Welcome!
Personal Coach
Louise Kaelin
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Good. Better. Best. Which self do you want to be?
Less than mentors, more than supervisors, they see how a job fits the "whole person."
Athletes are used to the idea of listening to the coach.
But increasingly, coaches are entering the workplace as businesses strive to boost productivity and staff morale.
For instance, a medical technician in Cleveland, one of the best workers in her laboratory, was promoted by her bosses - receiving a fatter paycheck, more responsibility and prestige.
But she was miserable.
Overwhelmed and confused, she turned to Kathryn Musholt, an Akron, Ohio, business coach.
Together, they recognized that the duties the technician really loved were back in the lab, working with others to solve problems, not squirreled away in a private office.
She returned to the lab, a happier, more productive employee and a convert to the concept of coaching.
In the last decade, workplace coaching has gained increasing popularity, so much so that experts predict some form of it soon will be used in virtually all corporate offices and most small businesses nationwide.
The Web site for the International Coach Federation lists programs that offer coaching certification in more than 100 specialties, from corporate to life balance to spiritual.
A business coach looks at the employee as a whole person - with specific interests, abilities and personality - to decide where he or she fits best in the workplace, said Musholt, owner of KSM Careers & Consulting.
"Coaching is supporting you to get where you were headed anyway," she said. "My philosophy is [that] everyone wants to do better for the organization. Otherwise, they wouldn't be there."
The concept is not unlike what goes on in sports. Is Player A a shortstop or a rightfielder? Is Player B a star center or defensive stalwart? Player C has talent, but how can we make the most of it?
This theory works in business at least partly because employees have changed in the last 15 years, said Joyce Gioia, a North Carolina workplace-trends specialist.
"The employees coming into our workplace today will not stand for the old order of management," Gioia said.
"Employees today don't want to be directed," she said. "They want to be encouraged to develop themselves. They say: 'Don't tell me what to do. Tell me what you want done, and I'll figure out the best way to do it." '
Workplace experts call it "the new employment contract."
Most coaching is one-on-one work between an employee and a supervisor or outside consultant. A coach asks hard questions, and challenges the employee regularly to refocus his or her perspective and improve performance.
The relationship is different from a mentorship, which typically involves more personal investment and a longer period, Musholt, the Ohio coach, said.
In one form or another, business coaching has been around since the late 1980s, when it first became popular with executives looking for outside help in climbing the corporate ladder. Some needed time-management skills. Others needed help in learning how to manage people.
Now, business coaches are guiding entrepreneurs, and corporate coaches are training managers to coach rank-and-file employees, from the production lines to the highest levels of management.
Some large companies, such as International Business Machines Corp. and consulting firm Ernst & Young L.L.P., developed entire internal divisions devoted to corporate coaching.
Peter Cairo, coauthor of the self-help book Action Coaching, said the movement was a reaction to the downsizing frenzy of the 1980s.
"Many companies today have gone through that restructuring," he said. "They are already very lean. So if you're looking for growth strategies to increase performance and profits, it's risky to get any leaner without doing some damage."
The result: Businesses are investing more time and energy in staff development.
The National Association of Business Coaches' membership has grown from about 25,000 three years ago to almost 50,000 today, its executive director, J. Stephen Lanning, said.
Companies that delve into coaching find themselves dealing with what often is called the "soft side" of business. This includes intangibles such as purpose, value and relationship, things that deal directly with an employee's humanity, experts say. These elements create meaningful workplaces, something more employees are demanding, they say.
But human elements are some of the hardest company issues to deal with, said the Rev. Norman Douglas, executive director of Heart to Heart Communications. The nonprofit group began 10 years ago consulting with Akron businesses in the area of internal relations.
At the time, companies weren't ready to talk about individual development, Douglas said. Everyone thought restructuring would solve productivity problems.
Now, organizations such as Heart to Heart have busy schedules.
Employees "are searching for the connection between what we do and who we are," said Jim Burns, Heart to Heart's director of operations.
Finding that connection can be costly: Many business consultants charge $100 to $200 an hour, and corporate programs cost $1,000 to $10,000 a month.
"The return on investment in developing people is [that] you retain people, you have happier people in the workplace, and you increase productivity," said Sherry Greenleaf, a corporate coach with Impact Training & Development Inc. in Westlake, Ohio.
One of the biggest differences between athletes and businesspeople is that athletes often are proud of their coaches. A big name, such as the Boston Celtics' Rick Pitino, can bring prestige.
But businesses often are shy about the issue, feeling that coaches are called in as a last resort in personnel conflicts, Musholt of KSM Careers said.
Moreover, many executives are embarrassed even to reveal that they need help. "They're supposed to be these strong leaders," she said. "Asking for a little guidance appears weak."
© Copyright 1999-2008 Louise Morganti Kaelin, All Rights Reserved