Let’s face it. Coaching employees is expensive. And time consuming.
It’s easy to find the value and wisdom in using an engaging program like Catalytic Coaching to leverage the contributions and guide the careers of executives and managers. Some feel hesitant to make a similar investment for first line supervisors and individual contributors, especially those in blue collar positions. Those folks aren’t usually as career focused and the managers aren’t often natural Coaches.
As a career-long believer in the virtues of “HR Lite”, I believe a system’s weight should never exceed its value. The less a system weighs and the more it produces, the better it is. This is true everywhere else, why not in HR?
With that in mind, let’s ask the bottom line question: When should you just stick to the old traditional performance reviews?
As the creator of Catalytic Coaching, I’ve had a front row seat to the triumphant successes and outright failures of both traditional systems and Coaching. Believe it or not, there are times when I’d recommend just staying with the old methods instead of investing in a system that clearly takes more energy to produce positive results. Let me clarify.
My reasoning is quite simple. Catalytic Coaching was designed to do five primary things. If you don’t want them for a given segment of your population, or feel your current methods are effective in meeting similar needs, it may be easiest to stick with the status quo.
Let’s ask the key questions:
Change Behavior
Is your current system (or lack thereof) encouraging your team to keep doing good things, stop doing bad things, and continue doing great things?
Is it clear to them exactly what they need to focus on to improve their contribution in their current job?
Do they have a plan in place (and approved by their immediate supervisor) that they are held accountable to execute?
Do those interested in advancement know what they can do to better position themselves for promotion?
Do they even want a promotion? Are you sure?
Are they doing anything that puts their job at risk? Have you made that clear? In writing? Notified HR and obtained buy-in from another layer up?
If all of this is already happening for the team members in question, perhaps you don’t need Catalytic Coaching.
Enhance Motivation
When your managers get done delivering your current reviews, do their team members look them in the eye and proclaim “You’re going to see more of me, boss. I can do this!”?
Do they arrive at work earlier, stay engaged later, and take work home with them?
Do they hear their checklist of competencies and understand how that fits into the company standard?
Do members of your workforce look forward to their annual review? Does it strengthen their relationship with their immediate manager?
If members of the team leave their rating sessions feeling positively about their manager and the company, perhaps you don’t need Catalytic Coaching.
Reduce Turnover
Does whatever you’re currently doing (or not doing) bond those still evaluated with your firm?
Does it help them conceive of their current job as part of a career, no matter what level they’re at?
Does it keep your employees engaged, feeling appreciated and respected for the work they do even if they aren’t considered “high potential”?
Does it help uncover aspects of their job they would like to emphasize or lessen?
If all this is true and your current attrition levels are well below industry standards, perhaps you don’t need Catalytic Coaching.
Increase Promotions
Are you already facilitating and documenting the career aspirations and goals of your team members?
Are your best performing team members interested in taking on the responsibilities inherent in advancement?
Are they aware of the gaps between their current skill sets and those required to be successful in the job they covet?
Are they working on a plan today that will prepare them for the more challenging job that may not even come open for several years?
Are they training a successor to assume their current duties when they have an opportunity to move up?
If you’ve got a smoothly operating succession system, perhaps you don’t need Catalytic Coaching.
Minimize Legal Exposure
Are managers throughout your organization asking HR for help removing long standing poor performers?
Does HR have files documenting personnel as “meeting expectations” even though they are consistently poor performers?
Are your performance reviews minimizing righteous indignation by helping managers say to poor performers’ faces what others are saying behind their backs?
If you are consistently, safely, and successfully resolving performance problems in the context of days or weeks instead of months or years, perhaps you don’t need Catalytic Coaching.
Catalytic Coaching was designed to work for everyone in an organization.
Yes, it is always best to start at the top and cascade your way down.
Yes, the higher-level conversations have the potential for bigger organizational impact.
And, yes, it takes longer to teach first line supervisors to be effective coaches and more creative energy to get blue collar people to care.
But… the outcomes this program produces create value to everyone who works, at every level. And while it may take longer to achieve as much with a blue collar workforce, many dozens of companies with thousands of lower level workers have proven it is both possible and worthwhile to make the effort. You can hear directly from some of those organizations in these testimonial videos.
If you answered YES! to at least most of the desired outcome questions listed above at every level of your company using your existing system: CONGRATULATIONS! You’ve done what very very few can manage.
But if you found yourself saying No over and over, then chances are high that Catalytic Coaching is exactly what you need.
Garold (Gary) Markle is the creator of Catalytic Coaching and author of Catalytic Coaching: The End of the Performance Review. He brings real world experience from 17 years in HR leadership, over 23 years in Senior Leadership, and over 20 years of teaching organizations how to cultivate their leadership and ditch their detrimental performance reviews for a proven Coaching process.
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