It’s no surprise that plenty of people find this approach demotivating, and that workplaces with a command-control style are rated as pretty unsatisfying. When it comes down to it, none of us really enjoys being told exactly what to do, and neither do our employees. When people feel as though they have no say and are given no opportunity to contribute outside of their work tasks, then they switch off and become “disengaged”.

The command and control approach is being phased out for a more collaborative and engaging style – a “Coach” approach or being a “manager-coach”. This is a positive shift – as long as we support our managers in understanding what on earth is meant by a “coach approach”, and how expectations of them are changing.

Coaching – What does it really mean? The coaching profession has exploded in recent years, diversifying across many different fields and industries. All of these people are dedicated to helping others achieve their goals, improve aspects of themselves or their business, or move forwards from where they are today.

In a work environment, role of a manager-coach can be described as : •achieving results and excellence through others rather than personally taking care of things, and •focusing on developing employees in order to achieve business results rather than micro-managing their every move.

Adopting coaching as a management style requires managers to help other people unlock their potential and enhance their own performance. It’s about supporting people to learn instead of telling them what answers are.

The mindset of manager-coach is to create an environment that fosters learning, independent thinking and opportunities to contribute. The manager-coach doesn’t want to be seen as a solution provider. Rather, they want to be seen as a facilitator, paving way for team members to achieve their results.

Coach managers are a role model for others. They are excellent listeners and communicators, providing perspective and encouragement whilst setting high standards and expectations.

Making coaching behaviours part of what you do

The direct and indirect costs of this recruitment process are many, and have been estimated to be at least 30% of new person’s salary on average:

·Recruitment costs – include advertising and agency fees (if used), travel ·Cost of time – for everyone involved in interview process ·Cost of having job unfilled if process is lengthy ·Cost of lost productivity – “the show must go on!” Co-workers are picking up extra workload and completing unfinished projects. The reduced productivity of managers who lose key staff can be a big issue ·Cost of training – on average it takes 20 weeks for new employees to become fully productive. Consider also costs of orientation, learning materials and lost productivity of manager overseeing new employee. ·Costs of person filling in – this may be a current employee, in which case their own job suffers, or a temporary person.

Further costs are incurred when process is inefficient and time-consuming, and when process does not result in best person for job being hired.

So incentive to hire right people and keep them for as long as possible should be a focus for all businesses.

So what approach to recruitment gives best chance of long-term success?

Job Definition You need to have a clear understanding of what job involves in terms of activities, responsibilities and priorities. Once nature of job has been clearly defined, we can begin to specify attributes (education, skills, experience, competencies) of a person who is likely to do job successfully. It is these, particularly qualitative skills, that make biggest difference to job fit.