Coaching In Extremis

I have recently completed an assignment working for an HE employer who was remodelling part of its business which meant that a sizeable number of their staff, in a specific department, were put on notice of redundancy. This was a tough time for all of the staff involved having been employed from anything between 20 years and just a few months. Having worked on projects like this before it was gratifying to be contacted by the HR Manager looking after the project who asked me to get involved based on previous  performance recommendations.

The employer had allocated a one to one session (more if needed) for me to spend with each member of the team to act as a neutral and confidential sounding board as well as coaching them through some application, interview and confidence techniques. I saw 20 plus people in a few weeks and on reflecting on my contribution, the feedback I received from the individuals and the bigger picture of how this phenomena impacts people (and is becoming more prevalent) I thought I would share my thoughts here.

First of all let us not make the mistake of underestimating what a huge emotional impact this kind of strategic decision has on the people involved. The stress that being in fear of your future creates is significant and can be damaging to the employer / employee relationship going forwards. Of course if something can be improved then it should be, if costs can be reduced and standards maintained then they should be but morale is part of the fabric of any business / institution and the work done by Kettley back in the 90’s is still relevant today  (Employee Morale During Downsizing, Kettley P. Report 291, Institute for Employment Studies, 1995) because decisions like this are not as clear cut in reality as they appear on the spreasheet and must never be all about numbers; there are really good business and humanitarian reasons not to forget the people factor.

You can make judgements on whether one session is sufficient, all I can say is that in my experience one is so much more valuable than none! The staff that took up the option to use their session (over 90% did) all came with needs; emotional, skill related, confidence based and practical and all presented very different challenges to me as a coach. They all embraced the opportunity, did not blame and were so receptive to what I could offer them. Someone else metaphorically standing by their side with experience of the application process, panel interviews (and offering insight into what managers want to see in both) was so well received that I questioned what those same talented, experienced and capable professionals would have done without that support, understanding and information and how it would have made them feel and more importantly how it would have impacted their performance in putting together their applications and facing the interview panel with potentially serious consequences.

I have been involved in some research around the subject of Personal Brand developing a model and work shop content for careerist and creatives and the process I have been talking about above for me really pulled the need for awareness and understanding of the whole Personal Brand piece into sharp focus. Since our PB is tested and most exposed when we ask (or are forced) to be judged in extremis for example an interview, pitch or networking environment.

Many of my clients in this process had robust and well developed personal brands but had somehow lost their connection with them and one of the most significant conversations that I had with many of them was around the importance of performing to your best under pressure to ensure that your skills, experience and USP’s are communicated clearly to those that matter; the judges (panel).

Our simple model explains.

        

I guess that my recent experience and understanding of the value of personal brand in practice means I can only recommend that HR and L&D functions would be well served to consider how they might enhance performance and confidence of their human resource through using this stuff as part of the development and support they give their people day to day rather than only being forced to consider it in extremis.

 

Paul Goring

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