Those of you who closely follow my monthly bogs will know my passion and enthusiasm for a key business trait which I firmly believe is the bedrock for the success, survival, and competitive advantage of many companies.

 

That trait is resilience.

 

The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) - a worldwide federation of national standards bodies – defines resilience as: 'The ability of a business to absorb and adapt in a changing environment to enable it to deliver its objectives and to survive and prosper.'

 

Quite simply, resilience is the ability to learn from your setbacks and mistakes.

 

Resilient small business owners learn how to turn mistakes into opportunities. They learn to look past the immediate setbacks and keep their eyes firmly on the long-term goal.

 

The details of the setback or the finer points of the mistake don’t matter. Instead, what matters is how business owners deal with those setbacks and keep moving forward – and that is why I define Resilience as “Springing Forward with Learning”.

 

Analysing the key components of the ISO definition above, one method that modern, forward-thinking organisations use to ‘absorb and adapt in a changing environment,’ is to adopt a coaching culture in the workplace.

 

Having explained what a ‘coaching’ culture is in my last blog, I now want to discuss how business leaders should implement this culture within their workforce.

 

Organisations that adopt a successful coaching culture value their employees, and their employees have a strong sense of loyalty to the company as a result.

 

Consider this four-step framework to create a coaching culture in your workplace:

Focus On The Top

There’s no doubt that implementing a coaching culture starts at the top with the C-suite.

 

Senior leaders can collaborate and establish a vision for the company around what they need to do to create a culture shift and how to maintain it once established.

 

Further, when senior leaders experience coaching first hand, not only do they reap the benefits themselves and understand it better, they also showcase their dedication and the importance of coaching to their colleagues.

 

Flow downwards throughout the organisation

Once senior leaders have established what culture shift is needed, mid-level leaders take responsibility.

 

Directors and managers are involved in the day-to-day activities and have a true pulse of what’s working and not working within their organisation. These roles really need to experience the “devolved decision making”, that, in turn, enables a Resilient Organisation.

 

With the support of the senior leaders, mid-level executives can unlock their creativity through coaching and discover the most effective ways to start implementing the needed changes and improvements. They can then identify high-performing individual contributors that would be great candidates for coaching to help them grow their careers and start the path to leadership.

 

Implement key practices

Establish key working practices in one-to-one meetings, team meetings and performance conversations. These should include:

• Asking questions.

• Practicing active listening.

• Giving and receiving feedback.

• Creating goals and action plans.

 

Establish accountability

Once you’ve formulated goals and action plans, create fun and thoughtful ways to assist each person in working towards these goals.

 

Introduce an employee recognition plan which harnesses an environment of appreciation.

 

Find out what motivates your employees and reward them.

 

When teams work together and support each other with their goals, not only are they building a coaching culture, but they’re also building stronger, more resilient teams.

 

Most importantly, remember that creating a coaching culture doesn’t happen overnight but takes time and dedication.

 

When leaders become dedicated and committed to building a positive, strong, and trustworthy coaching culture, then stronger relationships will evolve. In turn, maintaining a coaching culture will continue to produce strong, empowered, and successful leaders, who in turn strengthen and empower the organisation to continue to grow and prosper.

 

All of which enables, Resilient people, Leaders, teams and organisations!

 

Look out for the next in my series of blogs around the subject of coaching – “The importance of adopting a coaching culture in the workplace,” and “The benefits of adopting a coaching culture in the workplace.”

 

If you require any further information in the meantime don’t hesitate to contact me via

Email: russell@theresiliencecoach.co.uk.