We will also conduct a brief tour of the technological and organizational cultures of the new millennium and its effects. From its characteristics, it is understood why the need for personalized support (coaching) arises for managers and staff in companies of the 21st century. Next, the effects of these environments on the behavior of individuals will be analyzed.
Among the most frequently observable are emotional disconnection, excessive control, and lack of commitment. Finally, it is considered the need for internal transformation to be able to withstand external pressure and successfully respond to the demands of today's company.
Definitions and effects of coaching.
According to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, the verb “to coach” consists of tutoring, training, giving directions, communicating facts. According to the Washington Quality Group "coaching is the art of assisting people to achieve their goals by enhancing strengths" It is an interactive process in which significant aspects of the past are identified (limiting) versus current habits. All this in order to identify the paradigms that hinder personal and business growth.
Some ten and a half hour coaching sessions are considered advisable every two weeks, in order to establish an appropriate link between coach and coachee and to have enough time to consolidate the new paradigms. On a personal level, coaching helps to become aware of responsibilities, enhances the strengths of managers through greater knowledge of oneself and its possibilities. In the business sector, it reduces staff turnover, facilitates organizational change processes and generally improves communication levels in the organization, improving the work environment.
Features of technological culture and coaching needs.
We wonder if it is possible that the Information and telecommunications revolution is accelerating human activity at such an alarming rate that we are causing serious damage to people and to society as a whole. According to Rifkin "we are organizing life at the speed of light."
We observe internal and external emergencies, which indicate people's discomfort, in the face of this lack of time. The epidemiological data of the increase in stress-related diseases are alarming. According to the experts, a good part of these pathologies is due to the incapacity of people, to support almost permanently, the rhythm and intensity of human activity, which moves almost, at the speed of light.
In the United States, more than 43% of the working population suffers from the adverse effects of stress. This situation is estimated to cost companies millions of dollars due to absenteeism, decreased productivity, worker turnover and medical costs. Diseases such as depression, myocardial infarctions, strokes, hypertension, heart attacks, cancer and diabetes, are increasing dramatically in young and middle-aged people and may become the main cause of medical leave in the era of information. In a recent article, published in the newspaper “El País”, the alarming growth of divorces, about 12,000 a year, and marriages that do not reach ten years of marriage, are around 52%. We can synthesize these features in Table 1 and 2.
Table 1: Features of technological culture
- Relate to the speed of light Lack of time and sleep Stress diseases Hyper speed synonymous with lack of reflexivity Lack of ethical values What connections really count New time limits 24/7
The new economy requires flexible companies that respond quickly to the stresses caused by new technologies and global markets. The so-called “flexibility” includes flexible (or temporary) schedules and contracts, outsourcing of production, job insecurity. New forms of production require people to quickly adapt to changing environments and companies. This, in turn, determines a series of social consequences that, broadly speaking, can change the social and labor panorama in a short period of time.
Coaching and the path to sustained success.
The transformation path, led by the coach, is not limited to external objectives, tools, easy recipes, conditioned reflexes, which, like a slot machine, provide economic profitability in companies. We do not start from behavioral assumptions, but from levels of analysis more deep, in order to determine what are the contents of "our emotional hard drive", in terms of Bion, which is our capital of experiences. If emotional bank accounts are overdrawn, business results will be poor. At the same time that the coach has to rebuild that internal Baghdad, that transformation must be reflected externally.
The content that we give to the word success, transcends the addiction to power and includes two attitudes:
One of responsibility and social solidarity in which the results of personal success do not only benefit its protagonists, but are projected onto the members of the organization and society. On the other hand, an attitude of permanent reflection (coaching) to evaluate, on the one hand, the paradigms from which they start and determine that one acts or another. On the other hand, analyze the costs of the success to which it aspires, and generate internal resources and energy, to avoid falling into unhealthy imbalances.
As for social responsibility, solidarity and balance: it is not about “gifts of nature”. Rather, they are attitudes that, to sustain them, require constant work of introspection and alertness. Regaining the connection with ourselves, and with the universe, not only represents an inexhaustible source of energy, but we understand, constitutes, one of the fundamental pieces, towards the path to achieve sustained success.
