Coaching and having a coach has become a huge buzz in today’s corporate world. As leaders in the fast-paced, ever-changing work environment, having that third-party support to manage the chaos and complexity can be invaluable.
On the other hand, bringing in a coach as a last measure in an under-performing employee’s Performance Improvement Plan, does not necessarily guarantee results. At this stage of the process, most employees will say whatever they think is necessary to get through the coaching session, and do whatever is necessary to keep their jobs. They will modify their behaviour to the coach’s expectation, until doing so becomes too much of a burden and too stressful.
This stress is caused when their modified, external behaviour is not in alignment with their internal understanding of how they choose to act and how they choose to see the world around them. Once that burden becomes too hard to bear, they revert back to following their internal drivers (old patterns) and their unproductive behaviour and/or poor performance returns to the workplace. This kind of stress s called inner dissonance. This cycle of inner dissonance is also a primary cause of performance burnout manifested with the failure to achieve the primary motivational drivers of the person.
When this pattern emerges with an employee, the only question remaining as a leader, is how long should you continue to invest time and effort in someone who is underperforming and disrupting work-place culture. Interestingly, firing often isn’t necessary: evidence from practical work experience suggests that when struggling employees get the sense that there is no avoiding being held accountable, they will exercise their freedom of choice and decide they do not want to work for an organization where they are held accountable for their behaviour and performance. They will leave on their own accord.
On the other hand, there’s a possibility the underperforming employee is in fact a highly talented person whose brain is caught up in a self-preservation mode related to undisclosed fear of losing their job. If that’s the case, and with the help of a coach trained in the skill of Positive Presence, that person can recover their higher brain function leading to higher levels of performance and become a valued asset to your organization.
Catherine is the President and CEO of CORPORATE HARMONY, providing virtual solutions for leadership development and organizational culture change. Her leadership and coaching experience as a Project Manager in an ever-changing, fast moving technological organization with unrelenting demands drove her to the realization that a positive mindset and strength-building behaviors are essential for today’s complex and chaotic organizational systems. CORPORATE HARMONY’s virtual platform of programs, coaching and performance measurement, is an innovative online technology of tested proprietary content. The world-class content of CORPORATE HARMONY’s Positive Presence Program develops the skill of ‘Positive Presence’ and the necessary ‘Positive Presence Behaviour Competencies’ for maintaining a positive and energized mindset and increased performance in today’s complex work environment, and leading to a culture of collaboration and connection. Catherine’s vision for Corporate Harmony is to bring the skill of “Positive Presence” to the corporate world as it becomes more complex, ambiguous and chaotic. Catherine is uniquely positioned to impact organizations’ productivity and long term success, with her powerful vision of eliminating bad stress from every workplace around the globe, bringing purpose into the people equation to promote healthy, productive and meaningful work cultures and turn the tide on the neglect of mental health on a global scale. Catherine is author of the book: “CORPORATE HARMONY – The Performance Link for Today’s Modern Organization” Catherine can be reached at: Catherine.Osborne@corporateharmony.ca or go to ‘contact us’ on our website www.corporateharmony.ca. Catherine is available for consultation, and can be reached by 519-695-3407.