The leaders are the ones who pave path for others to follow. A leader has exceptional qualities which makes them different from the ordinary league. Organizational leaders, we know they are the ones who manage diversity, build cross-functional relationships, determine the work flow, make decisions and take great deal of risks. They are meant to be entrepreneurial and at the same time blend well with others to work towards common goal. Thus, a higher sense of responsibility lies on their shoulders as they develop organizational culture and stimulate growth.
There are organizations where employees face problems due to ineffective and wrong leadership practice. This is one of the major challenges which impacts business and productivity of the employees. We know about executive coaching which help executives in building confidence to overcome challenges and deliver better results. This type of coaching is effective where a person has his own fears and is not able to surpass challenges arising in his career goals. What if a manager/leader is not aware of his behavior and is practicing leadership as per his understanding which may be not apt for team members or organizational growth and culture?
Well, this is when Stakeholder Centered Coaching takes over the discussion by providing solution to effective leadership. As the name suggests, Stakeholder Centered Coaching involves stakeholders also while a leader is undergoing this coaching. The main aim of this coaching is to enable successful leaders to lead and behave more effectively by developing positive change in the behavior which is sustained and noticed by others. Research suggests, 95% of the leaders who involve stakeholders in coaching measurably improved their effectiveness.
Stakeholder Coaching in Retail sector
Retail is a dynamic sector and can be highly benefitted by Stakeholder Centered Coaching. Since retail leaders are under high pressure, their behaviour might not what others expect from him. He could be a talented person and can manage many members but people under him can be unhappy, dissatisfied due to his inffective leadership.
The orgnaisational growth may be suffering if the people in retail business is having issues with the leaders. The leader may have communication issues and problems in involving others opinion while taking a decision. He may not be able to delegate work effectively etc. Any of such problem with leaders with automatically affect the growth of the organisation. So, getting retail leaders to udergo this coaching will revive the motivation of people working even under pressure.
Aim of the coaching in Retail Sector:
- Coaching accelerates leadership growth
- Coaching enhances leadership skill to develop self and others
- Achieving expected organizational results from growing leadership effectiveness.
At present, if the stakeholders have issues with leaders’ behavior or they do not perform the way they are expected in the organization, nothing much is done to improve the same. If you have been in a company for more that 2-3 years you must have seen the leaders’ behavior remain more or less same. But once a leader undergoes the training the effectiveness of the leadership can be measured and its impact is visible in the organization. One can expect better sales, improved relation between the sales person and managers, high motivation level among the staff and so on.
Many of us would wonder as why should a company incur yet another expenditure on leaders coaching when they are already paid well and enjoy several privileges. The following questions will definitely clear all your doubts in regard to this. What are the leadership behavior issues in your retail organization?
- What are the leaders expected and they are not doing it?
- What has the company done to address this issue?
- After the action taken, has the leadership become more effective and if the company experienced change in its business growth?
If your answers to above questions are not substantial or satisfactory enough would you be excited when you are guaranteed for more effective leadership which could be measured through this coaching. Most of the leaders in retail organizations are created through qualifications and experience. So, there is a chance that most of them might practice leadership as per their understanding. And this is where one tends to make mistakes or doesn’t work the way they are expected.
Why Coaching is necessary in Retail Sector?
Since leaders drive culture and performance of the retail business it is important they behave in effective manner. The 4 broad areas where leaders play an important role in the organization are:
- Developing organizational culture
- Accelerating business performance
- Enhancing employee engagement
- Improving organizational learning / people development
How Stakeholder Centered Coaching works in Retail sector?
Stakeholder Centered Coaching is a year long process and requires assessment at different levels. Here, the coach works closely with the leader as well as involve stakeholders to congregate details about the leader’s behavior in organization. The coach gathers feedforward suggestions from stakeholders about the positive and negative aspects of the leader undergoing the training. The leader at this level is not aware of stakeholders involved in the process nor about the types of reviews he received.
Once the coach gathers all the required information about the leader, he does the assessment and signifies the correction areas. He then starts working on behavior change of the leader by planning a monthly action plan and gets the same executed by leader on the job. After few sessions coach again visits the stakeholders to know if they have noticed any significant change in the leader’s behavior. The coach again assess as to what level, there is change in behavior of the leader. Thus, the process comprises of periodic review measuring growth perceived by the stakeholders. And till the end of the process a noticeable change is developed in the leader and he becomes more effective in leadership and communication areas.
Below are few prominent changes that one can notice in leader after undergoing the coaching are:
- Better communication / listening among sales people
- Includes opinions of others in decision making
- Builds trust with stakeholders
- Manages conflict efficiently
- Delegates the work effectively
- Better execution of results
- Takes calculated risks
- Deals timely with performance issues etc.
If the leaders get more effective in few of above behaviors don’t you think it would impact the retail business positively? Of course it would. Thus, Stakeholder Centered Coaching improves the effectiveness of leadership behavior which in turn impacts the business results. The coaching will also grow the perception of leader’s capability and effectiveness as perceived by stakeholders. Coaching knowledge and confidence enhances the market value of the organizational leaders as well. With long list of benefits, these days companies are looking positively at this concept of leaders’ leadership development.
About the author: The Chrysallis is a budding organization led by the principal coach Vandana Shah ‘ICF-ACC’, ‘Marshall Goldsmith Certified Executive Coach’, ‘Certified Power Coach & Group Power Coach from CLI, Canada’ and also Master NLP Practitioner.
