5 Benefits of Coaching for Your Organization

We have entered an era where providing continuous feedback, guidance and support to employees is a necessity. Many companies have found that implementing a coaching program in the workplace is helping to usher in this welcome change.

Studies have found that 70% of employees stated that coaching helped to improve work performance, relationships, and communication skills. With that significant percentage in mind, it’s no surprise that companies have found that coaching employees provides a more nurturing environment that promotes career development and growth. 

The Top 5 Benefits of Coaching for Your Organization

The list of the benefits of employee coaching is a long one and includes improved engagement, higher productivity and higher employee retention rates. Due to the impact that these benefits have on business outcomes, many companies are now offering coaching to their employees. 

Let’s take a closer look at 5 of the top benefits of implementing an employee coaching program for your organization. 

1. Increase Employee Engagement
   Many organizations are suffering from the effect of low employee engagement. In fact, only 36% of U.S. employees are engaged in their work and workplace - which matches Gallup's composite percentage of engaged employees in 2020. Actively disengaged employees report miserable work experiences and are generally poorly managed.
   
   Employee coaching is an effective path to improving employee engagement throughout an organization. Employee development aided by coaching in the workplace is absolutely essential if you are looking to engage and maximize productivity from your workforce.
   
   Here are five major areas of focus where employee coaching can influence employee engagement:
   
   + Hone in on employee strengths rather than weaknesses.
   + Encourage regular two-way feedback on progress, among the entire team.
   + Always make sure skills learned are skills implemented.
   + Have your manager's completely buy-in to the employee coaching strategy.
   + Make sure adaptability is built into the coaching process.
   
   
2. Improve Employee Retention
   Coaching can also play a significant role in helping you retain employees, by driving a greater sense of purpose, empowerment, and self-actualization.
   
   Below are five keys to coaching as a retention strategy:
   
   + Assure workers of their career progression pathway.
   + Level the playing field of different worker demographics.
   + Better equip managers to build an engaging, retention-ready workplace.
   + Give employees a sense of meaning and purpose.
   + Generally empower your workforce.
   
   Employees that see a career path and are provided opportunities for success through coaching are more likely to stay with the organization providing these benefits. These benefits of coaching foster the type of culture employees don’t want to leave, increasing retention and improving business outcomes.
   
   
3. Unlock New Sources of Productivity
   An effective employee coaching program is an ongoing process dedicated to focusing on each worker’s individual needs, strengths and weaknesses, helping them improve in key areas through dedicated support. And one area every organization would most certainly label as key is productivity, as it has always been a significant factor in determining employee success.
   
   Improved productivity is one of the top reasons most companies opt to put a coaching program in place. Though how productivity is defined and measured is different from company to company, it is always an essential driver of organizational growth.
   
   Increased productivity means employees are not just getting more done, but are working smarter, more efficiently, and at higher quality levels. They’re decreasing the amount of time they’re spending on tasks, and performing those tasks better, faster, and more collaboratively.
   
   The best coaching inspires and boosts confidence, because it concerns not just what the employee is doing wrong, but also what they’re doing right. This opens up a deeper level of perspective and personal awareness to the employee and productivity is given the chance to flourish under these circumstances. 
   
   
4. Identify and Develop HIPOs
   High-potential employees (HIPOs) are those that exhibit the necessary skills for a leadership or management position. Identifying and developing employees in this group should be an essential part of your coaching program. These are your more ambitious employees that take initiative in all tasks, and stand to benefit the most from employee coaching. And the company stands to benefit from coaching this group as well.
   
   By pairing your HIPO with an experienced coach, they will learn the intricacies and nuances of potentially ascending into a leadership role before jumping in head-first. The coach not only offers guidance, but the feedback they provide can accelerate the HIPO’s progress and move them through the pipeline to management positions more quickly. 
   
   Like with any other employee, providing coaching to your HIPOs is a great way to further engage and retain them. And these are the employees you want to keep around as they will fill your succession pipeline and increase the likelihood of future success.
   
   
5. Foster a Positive Company Culture
   Why is a positive company culture important? Well, it guides the way you treat your customers and employees. It impacts the types of candidates you attract for open positions. And a positive work culture boosts productivity, decreases turnover and improves employee engagement.
   
   That’s a fairly strong argument for why it’s important. And coaching can help foster the kind of culture you want your company operating in.
   
   While, to a certain extent, company culture naturally forms within every organization, an employee coaching strategy that focuses on eliminating negative behaviors and toxic attitudes will help a positive culture to emerge.
   
   Smart coaching strategies that are aimed at creating a better company culture outline objectives of each team so employees have tangible results to work toward. Not only will this help guide individual performance, but it will encourage collaboration between team members. A good coach will also make sure every employee is clear on the organization’s long-term objectives. This will help individuals cultivate a sense of professional purpose.
   
   The bottom line on company culture is all about coaching the right core values and creating a positive, inclusive work environment that inspires employees.  
   
   

Utilize Technology to Achieve the Benefits of Employee Coaching

The right coaching software is designed to empower your coaches, while making it easy for you to measure how well each coaching relationship is working. Implementing coaching software that aligns with your coaching process is imperative to your program’s success. 

To achieve program and platform alignment, we suggest that the software you choose has the following features: 

• When it comes to engagement, a feature like coach matching is critical to ensure your “coachees'' are paired with the right coach. Software increases the likelihood that admins match coachees with the most qualified coaches. This helps coaching in an organization to be more successful while reducing admin time.  
• Coaching software that allows you to track progress helps your company keep up with interactions between matches and see how well they are performing to meet the coachees milestones.   
• A program with built in ad hoc reporting and the ability to download those reports, sharing and analyzing the data of coaching interactions are made simple. A metrics dashboard can help you see how each coaching relationship is performing.  

We’ve helped many organizations launch and transform their coaching programs in our more than 25 years of experience. Book a demo and discover how Insala can help you implement technology into your coaching program.