Overview: Intelligent leaders understand that performance-focused employee reviews provide inaccurate rearview snapshots of employees’ value for organizations. By showing genuine care for employees, leaders can implement forward-looking, growth-focused cultures. Leadership coaching can help them develop and implement behaviors required to achieve this goal.
Leadership coaching focusing on intelligent leadership and sustainable organizational cultures appreciates mindsets and cultures that value growth. Personal growth is the engine of organizational growth. Businesses that take care of employees and offer them growth opportunities do better than their peers focusing on performances.
Executive coaching professionals can help leaders realize the power of the growth mindset and culture. Coaches help leaders develop habits that prioritize employee aid and well-being.
The Dangers of Legacy Performance-Focused Reviews
The industrial age paradigm of leadership simplified concepts and took every available shortcut in employee management and leadership. Adepts of this now-obsolete school of leadership thought consider performance reviews to be accurate measuring sticks of employee value and usefulness.
The fundamental problem with performance reviews is they give leaders rearview mirror images of what their workforces can achieve. While they’re necessary for keeping organizational vehicles on the road, they’re insufficient to ensure successful journeys.
Growth-focused organizational cultures are forward-looking. They ensure sustainability through employee motivation and empowerment. Here’s why solely performance-based employee assessment systems fall short.
- Performance reviews focus on the past. Though it makes sense to look at the past to gain clarity, the past does little to help us peer through the uncertainty of the future. The past performance of an employee is an inaccurate predictor of the person’s ability to embrace and adapt to change. Executive coaching encourages leaders to focus on helping employees as by doing so, they build the capacity to deal with change.
- Performance-focused company cultures destroy psychological safety. Psychological safety is the centerpiece of employee well-being. What is it? Psychological safety is comfort in the knowledge that, as an employee, one can do their work without having to fear being constantly measured and found wanting. Psychological safety allows employees to take the initiative and achieve psychological ownership of their work.
- Performance reviews defeat coaching-focused cultures. When an organization judges employees solely on performance, it incentivizes them to compete instead of cooperating. To survive and advance in the organization, employees may withhold information from their peers. They may look to secure advantages over others, even if they know such competition works against the interests of the company.
How Can Leadership Coaching Help?
Leadership coaching can help leaders realize that growth-first company cultures offer the shortest and quickest paths to sustainable organizational success. Coaches can give leaders practical tips on how to engage and care for their reports.
Finding Ways to Show Authentic Care
Leaders can find countless ways to ensure their employees know they care about them. Being caring should be an attitude rather than a reaction or a one-time effort. It doesn’t have to cost money.
Practicing Active Listening
One of the best ways to empower and engage employees is to actively listen to their concerns and act on them. People like to know their opinions matter. Being able to effect change gives them a tremendous sense of worth, value, and power.
Addressing Employee Concerns
Leaders can help employees feel comfortable and productive by ensuring their work experience is straightforward and free of unnecessary complications. Finding out what bothers employees can help leaders learn what makes work difficult for them. By addressing these annoyances, even if minor, leaders can show genuine care for their employees who will appreciate their gestures.
Promoting a Coaching-Focused Culture
Intelligent leaders seek to lead by example. The best way to encourage coaching-focused behaviors among employees is to demonstrate them. Creating a strong sense of community at the workplace is another way to facilitate peer-to-peer care.
Genuine care for employees is a leadership attitude. It should permeate the actions and behaviors of leaders. Employee aid should be a constant priority. Leadership coaching aims to help leaders develop behaviors consistent with this attitude.