The Benefits of Coaching Beyond the C-Suite

As coaching gains in popularity and visibility, more and more executives are reaping its many benefits. In many organizations, coaching is now as much a part of the culture as the annual holiday party or dress down Fridays. However, as organizations continue to embrace the importance of supporting their highest-level executives, very few invest in coaching for their lower executives and front-line staff. Here’s why all organizations should invest in the benefits of coaching for all staff. And here’s why you should.

Professional Development Takes Time

Far more than sending staff off to random, unconnected trainings throughout the year, true professional development requires intentionality, time and resources. Each staff member employs his own skills, interests, motivations, and areas of growth, and as a result, requires an individualized plan for professional development. In a perfect world, managers would invest the necessary time and resources into their staff, but in reality, few do. One of the many benefits of coaching is that it helps to fill this gap.

You Want Your Employees to Grow

Coaching helps people reach the goals they have set for themselves. Through a process of self-empowerment and accountability, coaching has been shown to yield amazing results. As managers, it is important that we help our staff maximize their potential for the betterment of themselves and of course, for the benefit of the team and the organization. As employees gain more skills and confidence, their performance will continue to improve, and for some, this will result in moving up the organizational chain. This culture of growth will become embedded in your organization.

You Want Your Employees to Stay  

We all know that it is more cost effective and more productive to have high employee retention rather than high employee turnover. Yet many of us continue to ignore our staff only to scratch our heads when they walk out the door. This is costly in many ways, more than just financially. Keeping staff on board is far more efficient and cost effective than constantly having to hire, train and acclimate new employees. By providing coaching, you are not only helping your staff grow and feel supported, you are in turn helping your team and organization by keeping your staff around.  

You Want Your Employees to Feel Supported

Better yet, you want them to BE supported, legitimately. By investing in coaching for your staff, you are sending the message that you value their growth and satisfaction. You are showing them that they matter and that they are worth the investment.

Further, in a professional environment, coaching goals would naturally be professional. But an important benefit of coaching is that it does not cleanly delineate between personal and professional goals. It can’t. As much as we say we want to keep our private lives out of our work (and vice versa) they show up anyway. During coaching, people are, well, people and what is going on around them inevitably surfaces during sessions. The beauty of the process is that it encompasses the whole person and it allows staff to work through the different areas of their lives in a way that will help them both personally and professionally. As a result, there will be a natural decrease in the negative consequences that can affect the workplace when staff are dealing with personal issues. 

You Don’t Want to Play Favorites

Investing in your senior staff shows a commitment to their growth and the success of your organization. However, if you are only investing in your senior staff, what message are you sending to the rest of the organization? In today’s increasingly less hierarchical workplace, staff need to know that they are just as valuable as the person above, below and beside them. By providing all staff with the benefits of coaching, you are demonstrating the value you place on investing in all members of the organization, a message that will resonate with all team members.

You Want to Invest Wisely

Yes, coaching costs money. So does every workshop, training and consultant you have hired throughout the years. The difference is, coaching is ongoing and continues to provide benefit long after the workshop is over and the consultant’s contract is up. By investing in a continuous process, you are ensuring that the value will last and that it will build upon itself. When looking at the ever-important bottom line, you want to invest in professional development that is effective and lasting. Look no further than coaching. Because it facilitates a process where staff can increase their confidence and skills around their own growth, coaching is truly the gift that keeps on giving.

We necessarily make many of our day-to-day decisions based around money. What we often fail to do is truly appreciate the cost. Especially in the non-profit world, we run around harried lamenting our lack of time and as a result, often invest very little into our staff and their development. Then we sit and wonder why turnover is so high. The old adage about an ounce of prevention holds true. If we can appreciate the importance and necessity of investing in our teams we will have no choice but to invest in their growth and development. In the end, the amount of time and money we save from decreased turnover and increased productivity is well worth the investment, but we are often too shortsighted to truly appreciate this so the cycle continues. But it doesn’t have to. By investing in coaching for each team member, it is not merely a message we are sending- though that message is important. Instead, we are truly investing in our staff which is of course our greatest asset.  The question then shifts from can we afford to? to can we afford not to?