed early on and are heavily influenced by our parents, siblings and role models, as well as our culture and early experiences at school and work. 

However, when these standards become unattainable, leaders (and their employees) might run into trouble. Perfectionism is on the rise – with one global study of 42,000 people over 27 years charting a significant leap in perfectionist tendencies and behaviours. 

This means it wouldn’t be surprising to find one or two perfectionists in your leadership ranks. Here’s how to spot a perfectionist manager at work and some ways HR can help them overcome these tendencies. 

Killing the joy at work

Gu and his colleagues are researching how perfectionism manifests at work, especially at a management level. 

Some examples could include insisting subordinates continually recheck work, relying only on the most capable employees or micromanaging menial tasks. Worst still, they may demoralise employees by not showing them trust, inhibiting learning opportunities or encouraging a culture of burnout. 

“This will kill the joy at work,” says Gu. “Perfectionistic leaders create an environment where people are scared to be creative or innovative.

“When you’re holding people to such a high standard, you’ll transfer your anxiety to your direct reports and place unnecessary pressure on them.”

Three kinds of perfectionist managers 

Perfectionism can take many forms, but there are two commonalities.  

“The first is setting really high standards for yourself and striving to always do better than others,” says Gu. 

“The second is intolerance of mistakes. So, if a subordinate is on the verge of making a mistake, you will become nervous and try to micromanage them, or you just take over.” 

Throughout their research, Gu and his research team have zeroed in on three kinds of perfectionist managers. 

• The self-oriented perfectionist: This is when a person places unforgiving standards on themselves.
  
  A self-oriented perfectionist might think: “It is important to me that I am thoroughly competent in everything I do,” or “If I partly fail, it is as bad as being a complete failure.”
• The socially prescribed perfectionist: This kind of perfectionist manager believes that others expect perfection from them, regardless of whether or not this is accurate.
  
  They might say: “People might think less of me if I make a mistake.”
• The other-oriented perfectionist: This manager may place their unattainable standards on others and evaluate them thoroughly.
  
  They could say things like: “The people who matter to me should never let me down.” or “I cannot be bothered with people who do not strive to better themselves.”

Overcoming perfectionism

The reality is that perfectionism helps no one. On an individual level, a perfectionist is more prone to stress, burnout and anxiety. And because they are holding themselves and others to illusory standards, they are often dissatisfied.  

From a work perspective, perfectionist managers aren’t able to work quickly or be agile, and they struggle to delegate work or see tasks as complete. 

“Perfectionism will waste your time and your company’s time. This is because you’re trying to achieve something with no objective standard as to what the perfect state should be,” says Gu. 

So how can perfectionist leaders overcome their impossible standards? The first step is to be open to feedback, which can be tough for perfectionists who don’t always realise their limitations and struggle to take on criticism. 

Gu and his colleagues found that cultivating mindfulness, celebrating small wins and recalibrating goals are good starting points. 

“Perfectionism will waste your time and your company’s time. This is  because you’re trying to achieve something with no objective standard as to what the perfect state should be.” –  Jun Gu, Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at Macquarie University

The next step is to seek out role models, coaches or mentors who can help you see past perfect. 

“Your subordinates might be too scared or polite to tell you the truth. However, a peer or friend might be able to weigh in and give guidance,” says Gu.  

“If your perfectionism has negatively impacted your life, wellbeing and productivity, I recommend you reach out to a peer or mentor who has more experience. Ask them if they’ve experienced these feelings, and get their advice on how they manage them.” 

Different routes to success

Ultimately, overcoming perfection requires a mindset shift. This might mean prizing the process over perfection and celebrating little wins along the way. 

For example, if an employee makes a mistake, a perfectionist manager could instead emphasise what they’ve learned instead of fixating on the mistake.    

“Throughout my career, I’ve spoken with a number of leaders from academia and the corporate world. The most important thing that I’ve learned is that there are many different ways to succeed,” says Gu. 

“For perfectionist managers, they may see ‘perfect’ as the only way. But that’s because they haven’t seen other ways.”

Equip your leaders with the skills they need to thrive with this short course from AHRI on Leadership and Management Essentials. Sign up for the next course on 10 October 2022.

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Last year, Deloitte’s survey of 2000 Australians revealed that 50 per cent of working women found it easier to work from home compared to one third of male respondents.

Meanwhile, the Melbourne Institute asked 1200 respondents last September if they would prefer to continue working from home after COVID-19. Seventy-three per cent of men preferred working from home compared to 67 percent of women. When the same question was then put to respondents in November, the percentage of men preferring remote work had dropped to 64 per cent, whereas for women, the percentage bumped up to 84 per cent.

If women are indeed more likely to avoid a return to the physical workspace, California-based executive coach and president of Corporate Coaching International Lois Frankel says women are making a monumental mistake for two reasons:

1. Decreased visibility: “If you aren’t in front of people, you’re not there. It’s the same as a Zoom conference call. If you’re on the call and your screen is off, you’re not on the call. It doesn’t matter if you’re there physically.”
2. Added burden: “Research shows that since women have been at home, they have had significantly more of the burden of childcare, of being a homemaker, and of taking care of elderly parents – often, with no breaks. Staying home is only going to set them up for more of that.” Frankel caveats this assertion by recognising that some women with children might be working from home to save on childcare costs. “Then you have a strategy in place, there’s a reason why you are choosing that.”

Frankel, who is giving a webinar with AHRI’s CEO Sarah McCann-Bartlett on 27 April, has been coaching working women on topics ranging from career advancement and handling negotiations to balancing work and home life, and dealing with gender stereotypes since she began her practice 30 years ago.

Her work boils down to one simple maxim: “I want to help women see that they can achieve their goals.”

Dispelling unhelpful messages for working women

After Frankel began her coaching business – one of the first in the United States at the time – she worked with the vice president in manufacturing of a large company based in Virginia.

“[She] was on the aggressive side of assertiveness,” says Frankel. “I coached her for a couple of months, and then I went to one of our coaching sessions, and she said, ‘Before we get started, I just want to tell you that I was invited to sit on the executive committee of my company.’ 

“My initial thought was, ‘Wow, that’s great! First they thought she was too aggressive and now they want her on the executive [committee].’”

But before Frankel had the chance to share her enthusiasm, the woman explained: “I’m not going to do it. I’ve been to those meetings, and they’re a waste of time.”

At that moment, Frankel says all the unconscious mistakes she’d seen women make because of their upbringing, or due to internalised messages disseminated by the media or pop culture, came flooding through her head.

The meeting was formative for Frankel, who went on to write Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office – a groundbreaking guide that teaches women tips and tools to advance their careers.

“Most girls get messages as children about how they are supposed to behave – they’re supposed to be kind and be helpful, and be nice and be sweet, and not be angry, and not be too pushy,” says Frankel.

She urges women to take a long hard look at the messages instilled in them as children – and in particular, to focus on those that preclude women from reaching their full potential.

Treading a thin pink line

Changing societal perceptions and the structural impediments that hamper women’s progress can take generations, and adopting a different set of behaviours is not going to be the game changer in rectifying deeply entrenched gender inequality; it’s merely one tool that women can start to employ.

“My work is around getting women to say, ‘There may be a glass ceiling, but I don’t have to let it live in what I do.’ Or, ‘People may not like it when I speak my mind, but it doesn’t mean I shrink back,'” says Frankel. “Change your own behaviour and model the way for other people.”

Empowering women to find their voice is the topic of Frankel’s audiobook, Nice Girls Don’t Speak Up or Stand Out. 

The book empowers women to strike the right balance in their workplace negotiations and conflict resolution when dealing with delicate issues such as “how to say tough things, but not get called a bitch, how to have difficult conversations but not be seen as unreasonable, how to ask for what you want and not be seen as greedy, and how to negotiate and not be seen as confrontational”.

Borrowing a quote from Winston Churchill – “Tact is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip” – Frankel says this skill is one she encourages women to learn and cultivate.

“I help women see that it’s a thin pink line that [they] walk. If you walk on one side of that thin pink line, you’re going to get marginalised. If you walk on the other side, doors are going to close, because people are going to see you as too aggressive.

“There’s a place in the middle where you have your voice.”

Steps towards an equal future

Frankel suggests three strategies for HR to employ in striving to support the advancement of women:

• Form affinity groups for employees in the same organisation who face similar challenges. “They make a huge difference. HR needs to make sure that they implement affinity groups so women get together to not only talk about common challenges, but to bring up solutions.”
• Be prepared: Ensure your succession planning is structured to create a new generation of qualified women leaders, says Frankel. This involves identifying women who have great potential, and assigning them assignments that will develop their skills.
• Invite men into the conversation: “We’ve been bringing women together in focus groups and training programs, but men have often been left out of the mix. I think some of them are feeling that there’s something going on behind their back – that’s not really true, but that’s how they feel. I think we need to facilitate more discussions between men and women about what a workplace could be like if there was gender equality and inclusivity in all regards.”

Want to hear more? Sign up to an hour-long conversation between AHRI’s CEO Sarah McCann-Bartlett and Dr Lois Frankel. This event is free for AHRI members.

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Cheyenne Killen was relatively new in her role as HR advisor at Kane Constructions when the pandemic hit. Thankfully, she had an ace up her sleeve to help her get through a tumultuous year – something that made her feel ready for anything.

Killen’s secret weapon? Her mentor. Karen Johns, HR manager at M3 Property. 

“Having someone to hold me accountable, hear my stories, help me set goals and then make sure that I was working to achieve them really helped. I think it would have been really challenging if I didn’t have someone to support me, listen to me and guide me through last year,” says Killen.

Killen’s experience was so positive she ended up nominating Johns for the Art of Mentoring’s 2020 Mentor of the Year award. And Johns won.

Mentorship programs are a popular way to build skills. The Art of Mentoring, a mentoring firm, say it has helped over 20,000 people through their programs.

There’s also research to suggest mentorship programs benefit both mentor and mentee. One study found mentors were more satisfied with their job and more committed to their organisation. 

But being a good mentor isn’t as simple as finding yourself a mentee. It’s also about building structure around the relationship to ensure its creating value for both parties. HRM asked Johns to share her best tips for becoming an excellent mentor.

Think you’ve got what it takes to be a mentor? Registrations are closing on January 31st for AHRI’s mentoring program. Register now.

1. Have regular meetings

“One thing I appreciated about Karen was at the end of every meeting she’d say, ‘ok, when is our next meeting?” says Killen.

Regular catch-ups are important for several reasons. Firstly, as busy professionals it’s an easy way to ensure there is time in your schedule to commit to the program. 

Secondly, it establishes expectations of the relationship.

“Regular meetings at the beginning is a really good foundation piece,” says Johns.  “That enables you to set up that relationship, work out what you like and don’t like and what the mentee needs from you.”

Regularity also allows the mentor to hold the mentee to any goals they’ve set.

“When Cheyenne and I would meet, I would always try to pick up what we discussed the time before. ‘How did you get through this issue? Did you accomplish that thing?’ It just helps to get that progression,” says Johns.

Killen believes that having a meeting scheduled in advance stopped her from cancelling when she was too busy or just not feeling up to meeting. 

“It meant, for me, if I was not in the best mood, or something like that, I still went. I had a commitment to keep. I think that’s really helpful and I often came out with a reinvigorated passion for HR,” says Killen.

In the new WFH world, access to mentors has never been easier. Killen and Johns have their catch ups over Zoom, for example, and they feel it’s just as effective as when they meet up face-to-face. In fact, the two didn’t actually meet in person until near the end of the mentorship program.

 “I often came out with a reinvigorated passion for HR.” – Cheyenne Killen, HR advisor at Kane Constructions.

2. Mentor externally

There are definitely arguments to be made for pairing mentors and mentees within an organisation. In-house mentors will have organisational knowledge they can pass on, as the mentor is likely to be a senior and experienced employee, and they’re likely already in the same building, making catching up easier. 

But both Killen and Johns believe an external mentor is a better option. 

“It’s incredibly beneficial getting that outside opinion. They see everything objectively. Obviously, they’re getting it from your point of view, but they can look at problems from a very high level and not get stuck in the nitty gritty that might be obstructing your view,” says Killen. 

As the sole HR presence in her organisation, Killen had no choice but to seek outside mentorship.  Even so, Johns agrees in the value of an impartial third party voice.

Personal relationships and internal politics can have a big impact when working through an issue, says Johns. An external opinion brings a purely professional perspective. 

It also means the mentee can rest assured that there are no ulterior motives at play. The mentor isn’t trying to sway the situation in a manner that suits them or their buddy in the senior leadership team – they’re just offering advice that’s purely intended to help the mentee.

3. Prepare for honesty and vulnerability

Killen says Johns became a valuable emotional support person throughout the program. On one occasion, Johns spotted the signs of burnout in Killen and called her out.

“I try to turn up to all meetings positive and optimistic, but this one time Karen saw right through me. She just asked “What’s going on? You’re not yourself.

“She started asking me questions and I realised ‘Wow, I am really rundown. I’m wrecked’! Karen gave me some amazing advice by pointing out that I’d been really hard on myself and wasn’t allowing myself to have a break.”

Johns says to really benefit from a mentor/mentee relationship, you should prepare to let your barriers down and be vulnerable.

“I think there is a habit of bravado sometimes, particularly in HR. We tend to put on our armour. But the valuable part of having a mentor is you can be vulnerable enough to let someone see beyond that,” she says.

“I think there is a habit of bravado sometimes, particularly in HR. We tend to put on our armour. But the valuable part of having a mentor is you can be vulnerable enough to let someone see beyond that.” – Karen Johns, HR manager at M3 Property.  

4. Practice active listening

Johns has had many mentees over the years (and has recently become a mentee herself), and she says the key skill that makes or breaks a mentorship program is active listening. 

As HRM has covered before, listening is more than nodding at the appropriate moment. It’s about showing the other person that you are absorbing what they’re saying and taking the time to form considered responses.

“Give 100 per cent of your focus and think about the meaning behind the words. ‘Why are they saying that? What’s their body language saying?’ That’s how you know what they really need from you, so you can provide the best advice at that moment,” says Johns. Johns noticing that Killen was presenting signs of burnout is a perfect example of this.

“As a mentor, that’s really the best thing you can offer [your mentee]. Every mentee is different, but they all want to be heard.” 

Active listening clearly had an impact on Killen. She cites Johns’s ability to always ask the right questions and see beyond what she was saying as her main reason for nominating her for mentor of the year.

“That, and she deserved it!” she adds.

You too could be an award winning mentor. Register now for AHRI’s 2021 mentoring program. Registration closes January 31st.

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Emily Craig and Narelle Glynn’s professional beginnings are almost a mirror image of one another, albeit with a fifteen-year gap wedged in between.

They both attended the same university, they both studied a degree in commerce, majoring in HR, and both women set their sights on one of the Big Four accounting firms at the completion of their studies, a goal that Glynn met, and Craig hopes to. It’s almost as if their paths were destined to cross when they both signed up for a work experience program; Glynn as the mentor and Craig the mentee.

The program gave Craig her first glimpse into the corporate world, gifting her with the experience and confidence to apply for her dream career opportunity at the program’s completion. For Glynn, group director of people and performance at the Lancemore Group, it was a chance to give back to the industry she’s dedicated the latter portion of her career to.

Craig was one of the first interns that the boutique hotel chain has brought on board.

“Outside of huge corporate organisations with lots of layers, hotels wouldn’t typically take a graduate from HR,” says Glynn. But speaking of the benefits, she says, “It was a shame Emily was only here for three weeks. I enjoyed the opportunity to work with someone who I could pass on some of my experience to and practice my own coaching skills.”

A step into the unknown

Like many year 12 students, Craig was somewhat unsure about where her career would take her. She knew what her favourite subject at school was (business management) but it wasn’t until she was given a leadership opportunity at her local supermarket job that she realised she might want a career HR.

“I liked working with people, making sure they were happy and figuring out the best ways to make them work productively,” she says.

During her work experience program, Craig was tasked with tying up the tail end of the Lancemore Group’s annual employee satisfaction survey. She crunched the numbers, analysed the data and presented the results to managers across various hotels, with Glynn’s guiding hand by her side.

“A lot of our casual workforce are within the millennial generation, so it was great to have Emily’s fresh perspective on some of the results,” says Glynn.

Craig wasn’t quite sure what to expect but she soon realised that she liked what she saw.

“My idea about working in HR was that it would be different every day, because you’re working with other people, so you don’t know what to expect. From observing Narelle, I saw that it was really diverse work and that was exciting,” she says.

“I learnt a lot about how to present in a corporate environment. Which is something I’ve never done before. Narelle was really helpful and taught me a lot.”

Overcoming the myth of the millennial

Glynn was glad to be able to debunk the millennial work ethic myth during her time working alongside Craig.

“You hear a lot of things about that generation, but she was just committed; she demonstrated a growth mindset and was just as resilient and appreciative of feedback [as more experienced employees].”

While Glynn’s career began in accounting, she was always fascinated by the world of HR and kept finding herself drawn to the training, recruitment and performance management spaces. Like Craig, she started her career with a Big Four internship and Craig says this encouraged her to take the leap and apply for one of their highly-coveted positions.

While Craig may have been one of the first interns at the Lancemore Group, she definitely won’t be the last. Glynn says she’s keen to take on more interns in the future and hone her coaching skills. As for Emily, she’s excited to tackle her “dream internship” with Deloitte in January and looks forward to learning more about the HR industry in the years to come.

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The mentee: Angela Sigismondi MAHRI

Former learning and development advisor, BP Kwinana Refinery; and aspiring career coach.

I felt like a bird in a cage at work before the mentoring program started. I had a diverse set of skills and a great deal of experience, but they weren’t aligned with my passion. Equally, there wasn’t any opportunities for growth in my role at the time.

So when Janelle and I first met for coffee, I think she realised I needed some support around the challenges that I was experiencing, especially with work and work-life balance.

For the last 14 years I had been working in the learning and development space within mining, construction, and oil and gas. I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go next in my career, or how to go about it, so the mentoring program allowed me to flesh that out with Janelle.

One thing I was pretty certain about, was that I wanted to do coaching and help people. Janelle helped me confirm my viewpoints and consider new ways of approaching situations. She had some ideas that I hadn’t even considered, so she widened my perspective and helped me understand that I had more options available to me than I realised.

Subsequently, I completed a level one coaching course with the Institute of Executive Coaching and Leadership (IECL) which is the next step to my ultimate goal: to coach people. Mentoring has helped me to become resilient and I’ve discovered inner courage and strength that I didn’t realise I had.

Without Janelle’s help I think it would have taken a lot longer for me to get to where I am today. Janelle has a high level of emotional intelligence and great self-awareness that meant she would actively listen without immediately jumping to judgment. As a result, I feel Janelle empowered me to fast-track my decisions.

My advice for other mentees is: you must be open to change. The role of your mentor is to facilitate your development and not complete the work for you. It’s also important to remember that the relationship is not about immediate achievement; it’s about developing your future potential.

Janelle and I have maintained contact – we recently caught up for coffee and a chat. The best mentoring relationships don’t necessarily dissolve. For us, there may not be regular contact, but she may reach out if she wants to bounce an idea off me or ask a question or just touch base and I will, no doubt, do the same.

Now I’m considering that it’s time for me to give back and become a mentor myself, given that I’ve had various wonderful mentors over my career.

The mentor: Janelle Roussos CAHRI

Employee HR manager, Global Digital Industrial Co

My career in HR kicked off around 20 years ago with generalist roles, mainly within construction and energy businesses. Over the past decade I’ve been working as an HR manager.

Throughout that time, I’ve had two particularly strong mentors. They were there to hold up the mirror so I could reflect on whatever was occurring in my career or personal life at the time. It didn’t matter what the topic was, they were my advocates. So the AHRI mentoring program was my opportunity to offer a little back into the profession.

My relationship with Angela started after AHRI connected us and we established early on that what she was looking for was a career growth and coaching conversation. Angela is a very intelligent, capable individual. She knew the answers, so my role was to help her navigate towards what I feel was the natural conclusion.

A lot of our conversations were around who she was going to take with her on her journey. Who were the people who were going to complement her, and who were the passengers that she needed to move on from?

My role was to give her the foundation to understand the risks and build the courage to take the next opportunity.

My intention is that this relationship will continue beyond the life of the AHRI program because we now know what each other’s strengths and weaknesses are and we’ll definitely continue to work together on that.

Mentoring is not a one-way street and it’s not a seniority-based approach either. What I learnt from all of this was not to give advice or to impart what I would do in her situation. I needed to ask thoughtful and powerful questions that would allow Angela to understand her capability and potential. And then to make the decisions around what was right for her.

The other thing I learnt was not to own another person’s problem. That can sometimes be tough because you do get emotionally involved and your natural instinct is to help.

My advice for other HR practitioners considering becoming mentors is to get on board. Mentoring and coaching is one of the fastest growing practices in our industry. HR is moving away from a control and command culture so start practising how to ask powerful questions because – if you’re going to be a good, well respected and credible practitioner – this is the future of HR.

Build your career and professional networks with AHRI’s Mentoring Program in 2018. Experienced HR professionals are matched with upcoming HR practitioners and HR graduates. Applications close Monday 19 February. Exclusive to AHRI members.

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Before we get to the benefits of coaching, we need to look at the problems inherent in current performance management systems. The accepted definition of performance management, as summarised by Armstrong and Baron, is this:

‘A process which contributes to the effective management of individuals and teams in order to achieve high levels of organisational performance. As such, it establishes shared understanding about what is to be achieved and an approach to leading and developing people which will ensure that it is achieved’.

We may think this is a contemporary approach, developed to meet the needs of today’s corporate environments. However China’s Wei Dynasty used a similar “nine-rank system” for evaluating civil service officials in the third century. Of course, performance management systems have evolved since then, primarily in the latter half of the twentieth century, following World War 2.

Today, businesses have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in performance rating systems that have evolved from these historical models. Their aim? To  provide management and personnel guidance that will improve performance and productivity. Whether the input is generated by objective metrics, ratings, forced rankings or goal achievements, these systems usually involve a process of standardisation, designed to assess people in similar roles by the same criteria.

This generally results in a rigid process that gives managers a sense of control and a belief that they are providing employees with feedback and direction. It t is assumed that at the end of the process, employees have identified, or been provided with, areas in which they can improve their performance.

When job descriptions were tightly defined and many people acted in identical roles, this process was effective. Now; not so much.

A new framework for feedback

Both locally and internationally, a mounting body of evidence is reflecting the fact that not only are many employees dissatisfied by traditional performance-based ratings, the traditional process of assessment and comparison – on which promotion and remuneration are based – can actually  be counter-productive and de-motivational in the modern workplace. It is also a system that can be successfully “gamed” by agile participants if it’s not thoroughly managed.

People are looking for new systems to manage performance – processes that are engaging, inspiring and motivating. The formal structures that once shaped working environments have been replaced by a new fluidity. Therefore, where employers expect more flexibility and initiative from their people, employees in turn expect it from their employers. This extends to how their performance and development is managed.

The key to better performance management: Leaders.

Managers must create more rewarding and productive working environments, while individuals must be equipped and empowered to lead themselves to develop their skills and optimise their performance and job satisfaction.

Executive coaching is the first step in transforming successful senior managers into successful leaders. Successful organisations need leaders who  not only understand themselves and how to maximise their performance, but also understand, motivate and coach their teams, at both collective and individual levels.

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When a company is going through duress, many of the challenges can be managed by effective coaching, says Heather Parkinson, CEO at Directioneering.

Her company works closely with HR and leadership teams, primarily during periods of organisational transition: when a company is going through change that is going to significantly impact its people.

“That might be a merger or acquisition, or a particular business strategy change that means that some people need to exit the organisation. Roles might be disappearing, or people need to reapply for other kinds of internal roles,” she says.

During these periods, HR must equip leaders with the tools to best manage the situation from a “people perspective” as well as keeping business outcomes on track.

Coaching the C- Suite

Though leaders often move up at organisations because they are experts at particular things: “good at solving tactical problems, good at getting things done – those are not necessarily great leadership characteristics,” says Parkinson.

Nor are they the skill-set required for getting the most out of others.

“As we look forward to the future of work, there are greater expectations of leaders than ever before. Individuals expect leaders to be invested in their development, and people are increasingly intolerant of bad leadership.

“Leaders these days need to be good coaches. They need to be able to take coaching, development and advice and apply it to themselves – and others.”

Coaching through change

Coaching is particularly valuable when an organisation is navigating seismic change. In these cases, there are three main challenges that must be addressed: the fear that organisations will lose their top talent during the change, decreases in engagement and productivity – and damage to the company brand.

Transparency is very important. The first thing organisations can do is be honest and clear about what’s happening, say Parkinson.

The next step is to build the capability in leaders to best manage their employees during the transition.

Finally, employees must be empowered to manage their careers during the change.

HR and the executive: steering the ship

Parkinson gives the example of an organisation that closed an entire office as an example of how leadership and team coaching can guide people through rough seas.

“Right from the CEO down the line, except for a select few people who were transferring to another office, they were all going.”

“So we encouraged having the conversations as early as possible,” says Parkinson. “We started to talk to people about how to understand the current employment market and recognise what their strengths were – and preparing them while the change was occurring.

“The people who felt supported and felt looked after and in control of their destinies were much more productive – and constructive.

“All change is different,” says Parkinson. “But if you do it right, you can ensure people are constructive and helpful. If you can reduce uncertainty, reduce fear and build capability and resilience, you’re going to get a far better outcome.”

The post Why we all need to be coaches, according to an expert appeared first on HRM online.

Your coaching development program would have provided you with useful models on learning cycles, adult change, and roadmaps to guide the course of events during a session. But there is one, less cerebral element essential to behavioural change, and that is a staff member’s motivation and drive to follow through. Is it possible to get people more revved up?

Yes, absolutely. All we have to do is focus on providing the individual with the opportunity to engage their passion and desire.

The degree to which an employee will implement and maintain a shift in behaviour will be dependent upon the degree to which they recognise and appreciate its value to their future professional success. Their desire must outweigh their sense of how much it will ‘cost’ them. HR can assist them in seeing the positive advantages of behavioural change in three ways:

1. Create a safe space

Employees enter a coaching meeting with ‘protective walls’ to guard against potential exposure of poor performance or embarrassment, so an important component of our role is to work to build a relationship of trust. If people feel judged they tend to hold strongly to their current behaviour and way of thinking, and the cost of change will seem too much to bear.

2. Generate a ‘buy-in’ environment

A staff member’s impetus to take on the ‘effort of change’ is internal, and occurs through conscious analysis and emotion-based thinking. To understand the move from internal processes to action it’s helpful to refer to a classic marketing technique.

Here’s how you could use the timeless ‘AIDA Model’ to approach a performance coaching session:

Attention: Need

Help them identify a need for change (generates consciousness of where they’re not competent).

Interest: Features

Explore new options as potential solutions to that change goal (generates curiosity and intrigue).

Desire: Benefits

Hold a visionary discussion around the personal/professional value and gain derived in implementing a chosen solution (generates motivation to attain benefits).

Action: Uptake

Stimulate their commitment to act and nail down a specific plan (generates strategic clarity, excitement and enhanced dedication to execution).

3. Facilitate spontaneous enthusiasm

Not all of us are natural cheerleaders, but stretching our comfort zones in this space is worth it. The expression of authentic enthusiasm is powerful and contagious. It adds positive emotion to an employee’s effort to overcome their more negative, ineffective work habits. Confirming the value and importance of their attempt can drive them to reach even greater heights, and embrace uncertainty as a doorway to opportunity.

Muffy Churches is an Executive Coach, Keynote Speaker, Leadership Specialist and Counsellor. She is the author of Coach Yourself, A 7-Step Guide to Personal Fulfilment.

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