No matter the size or shape of your enterprise, your business can benefit from coaching. Business coaching and mentoring comes in many shapes and sizes to fit your specific business needs. When you have coaches who can work with team members at each level, you can increase the chances of adopting systems and working models that are more likely to bring you success, such as an Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). Implementing company-wide coaching can seem like a daunting challenge. Use these steps to lead the way, clarify your vision and get a winning system in place.
Start at the Top
Quality and accountability start at the highest levels in your business. Mid and top executives need to model the behaviors and actions that they want those who work with them to display. Start by coaching this key group so that all of the new methods of your EOS system are more likely to be adopted and adhered to.
Bring everyone together and explain what you want to accomplish and how the new system can help. By ensuring that everyone understands the benefits, you make them all stakeholders who are dedicated to your business's transformation and success.
The people at the top matter because they can set the tone for the entire company. For instance, workers are more productive and experience greater job satisfaction when they feel that they are valued. Many, especially among Millennials, say that a working environment where they feel valued and feel they are working toward something worthwhile is worth more than an increase in salary. Establish incentives and create professional development plans that can help your people feel secure and necessary to your organization. This allows you to get more out of the people who work for you, improve worker satisfaction and keep more people working with your company for longer.
Identify Your Internal Coaches
Coaching doesn't stop with upper management. You need to delegate coaching responsibilities to others in the organization to make sure that your vision reaches every level.
At every level of your organization, you'll find people who are natural coaches. You'll find born leaders who are able to coax the best out of everyone they work with while achieving excellence themselves. Choose the people who best exemplify the goals that you want to achieve. These individuals can share their positive attitudes and habits with others, improving everyone's job performance.
Give these people access to members in executive roles. They can get the guidance that they need to implement your new programs in the way that benefits your organization most. In a number of studies and surveys, people rate open communication with management as one of their top necessities for a positive workplace.
Your in-house coaches can help people in each department and team work together more effectively. When people are working effectively and reaching their goals, the sense of accomplishment builds momentum for further success. If you are not sure who to pick for internal coaching, talk to the people who work for you. They can give you insight about who is well-liked, who is considered a dedicated worker and who is most likely to effectively lead.
Train Your Leaders and Coaches Well
Even natural leaders need training. By taking the time to properly train everyone in a leadership or coaching position in your organization, you can ensure that you have consistency all the way up and down the line. By aligning everyone with a single positive and actionable vision, you can be sure that everyone is working together toward the greater company goals. Use tools like the accountability chart for guidance.
Start with a focus day where you talk about the goals and the transformation that you want to see. EOS has tools available to help people understand the concepts and apply them to your organization. Talk about where your company's performance can see improvement and what can be done to get the sorts of results that you want.
After the initial training, it's important to touch base and follow up on a regular basis. Talk to your coaches and let them tell you about the challenges they are facing. An open door policy makes people feel more confident and secure. If necessary, set up a specific liaison so that people always know who to come to for help.
On a quarterly and annual basis, have additional coaching days to reinforce the material and practices. This allows you to ensure that everyone is on the same track.
Measure Your Results
To know that you are moving toward the goals for your company, you'll need to set up ways to measure your results. Set benchmarks for all of your goals. Check in frequently to check your progress. Over time, you may need to adjust strategies to keep all team members excited and moving toward your goals.
Success can be measured through a number of measures. Decide when you are first implementing coaching what you will consider a success and how long you expect to take to reach it. For instance, you can decide that each team leader needs to complete coaching training within a set amount of time. Teams will be encouraged to adapt to the new system by another milestone date.
Look at areas like leads, sales and the time it takes to deliver a product. See where you can improve in each of those areas. Over time, your improvements will help increase revenue and cut costs. By setting goals in each of those areas, you give people concrete objectives to strive toward.
It can take time to transform an organization and see the sorts of results that you want. By starting at the top and modeling the actions you want all the way down, you can gradually transform your company. Team members at all levels will become more involved and engaged. With consistent and positive coaching, you will see great results.
The Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) was created by Gino Wickman (Author of Traction-get a grip on your business) and is a registered trademark of EOS Worlwide. Chris Hallberg of Traction Inc. is a Certified EOS Implementer(tm) that helps business owners and their leadership teams get more of what they want from their business.
