Research Paper By Cara Amores
(Leadership Coach, UNITED STATES)
Introduction:
Workplaces with a high percentage of Millennial workers would be wise to introduce a coaching culture to attract, develop, engage, and retain their workforce. Millennials (born between 1980-1999 and also known as Generation Y) now make up the majority of workers in many organizations, and they will be more likely to have high commitment and to stay if they are getting development[1]. In the United States, there are approximately 80 million Millennials according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, and by 2020 nearly half (46 percent) of all U.S. workers will be Millennials[2]. The goal of using coaching to develop Millennials in the workplace is to help them be their best self, and that also makes good business sense. Workplace coaching outcomes include: “employee satisfaction and performance; organizational commitment; reductions in turnover intention; performance improvement; enhanced project management outcomes; customer satisfaction; and increased sales performance”[3]
Millennials in the Workplace:
Millennials have different expectations about their jobs compared to previous generations. It is common for managers from baby boomer or X generations to feel frustrated at the vocal nature of Millennials and their demands for development. Organizations today have learned that it is not enough to provide the Millennial workforce with a salary and a career progression structure. For Millennials their job is expected to fulfill many components of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs[4]. Millennials are looking for self-actualization from their workplace[5]. Organizations have learned that they need to create a culture of connection and development for their Millennial workforce.
Retention of Millennials is important. “Millennials are not hesitant to change employers; therefore, it is important to help effective Millennial staff to be happy and satisfied at work”[6]. Turnover means knowledge and productivity loss plus higher recruitment and training costs, so it makes business sense to keep your millennial workforce engaged and retained.
Millennials expect development in terms of coaching and mentoring from their employer. “Millennials don’t just want their own career coach, they expect it”[7]. Millennials are different from previous generations in the amount of extra-curricular tuition they have received during their schooling years. Mook states that “coaching is familiar to Millennials raised on sports leagues, lessons and hands-on parenting”[8] in The Business Journal. Over at the University of North Carolina, Brack states that Millennials were raised on constant coaching and feedback, and they expect it in the workplace[9]. And although in an ideal world every millennial worker would receive coaching from an external certified coach, it is impractical in reality. As such, the investment at the leader level is the most cost-effective method of creating a culture of coaching that will benefit the Millennials within the workplace. “This generation is guided by their values and passions and seeks out meaningful work experiences with opportunities for growth”[10].
Coaching is Effective Talent Development Offering for Millennials:
Millennials want both autonomy and development from their managers. Gone are the days where leadership was about providing direction only. Millennials have grown up as digital natives. They are continuous learners, with multiple sources of information on a topic at their fingertips, and as such, they don’t see managers as subject experts necessarily, but do expect their manager to coach and mentor them. Coaching is an effective tool to support Millennials in their self-navigation, providing the development and autonomy they crave, and as such engaging this workforce. Creating a coaching culture within a workplace provides 1-1 relationship, which are valued by the employee. Creating a coaching culture demonstrates an investment in the employee’s development. These two factors boost engagement, commitment, and retention.
It has been identified that potential development areas for Millennials are self-awareness and emotional intelligence and the ability to digest developmental feedback[11]. Coaching is well placed to support Millennials in their development in these areas, as powerful questioning helps the individual gain awareness and identify their own barriers and development pathways. Research also shows that Millennials may lack a sense of personal responsibility. Executive Coach, Helen Franklin has identified that coaching can assist Millennials to develop the skills of standing alone and being accountable, and as such “coaching may need to be organisationally instigated”[12].
Work-life balance has proven to be a key issue for Millennials which coaching can help support. Unlike previous generations who might be described by the “live to work” label, Millennials are a “work to live” generation. “Work-life balance is one of the most well-publicized values of the millennial generation”[13]. An employee who feels balanced and that his/her life is aligning to his/her values is more likely to be productive and engaged. Research has found that employees become more loyal to an organization if they achieve higher work-life quality. Millennials are different from prior generations as they don’t keep their work and personal lives separate, but instead expect flow or balance between the two, wanting to bring more of their home into their work and more of their work into their home[14]. Coaching is an effective way to support the Millennial worker in their pursuit of work-life balance.
Using Coaching in Talent Development Program Makes Business Sense:
Coaching is well placed to provide a cost-effective talent development solution aligned with company priorities. According to the Forbes Council, the top concerns for executives in June 2020 were: generating revenue, time, leadership, growth, and marketing[15]. By aligning the coaching to skill development the workforce builds its capability which will assist with revenue goals. For example, having a Sales Leader coach Sales Associates around sales skills can positively impact revenue targets.
Coaching is a cost-effective method for providing ongoing development without high-cost training programs that may have a low return on investment. Coaching on-the-job enables the coachee to have time effective development relating directly to the job and does not require days & weeks out of action while attending training programs. Coaching provides development on-the-job which has a stronger likelihood of knowledge transfer (return of investment) back to the workplace, linking that development to job performance. “Equipping employees with the coaching skills to develop high-potential Millennials is an investment in long-term business growth”[16].
How To Build a Coaching Culture:
There are different models on how to introduce coaching into the workplace. The coach can be an independent certified expert but the ability to have a widespread and cost-effective program has led many organizations to build a coaching culture via their people leaders. The latter model places a leadership expectation on the manager which goes beyond the traditional directive role, to a role where the manager uses coaching skills to help his/her people develop themselves, strengthening skills and potential.
To create a managerial coaching framework training and practice are key. A certified coach can provide instruction on coaching competencies and frameworks. To put these newly learned skills into practice, action-learning groups or peer groups can be useful within the management group; mediated by a certified mentor coach. The practice with peers helps the managers embed the learning before they commence coaching team members. It is important to note that it is no easy feat to introduce a coaching culture. Accountability is an important factor, so coaching needs to be built into the performance expectations of people leaders.
Creating a coaching culture provides development to both the people leaders, who themselves may or may not be Millennials, and the team members to whom they report. Coaching thus can help build the leadership pipeline or “bench strength” of an organization [17]. When a manager is introduced to coaching and this leadership expectation is part of his role, he/she will be required to develop the skills of listening, questioning, feedback, observation, and analysis[18]. A framework that provides accountability to demonstrate effective coaching with team members is a key part of making such programs successful. These people managers have the opportunity to develop excellent skills to take on more elevated leadership roles in the future.
Increasingly coaching programs are becoming a more important part of the talent development framework for many organizations, particularly the manager as coach model. The 2017 ICF Global Consumer Awareness Study found that more than in the United States 38% of respondents who self-identify as using coaching skills were managers and leaders within their organizations[19].
Using Coaching to Boost Engagement:
One of the keys to a productive millennial workforce is the strong engagement of that workforce. Engaged employees are ones that show high commitment to their workplace, and that commitment comes when there is more than just a paycheck. A learning culture is a significant factor in engagement. In their article in the International Journal of Evidence-Based Coaching and Mentoring, Ladyshewsky and Taplin note that “organizations that invest in the development of coaching skills of managers can enhance the OLC (Organisational Learning Culture) and thereby the work engagement of employees”[20]. When a manager coaches an employee, this has both a direct and indirect impact on engagement. The employee feels a direct commitment from that manager to his/her own welfare and development, plus the coaching indirectly contributes to a learning culture across the organization. Millennial employees will feel engaged when they see signs that the organization is committed to them and their welfare. As such “if managerial coaching can enhance work engagement and the latter in turn can impact organizational performance positively, then organizations should make stronger efforts to build coaching into the skill set of their managers”[21].
Creating An Engaged Remote Workforce
In a post-pandemic employment landscape, a coaching culture will keep your remote workforce engaged and productive. It is common today for leaders to manage teams separated by geographical boundaries and timezones. Managing a remote workforce became an especially common phenomenon during the covid-19 pandemic where workforces were required to work-from-home under the guidance of state/federal laws in most countries across the globe. Trust and engagement are key factors in having an effective remote workforce. A leader who schedules not only work-in-progress 1-1s with team members but who carves out the time for development (coaching) sessions, will be able to build a relationship of trust and maintain an engaged remote team.
Conclusion:
Introducing a coaching program to a workplace will help attract, develop, engage, and retain a millennial workforce. Millennials are looking for this kind of culture and with the assistance of a certified professional coach, organizations can upskill their people leaders by introducing a coaching culture that develops the skills of both the manager and the team members, both of whom may be Millennials.
References:
Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation, Time Magazine, May 2013
Maximizing the Human Capital of Millennials Through Supervisors Using Performance Management, D. Bartz, K, Thompson, and P. Rice, International Journal of Management, Business and Administration, Vol 20, No. 1, 2017
How To Coach The Millennial Leaders of Tomorrow, M. Mook, The Business Journal, 2016.
Top 5 Challenges Faced By Business Executives. Forbes Council, Research and Data
13 Ways Leaders Can Build A Coaching Culture At Work, Forbes Coaches Council
2017 ICF Global Consumer Awareness Study, ICF, and PWC.
How To Lead A Remote Workforce To Success, Forbes Coaches Council
Five Truths About Millennials in The Workplace, Centre For Creative Leadership
Coaching Millennial Leaders: Life Stage Versus The Time We Live In, Helen Franklin, International Journal of Evidence-Based Coaching and Mentoring, Special Issue No. 9, June 2015
Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation, Time Magazine, May 2013
Managing The New Workforce: International Perspectives on the Millennial Generation, Ng, Lyons, and Schweitzer, Edward Elgar Publishing 2012
The Interplay Between Organisational Learning Culture, The Manager as Coach, Self-Efficacy, and Workload on Employee Work Engagement, Ladyshewsky, R. and Taplin, R., International Journal of Evidence-Based Coaching and Mentoring 2018, Vol. 16(2), pp. 3-19.
Maximizing Millennials in the Workplace, Brack, J., UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, UNC Executive Development 2012.
[1] Five Truths About Millennials in The Workplace, Centre For Creative Leadership
[2]Maximizing Millennials in the Workplace, Brack, J., UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, UNC Executive Development 2012, p.1.
[3] The Interplay Between Organisational Learning Culture, The Manager as Coach, Self-Efficacy, and Workload on Employee Work Engagement, Ladyshewsky, R. and Taplin, R., International Journal of Evidence-Based Coaching and Mentoring 2018, Vol. 16(2), pp. 5.
[5] Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation, Time Magazine, May 2013
[6] Maximizing the Human Capital of Millennials Through Supervisors Using Performance Management, D. Bartz, K, Thompson, and P. Rice, International Journal of Management, Business and Administration, Vol 20, No. 1, 2017
[8] How To Coach The Millennial Leaders of Tomorrow, M. Mook, The Business Journal, 2016.
[9]Maximizing Millennials in the Workplace, Brack, J., UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, UNC Executive Development 2012, p.7.
[10] How To Coach The Millennial Leaders of Tomorrow, M. Mook, The Business Journal, 2016.
[11] Coaching Millennial Leaders: Life Stage Versus The Time We Live In, Helen Franklin, International Journal of Evidence-Based Coaching and Mentoring, Special Issue No. 9, June 2015, p64-65.
[12] Coaching Millennial Leaders: Life Stage Versus The Time We Live In, Helen Franklin, International Journal of Evidence-Based Coaching and Mentoring, Special Issue No. 9, June 2015, p65.
[13] Coaching Millennial Leaders: Life Stage Versus The Time We Live In, Helen Franklin, International Journal of Evidence-Based Coaching and Mentoring, Special Issue No. 9, June 2015, p70
[14] Coaching Millennial Leaders: Life Stage Versus The Time We Live In, Helen Franklin, International Journal of Evidence-Based Coaching and Mentoring, Special Issue No. 9, June 2015, p70
[15] Top 5 Challenges Faced By Business Executives. Forbes Council, Research and Data
[16] How To Coach The Millennial Leaders of Tomorrow, M. Mook, The Business Journal, 2016.
[17] How Coaching Can Ease The Way for Gen Z, The Business Journals
[18] The Interplay Between Organisational Learning Culture, The Manager as Coach, Self-Efficacy, and Workload on Employee Work Engagement, Ladyshewsky, R. and Taplin, R., International Journal of Evidence-Based Coaching and Mentoring 2018, Vol. 16(2), pp. 5.
[19] 2017 ICF Global Consumer Awareness Study, ICF and PWC, slide 22
[20] The Interplay Between Organisational Learning Culture, The Manager as Coach, Self-Efficacy, and Workload on Employee Work Engagement, Ladyshewsky, R. and Taplin, R., International Journal of Evidence-Based Coaching and Mentoring 2018, Vol. 16(2), pp. 3.
[21] The Interplay Between Organisational Learning Culture, The Manager as Coach, Self-Efficacy, and Workload on Employee Work Engagement, Ladyshewsky, R. and Taplin, R., International Journal of Evidence-Based Coaching and Mentoring 2018, Vol. 16(2), pp. 5.