Coaching: What's in a Name? More than You Probably Thought

They say a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet as it does. But the assumption is that you will seek out the rose even it was called by that other name.  Not true.  Try this thought experiment.

Let’s assume a rose is now called a “rat”  or “pig”.  I am not sure now,  given the contextual understanding of rat or pig (which already exits) in the mind of someone, whether he / she would really have the propensity to even attempt the smelling exercise. This has to do with the way our brain is wired and the images we have of the concept. So the association that exists in our mind with “rat”  or “pig” is the hindrance

Now let’s imagine a new word “fiper”  or “toki” (I’m sure it won’t be found in a dictionary) and start using this for a rose.  The next time you smell it and are told you will be presented with a fiper or toki you start associating the word with the sweet smelling thing and wait in anticipation and won’t get that repulsive feeling.

Now that same concept extrapolated to the HR world where we have a popular developmental tool called “coaching”. Whatever be the objective the association of the word itself might have something to do with what exists as a popular meaning in a cultural context.   In India, especially during our growing up days as students one may tend to believe or understand that coaching is for someone who is weak in studies.  We hear parents saying my boy/ girl goes to a coaching class to cope up with studies.  So contextually coaching is seen as something for those who need help,  those who have to go beyond regular school or college.

From my experience I have come across many people in the Indian context who don’t want to openly agree that they are being coached.   They are very uncomfortable in accepting the fact that they go through coaching (either on performance or even on leadership) for this very reason.  That is one reason why in the Indian context coaching is not seen as something aspirational (specifically being coached).  Being a coach may still be something which may be handsomely rewarding and may still find favor but being coached….probably not.  So next time we need to contextualize a program to cultural context we may want to understand how the association of the mind does that. If it is positive go ahead….like some organizations have a Catalyst Program for rapid promotions  Here the association goes in unison with something desirable.

Think about it.  Coaching perhaps needs to be positioned differently.  We may need distinct words or derived words that make us more comfortable.  It's time to think about the contextual adaptations needed for programs that we borrow from the west. It's time for indigenous adaptations to people management concepts.  

The genesis for the above discussion came from my observation and discussion with some of those who were involved with coaching.   Managers and leaders don't want to accept (openly) that they are being coached.   They may be OK to have a coach but not discuss with others, even do the coaching discussion at a hotel / at home.   The sense that came out of these observations was that people associate coaching with something not so "good" something beyond "regular" or "normal".

Competency Concepts Primer

In this post I will elaborate one some relevant characteristics of competencies.   Competencies are one of most effective ways to channelize capabilities for advantage but many times misunderstood therefore large number of implementations (over 60%) don’t benefit the organizations where the models are implemented.

In an earlier post I tried to clarify about competencies being something that differentiates people on their abilities. Competencies are defined in context, which implies that what may be competency in one context may not be so in another one.   So Point one about competency is “context”

Second, if we a person has a competency the application has to be consistent in order for it to be competency. Taking an example close to the Indian context if you consider batting as a competency for Sachin Tendulkar then he should be able to bat well consistently across various types of pitches viz., bouncy, sow, fast and similarly be consistent when playing spinners or medium pacers, googly specialists and so on. 

Third, competencies can be developed.  In that sense it is a coachable construct. .  However what comes to mind here is about “Application”. One needs to understand the behavioural anchors well to get a clear map as to how to develop and build proficiency on the competency.  Most organizations define competencies in behavioural terms.  The behaviours are organized in order of increasing proficiency either using an appropriate point scale (ranging from 3 to 5 levels) or a nominal scale (High, Medium, Low and so on)

Further competencies encompass behavioural descriptions that can relate to knowledge, skills or attributes and a combination of these. They can be threshold or differentiating. Every job role will have both threshold as well as differentiating competencies.   

Above are a few aspects of competencies to bring some clarity on the concept that is very relevant for organizations performance.

More elaborations on competencies and its application in organizations in later posts.

Click below for other links on Competencies

Competencies: What?

What Drives Competency Utilization

Competency:  Sum of Parts

Simple Story to Illustrate Competencies

LAUGH OUT YOUR RIBS (HeaR)

They say All Work and No Fun,   Will Bore Anyone....  So enjoy a lighter moment with some H(umou)R

  

We talk about virtual world and how people can be more productive and get much more done.   Sample this.

Employee (proudly) :  I am working remotely.

Manager (thinking): I don’t think you are even remotely working

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A compensation strategist decided a new “probabilistic model” for compensation.

Soon it was time for communication session with employees

Communicator:   Friends, this year we will give merit increase by roll of dice.   If you roll 1, or 2, or 3 or 4 or 5 you get absolutely no increment this year

Enthusiastic Employee:   But what if Roll a 6 on the dice

Communicator:  Simple !! Haven’t you played LUDO before… if it is 6 you get to roll the dice once more.

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A big black dog walked into the HR Interview Room.  

Recruiter:  But what the heck are you doing here !!  Go Away

Black Dog:   Sorry, I read that you care about diversity but seems you have only humans on the team, Thought I’d give it a chance.

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Hey James,  I thought your last working day was previous Thursday.  You were supposed to have.  How come still around buddy?

James:  Gosh !! I resigned but could not clear the exit interview.  So they held me back

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Tailpiece 

Example of Progressive Series

Lies ---  More Lies ---- Dammed Lies  ----- HR Communication !!!
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Balanced Score Card & Strategy Sessions at World HRD Congress 2015, Mumbai

The World HRD Congress has been an annual event that I have been attending for past 5 years.   Each year it seems to be getting bigger, better and brighter with several HR and Related Professions congregating in the city of Mumbai.  This year’s theme for the Congress is “Connecting Minds, Creating The Future.  The sessions would revolve around Strategic HRM, Balanced Score Card,  HR Technology, Measuring the Impact of HR Performance among others.  

This year I would be presenting experiences of my organization on Strategic HR Alignment and how the Balanced Scorecard is positioned in effective implementation of strategy.  Both the strategy and score card are two sides of the coin. One helps direction of the organization to be channelized appropriately given the context of the industry, the customer landscape and the talent availability and the other helps effectively implement the strategy. 

In simple terms BSC is a tool for strategy implementation and my session will focus on how HR has played a vital role in enabling this in a large diverse and multi geographical entity.

The congress will run from 15 to 17 Jan 2015 and you can find more details on the congress at their web site.  Click Here.

More insights on Score Card its role in strategy execution and the challenges and opportunities in later posts.

Sum of Parts or Not: Competencies in Context

You just lost the best person on your team- the champion who was most equipped with knowledge, skill and resultant capability to close a deal in one of the complicated business units at your organization.   So what way did that impact your competency as an organization.  Does individual competency affect the overall organizational competency.   Does one person carrying away vital capability make any difference to your organization.   

We often hear -  organization is bigger than individuals.  Yes that's true and it is also true that the whole is greater than the sum of parts when it comes to the organization and its employees capabilities.   However the caution for leaders is to understand that even when you deduct something  the same logic holds true.   When a specific capability (embodied in the individual) leaves the decrease is also greater than just one persons capability going away.  You can't have a one sided equation can you?

Here are three aspects that can clarify.

a) An exit of any nature is like something which rocks the boat.  Thought processes are triggered in  the discerning minds of colleagues and coworkers as to what made him / her leave,  should they follow and look for a better paying job... if he / she could get 30% more can't I get 40% more. This puts some pressure in the system that has a push effect.  There is a drag on the agility vis a vis that cumulative capability that the individual contributed to.

b) There is bound to be some kind of imbalance in the target goal or objective at hand.   It is like a relay - one person less to handle the baton - maybe you can replace the individual quickly , even before he's actually left , but what about the hours and hours of practice that went in before the final race.   This applies even to work situations.   So it has a slow down kind of impact or at least a temporary one till the capability evens out.

c) Replacement cost, effort and time to speed for building the same capability means someone has to take time out to train or coach another person.  Someone has a temporary diversion of focus towards something other than the goal at hand.  Reduced focus means reduced capability.  Can it be simpler.  

In future posts we'll explore more of the fascinating aspects of competency both individual as well as organizational level.   Other posts related to competency

Competencies: What?

What Capabilities? Change Management

Simple framework to Understand Competencies

Development Discussion: Timing Matters

Performance Management is a key process in the talent management repertoire of any organization.   If this key process is done well most of the other processes will fall in place and align beautifully.   One of the downstream processes that depends to a large extent on a robust performance management framework is the employee development process.  Some part of the learning needs comes from what was mirrored in the PMS outcomes; i.e. the areas for improvement and enhancement in the coming year based on the observed performance in context.

The problem most designers don't notice is that this key process is bound to fail if you couple the development discussion too tightly with the performance appraisal.   The best strategy would be to keep the two distinct and separated in time by what we can call as a "Cooling off Window"   The best would be to have the development discussion after a 3 to 4 month window downstream from the appraisal process itself.

That way you would avoid a lot of unwanted discussion around the gaps in the performance observed from feedback.  Normally you would notice that when it comes to the appraisal process most people get very defensive about areas of improvement and so it gets difficult to have any meaningful dialogue.  On one hand employee is defensive about improvement areas as it is tied down to appraisal scores and performance bands which ultimately determine compensation rise and other downside implications related to pay.  On the other the same points go into determining what areas could be improvement focus.

However this does not mean that you can short cut the performance appraisal and feedback. The rigor of the feedback mechanisms - timely, periodic (2 to 3 times in a window of 6 months) and context specific still holds good.

By keeping a cooling off window the two processes get done at different times.  The feedback at time of learning needs should also factor in context specific inputs given to the employees when working on their job and performing their roles.  This reinforces the inputs on improvement areas.    Combine this with multi-rater feedback where the employee is given feedback on areas to improve and areas of strength and this becomes a design synergy.   

So next time you find that people are not forthcoming and development needs identified were not relevant to the context of the employee double check if you had the cooling off window or did you try to combine the performance appraisal with the development discussion. 

Your Attitude Will Get You There....

One of Zig Ziglars famous lines goes like this…. “Your Attitude, not your aptitude determines your altitude”   How high you rise comes from how you approach things.  

Sample this…

There was a foundry foreman Jack who was supervising his workmen striking away at the sand moulding machine one morning.     A gentleman came and stood by and was observing.   The foreman said “Hi Steve,  It’s been long time I have not seen you”.  They both conversed about how they met twenty five years back at the foundry and how the technology was different then and how the foundry had only one workshop and now it had over 40 workshops across the state.

When the gentleman left one of the workmen came up to Jack and said.  “Jack, Wasn’t that our Chairman whom you just spoke to a while ago.   Is it true that both of you started work this foundry at the same time several years ago?”

“Of Course" Said the foreman,  "Both me a Steve signed up for work the same day 25 years back,  Today he’s the Chairman and I’m the foreman”. 

And he continued in the same breath…

“The only difference twenty five years back was that I came to work for the 1$ to the hour and he came to work for the foundry”

Yes, Cant’ be truer the point made by this simple narrative is that how you look at your work, your task, your role, your part in the play makes the difference in how you approach it.   You clearly see that Steve had an attitude to work very different from John.     So what Zig ZIglar said in his statement is best illustrated by the simple story.

Arise, Awake and Find Your Altitude!!! Happy New Year.

(The simple story is adapted from one used by Rob Thomas as an introductory message in a book Understanding Big Data)