Most of us at some point have wanted to help someone in whatever they are doing, but we really don't know how to do it. We must find a way to say something good enough and different enough to bring about change; however, it must be understandable. To solve this type of problem we have two very important tools: coaching and empowerment.
coaching-and-empowerment-as-development-toolsThese tools are important due to the need for innovation and reinvention since this need does not only occur in products; they also require reinventing and innovating the way organizations organize, communicate and coordinate their activities. Coaching is about working with people to make them more competent so that they can contribute something to the organization and find meaning in what they are doing.
COACHING:
What is coaching?
According to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, it defines the verb to coach as giving classes or giving advice. Timothy Gallwey, a Harvard pedagogue and tennis expert, says that the essence of Coaching is to unlock a person's potential to maximize their own performance. Coaching enables people to learn rather than teach them
"Coaching is a management behavior that is at the opposite end of the command and control spectrum" (Whitmore, 2002)
"Coaching is a methodology that achieves the maximum professional and personal development of people and that leads to a profound transformation, generating changes in perspective and increasing commitment and responsibility, which translates into better results." (Leader-beam-go, sf)
The origins of coaching:
The origins of coaching are sports; More than two decades ago, the Harvard pedagogue and tennis expert Timothy Gallwey addressed the teaching of tennis, ski and golf through various books whose names are: "The Inner Game of Tennis", "The Inner Game of Skiing" and "The Inner Game of Golf"; where he uses the word "inner" to refer to the internal state of the players or as the author of the books himself describes the opponent inside his own head. Basically Gallwey says that if a coach can help a player to reduce or eliminate his own internal obstacles, his natural ability will flow and so the coach will not need to make a big technical contribution. Gallwey's concepts were not taken in a good way by the coaches of these sports since they thought he was trying to minimize them,however, players turned their books into best sellers. It is worth mentioning that the author was not trying to do what the coaches thought it was just trying to change their approach to make them more effective.
However, what was established by the author was not new since Socrates had expressed the same ideas 2000 years earlier, however his philosophy was lost over time.
Gallwey subsequently published a book called "The Inner Game of Work" and all current exponents of business coaching are graduates or deeply influenced by the Gallwey Coaching School.
Coaching as a business practice that is here to stay now.
The nature of the change:
Nowadays, the change in business is necessary for multiple reasons such as: increased global competition, demographic changes, financial and commercial demands by companies.
Any new culture has to improve the current performance much more. The culture of change must be based on performance. Organizations currently recognize coaching as a style of administration or management of a transformative culture.
Through coaching, blame is exchanged for honest self-assessment, external motivators for self-motivation, barriers fall and teams are built, fear of change is lost and welcomed, boss satisfaction is replaced by client, censorship and secrecy change for openness and honesty.
The nature of Coaching:
The main element of coaching is awareness, which can be defined as not ignoring or having knowledge. People are capable of controlling everything that we are aware of, yet everything that we do not know controls us. Knowledge gives us power.
Awareness includes listening and observing within the workplace, the ability to determine what is relevant from all the information available, the ability to understand systems, dynamics, and relationships between things and between people; however, awareness also includes self-knowledge, the way emotions and feelings distort our perception.
Another element of consciousness is "entry." Every human activity can be reduced to an input, a process and an output. No matter how good you are in the process, the quality of the output depends on the quantity and quality of your input. The coach must have the ability to raise and maintain awareness at an appropriate level and in those areas that require it.
Another word that characterizes consciousness is feedback; This comes from the environment, from your body, from your actions, from the equipment you are using as opposed to other people's comments.
Responsibility is another concept of coaching and is crucial for high performance. When responsibility for our thoughts or our actions is really accepted, it commits itself even more to them and our performance rises.
Eliminations of internal obstacles frequently decrease external obstacles in more manageable proportions.
Coaching operating principles
- Relationship: This is the first of the principles and the most important. The coaching relationship is the bottom line of all coaching efforts. This must be of mutual respect, true, mutually satisfactory and of mutual freedom of expression. Pragmatism: Coaches are required to continually redo their conclusions and to see each new situation as an opportunity to learn, thus realizing that what was learned in the last situation does not apply in the new situation. Two clues: the first clue is the work that the coaches or the coach does with the client and the second is the work that the coaches do with themselves. Both the client and the coach are committed to learning. Always / now: refers to the fact that customers are always and are already in the middle of their lives, they have points of view, commitments,possibilities and concerns. Coaches have to keep in mind that clients have their own way of doing things and given the habit, coaching has to adapt to fit the individual. Techniques that do not work: two results must be achieved first challenging the mechanics and routine with which things have been done and the second is that it must be prevented that clients easily grasp when the techniques are used on them and can act resentfully. A coach has to know what technique to use and when to use it.Two results must be achieved, first challenging the mechanics and routine with which things have been done and the second is that care must be taken that clients easily grasp when the techniques are used on them and can act with resentment. A coach has to know what technique to use and when to use it.Two results must be achieved, first challenging the mechanics and routine with which things have been done and the second is that care must be taken that clients easily grasp when the techniques are used on them and can act with resentment. A coach has to know what technique to use and when to use it.
Coaching flow:
1.- Establish the relationship: This step is the most important and is the basis for coaching, however it is commonly ignored or considered unnecessary. The basis for a good relationship is mutual respect, mutual trust and freedom of expression. Many times there is a coach that we do not choose as a best friend, but a good relationship must be established to carry out the coaching.
2.- Recognize openness: Coaching begins once the client or coach finds an opening for coaching. Openings occur when our routine is disturbed either because there was some kind of breakup, because someone made us an offer, or our circumstances have changed so that we are asked for new skills. It is usually coaching who has experience in these areas. realizes openness and offers coaching.
3.- Observe / Evaluate: Before the beginning of the coaching, the coach has to know more about the client, that is, he has to make previous observations before starting the coaching. There are 3 things to evaluate / observe by the coach:
1.- The level of competition of the client
2.- The client's interpretation structure is the way the client sees the world.
3.- The relationships, projects and practices that make up the client's life must be studied.
The best way to perform the observation / evaluation is in two ways:
1.- Talk to the client and the people around him.
2.- Observe the client in action so as to observe their reactions to certain circumstances
4.- Enroll the client: It means that the commitment of the program with the results is the same that both the client and the coach have for the results. You can go further simply by asking: Are you ready for this? This question will address the future, the limitations and scope of both the coach and the client. Openness, honesty and enrollment are important.
5.- Coaching conversations: Determine the scope of the project. Determine if coaching can be carried out in a single conversation, in multiple conversations or if it requires a larger structure.
The manager as coach:
Coaching demands the greatest qualities of a manager: empathy, integrity, detachment, complacency. However, there are few role models to follow so you have to find your own and you may initially face resistance from some people for trying to change traditional management. Coaching provides true control to the manager and provides true responsibility to the subordinate. Managers should train (coach) when the main criterion of a situation is time since they can either do the work themselves or tell someone else exactly what to do and thus be faster, when the quality of the results is more important and finally if learning is predominant.
Qualities of a Coach:
- Patience Perceptive Brings support Shows interest Good listener Has knowledge Has credibility Is aware Attentive Has self-awareness Authority Experiencing
The benefits of Coaching:
- It improves performance and productivity both individually and as a team. More motivated staff, through coaching staff act because they want to do it, not why they should do it; however, coachingPersonal developmentMore creative ideas since coaching fosters a creative environment.Improves learningLong flexibility and adaptability to change.Improves relationships as it requires constant communication between the coach and the client (coach and trained).A vital skill is acquired. Coaching is both an attitude and a behavior, it has many and diverse applications outside of work and inside. Improvement in the use of people, skills and resources.On multiple occasions the manager does not know the resources available to him or the undiscovered talents in his team until he begins coaching. A transformation to the culture of change becomes more feasible. Quicker and more effective emergency responses. More time to the manager since the staff that was trained does not have the need to be observed and constantly checking it. It improves the quality of life of people
Coaching Barriers:
- The company culture is against this type of approach. People are cynical with any new approach. In the company they do not understand or trust the new approach to coaching. They confuse coaching with a new management trick. There is a belief that coaching takes a lot The people in the organization want to be told, but they do not want any responsibility. Managers believe that with coaching they lose authority The organization believes that they do not need to change anything They are afraid of not doing coaching well They believe that the only way to motivate to people is money
EMPOWERMENT:
Empowerment has been progressively introduced into the language of self-help. This is based on the belief that the only people who can change their lives are themselves, thus allowing the independence that one has towards others to be replaced by independence from oneself. Like coaching, empowerment requires a change in culture, a break with tradition.
What is Empowerment ?:
"Empowerment is where the optimal benefits of information technology are achieved. Members, work teams, and the organization will have full access to and use of critical information, possess the technology, skills, responsibility, and authority to use the information and conduct the organization's business. ” (THE RESOURCES
HUMANS, 2008)
"Empowerment is a philosophy that can be applied to organizations and that consists of delegating power and responsibility to employees to make them more motivated and committed." (BLOG DEL TEC DE MONTERREY, 2013)
“Its meaning in Spanish derives from the words potentiate, power, enable and allow, among others. It covers all areas of the company, from resources and capital, to sales and marketing. Through this "empowerment" tool, the organization provides its workers with the technology and information necessary to make optimal and responsible use of it, thereby achieving the proposed objectives. ” (MANAGEMENT, sf)
In Spanish the word "empowerment" has some expressions that approximate its meaning as "empowerment", "empowerment" or "empower".
In this way we have the word "empowered" which means strengthened, empowered or empowered. And we also have "to empower" that can be given the meaning of giving or granting power, empower, empower, empower, enable, empower, empower and empower.
In such a way that we can land the concept of empowerment as empowering each person within the organization at all levels to make decisions without the authorization of superiors. This arises from the idea that the people who are closely related to the task they perform are the best suited to make a decision about it.
The Empowerment helps employees at all levels feel that they have a real influence on the quality, service and efficiency standards of the business within their areas of responsibility; In this way, the workers get involved to achieve the goals of the organization with a sense of commitment and, on the other hand, the managers give a part of their decision-making authority to their employees.
Empowerment thus provides responsibility to each of the workers and they must assume it. Empowerment has become a necessary philosophy to direct the organizations of the 21st century.
Foundations of Empowerment:
"According to Koontz and Weichrich, it works like this:
* Power = Responsibility (P = R)
* Yes Power> Responsibility (P> R). The result would be autocratic conduct by the superior, who is not responsible for his actions.
* Yes Responsibility> Power (R> P). The result would be frustration on the part of subordinates, as they lack the power necessary to carry out the activities for which they
they are responsible. ” (THE HUMAN RESOURCES, 2008)
Characteristics of empowerment in companies:
- Each person has control over their own work. The jobs create value. The job belongs to each individual person. The responsibility does not fall on bosses or supervisors but on the person who performs the work. People decide how they will carry out their work. job.
Empowerment rules:
- Clear tasks and responsibilitiesComplete DelegationMeasure excellenceTrainingCommunicationFeedbackRecognitionConfidenceHave a margin of errorDignity
The circle of empowerment
Stage I: The starting point is the desire for change and improvement on the part of all the individuals in the organization; if this desire is not felt by all, success in the other stages is unlikely.
Stage II: Elimination of restrictions for employees at all levels of the organization. Here we can assume the elimination of hierarchy levels and jobs. However, despite the removal of restrictions, people must learn to use the freedom conferred on them constructively.
Stage III: Employees have to become aware of their freedoms and duties, they change their point of view from having to do a job to wanting to do it.
Stage IV: Employees will show more interest in their work and will take on their responsibilities, thus encouraging jobs to be expanded. They will do whatever it takes to make their task successful. Each new task will require new skills and therefore there will be more interest and motivation.
Stage V: Here are the tangible results of empowerment, new skills will lead to increased motivation, performance and with all this the results will increase. Existing methods are questioned which leads to continuous improvement.
Stage VI: There are significant changes in both staff behavior and attitude. Staff feel competent, have higher self-esteem, control their actions, are more efficient, have joy, show growth and greater potential.
Stage VII: The circle was completed here, the individual has grown and needs greater challenges, taking on more complex issues, greater responsibilities and obtaining better rewards.
How to do empowerment in the company?
"Empowerment in a company is based on delegating power and authority to subordinates and transmitting the feeling that workers are owners and responsible for their own work." (SoyEntrepreneur, 2011)
Empowerment comes to replace self-directed groups, obtaining in return motivated and committed employees.
The steps necessary to develop an effective and short-term empowerment plan are:
- Free exchange of information between teams Know the resources available to the company Analyze the potential of the staff and link their talents with the objectives that are established Establish a clear starting point, that is, observe the organizational culture, how things are done and if there is resistance to change in the organization. Think about the possible obstacles. Brainstorm. Gather the group and establish the barriers they believe they will face. Establish a list of activities to eliminate the barriers established in the previous point. Identification of talents Hidden Writing the specific objectives of each person and the task they will perform (these must be measurable).
Differences in the behavior of companies with or without empowerment:
| With empowerment | Without empowerment |
| There is a real interest in individual well-being and development
At all levels there are creative and motivated people If someone makes a mistake the rest helps to find a solution The products and services offered to customers are of the highest quality It doesn't matter if they fail while trying Work is enjoyable and fun There is volunteering to carry out new tasks The new norm is to be an entrepreneur, have initiative and accept challenges. Pleased with new ideas Open and authentic staff |
There is no real interest in individual well-being and development
There are only creative people in marketing Whoever makes the mistake fixes it What is produced is not better or worse than others If there is a fault, it is punished There is no volunteering at all It is not believed in the potential of the people. |
- Relationships: Relationships between the boss and employees must be affective and solid in order to achieve the proposed objectives. Promote order so that one can work in a structured and organized system that allows the development of activities. Determine the roles, scope, functions and Responsibilities of each person. Establish a consistent and determined commitment at all levels. Be loyal to the employees and that they are reciprocal. Persevere in the objectives and relationships at work. Stimulate people, enthuse them and make them leaders.
Benefits of empowerment in people:
- They have real support They really listen to what they have to say Their work is significant and important The work they do is no longer a burden to become a challenge Greater development of their knowledge ü Development of various assignments Performance is measurable Increase in the development of their skills They have Participation in decision-making. Your contributions are recognized. They can act on behalf of the company. They know how to work as a team.
Benefits of empowerment at the organizational level:
- Encourages the development and use of hidden talents Brings down traditional boundaries Power and decision-making are introduced to lower levels of the organization Higher quality is obtained
CONCLUSIONS:
Currently, which is full of constant changes where competition for all companies is increasing, new philosophies and strategies are required to reach a high competitive level. The use of tools such as coaching and empowerment helps us to achieve our goals.
Coaching and empowerment are closely related since coaching is within the empowerment process. Coaching is used as a tool to guide and develop staff; that is to say a continuous improvement therefore by means of this the empowerment can be realized.
Empowerment requires a leader to guide subordinates to achieve goals and objectives more efficiently.
Thesis proposal:
"Implementation of coaching and empowerment as a strategy to create competitive advantage in today's companies"
Thanks:
I thank my alma mater the Orizaba Technological Institute, Professor Fernando Aguirre y Hernández who teaches the subject of Fundamentals of Administrative Engineering for showing us that we are capable of writing articles on various topics, for promoting the habit of reading and above all for helping us realize what we are capable of achieving.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
- MONTERREY TEC BLOG. (SEPTEMBER 23, 2013). POSTGRADUATES AND EXECUTIVE EDUCATION. Obtained from POSTGRADUATES AND EXECUTIVE EDUCATION: http: //www.itesm.mx/wps/wcm/connect/itesm/tecnologico+de+monterrey/diplomad os + y + clases / articulos / 2013 / September / articulos20130923 DE GERENCIA. (sf). MANAGEMENT. Obtained from http://www.degerencia.com/tema/empowermentFLAHERTY, J. (2005). COACHING EVOKING EXCELLENCE IN OTHERS. OXFORD: ELSEVIER.Lider-beam-go. (sf). Leader-beam-go. Obtained from Lider-haz-go: http://www.lider-hazgo.info/que-es-coaching/LOS RESURSOS HUMANOS. (MARCH 28, 2008). HUMAN RESOURCES. Obtained from http: //www.losrecursoshumanos.comSoyEntrepreneur. (March 15, 2011). I am Entrepreneur. Obtained from Soy Entrepreneur: http: //www.soyentrepreneur.comWhitmore, J. (2002). Coaching for performance: growing people, performance and purpose.London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing.Wilson, T. (1996). Empowerment Manual. United Kingdom: Gestion 2000.
