Training Industry Quarterly - Winter 2009 - (Page 16) Minimizing Impact Through the establishment of a strong succession plan, reinforced with coaching and mentoring, the tragedy outlined above will have minimal operational impact on your organization. We also need to consider the financial imperatives, as Woody Allen has been quoted, “Money is important if only for financial reasons!” In his 2008 book, The First 90 Days, Harvard Business School author Michael Watkins states the failure rate for senior outside hires into a company is 40% to 50% with both severe tangible and intangible costs to the organization. Dr. Steve Gladis, www.SteveGladisCommunications.com, author of The Journey of the Accidental Leader (2008), as well as The Executive Coach in the Corporate Forest (2008), states, “Due to the retiring surge of baby boomers, executives will be vacating their positions at an alarming rate, confirmed by a study from the federal government Office of Professional Management (OPM) as well as IBM …[and] The ‘silver tsunami’ of the baby boomers leaving the workplace is real and potentially devastating to both the public and private sectors alike…and every aspect of an organization will be touched by this surge, particularly the learning and development areas.” Can we afford not to build our legacy as this “perfect storm” approaches? Gladis further states, “Legacy coaching provides an opportunity for organizations to develop a reasonable transition for both the person and the organization.” Coaching and mentoring are not the same. We trust that both approaches are embraced. For further clarification, Heidi Kromrei provided the comparison in “Elements of a Successful Mentoring Program” for ASTD Links in June 2008, from the book, Mentoring: A Henley Review of Best Practices by Jane Cranwell-Ward, Patricia Bossons and Sue Gover. (See Table 2.) A Legacy of Learning Learning leaders must embrace both the “how” (coaching) and the “why” (mentoring) as they build a legacy of learning professionals within their organization. Leaders have a vision; followers are comfortable with the status quo. 16 Table 2: Mentoring vs. Coaching Coaching: The How Specific development/education Short-term Development in attitude, behavior, presentation Directive Help achieve a goal Coach doesn’t need to be an expert Mentoring: The Why Holistic Longer-term Larger-development in broader ways of thinking Guidance “How things work around here” Focus on retention and alignment; organization development; business performance Work on improving what already exists Training (improvement) – Mentoring Larger Less frequent Work on improving what already exists Training (new) – Coaching Address specific issues More frequent (Cranwell-Ward, Bossons, and Gover, 2004) Learning leaders must incorporate both their vision and the pragmatic path of implementing their visions. In short, they must be “envisioneers” as they prepare themselves and their staff for the next level. Building a culture of coaching within an organization can require a paradigm shift that must be driven by those who understand the urgency and benefits. Whether you prefer a structured framework or a more spontaneous environment, there must be support from leadership, investment of time and dedicated resources. Coaching not only requires skill, but some level of planning as you are addressing specific issues and tasks related to an individual’s actual performance on the job. In many organizations, coaching is a required competency for the management team and an expectation of individual contributors. Mentoring, on the other hand, is less formal and structured. Mentoring can have a tremendous impact on the professional development of both individuals in addition to the overall health of the organization. For the organization, mentoring can shorten the learning curve of new employees, build team cohesiveness, produce a more skilled workforce and aid in succession planning. The mentee will have a safe place to seek advice regarding professional issues, expand their professional network, take risks with some support, gain visibility and build competency levels. The mentor has an opportunity to improve their coaching abilities, strengthen communication skills, broaden their knowledge base, and reinforce their leadership expertise. Table 3 offers some best practices that will help all parties reap the full benefits of mentoring. According to Myron J. Radio, president of The R Group, LLC, www.The-RGroup.com, a consortium of senior advisers intent on energizing organizations, “Many supervisors in today’s organizations think that coaching and mentoring equates to listening to a staff member’s personal issues, then offering a point of view to resolve the troubling matter. The concern is that supervisors are generally ill-equipped to deal with such touchy issues and lack the personal style or motivation to do so. In fact, these topics rarely surface in business settings. The true value of coaching and mentoring is to pass on formal and experiential learning to enable coachees to better perform in their roles. In today’s business environment, this is especially crucial to transfer knowledge from the baby boomers to the millennials, who thirst for this learning and growth interaction. It’s also an excellent way to extend the coach’s legacy.” Providing Opportunities Realizing the importance of preparing for your replacement is value in and of itself, however, how do we provide specific and pragmatic opportunities to prepare our staff for our departure? Training Industry Quarterly, Winter 2009 / A Training Industry, Inc. ezine / www.trainingindustry.com/TIQ http://www.SteveGladisCommunications.com http://www.SteveGladisCommunications.com http://www.The-R-Group.com http://www.The-R-Group.com http://www.trainingindustry.com/TIQ
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