Ideally, improved effectiveness translates to scalable processes and supports faster growth of the organization’s revenue stream than its overhead costs. Implementing career coaching by the hiring manager has significantly improved effectiveness in the organization. Career coaching was not appreciated at all by the management at my place of work. The overall improvement mechanism was using a career coach to help employees understand their skills, interests, and strengths (Swanson, 1999). Career coaching helped strengthen the leadership structure in the organization by encouraging employees to step up and take control of normal business activities. Career coaching is a way of improving effectiveness because it helps employees realize their strengths and interests. Also, career coaching helped improve teamwork in the organization by encouraging employees to participate in group activities and share their ideas.
The improvement was driven by low performance and low revenue returns at the workplace. The hiring manager realized the low productivity was driven by low self-esteem and low self-confidence. When self-confidence is low, the employee starts feeling less worth at the workplace. Some feel less recognized in terms of their contribution to the organization. The hiring manager’s introduction of career coaching relieved much stress that had already overwhelmed some of the employees. The employees appreciated the improvement very well and worked towards the objective of the company (Swanson, 1999). The customers and other company stakeholders noticed the improvement and appreciated it. However, the competitors saw a challenge that they needed to overcome.
Having watched Denise Harris’s twenty-four-minute video, career coaching can be defined as a process that focuses on providing solutions and insights based on clients’ capabilities. Career coaching also helps people hone skills that help them stand out in a job search. However, before one comes for career counseling, they need to understand their interest. Understanding self-interest means knowing what you can do—for example, your hobbies, interest, and strength. Identifying one’s strengths is a step forward to greater career development. Leadership skills, critical thinking, teamwork, communication, and technology are exceptional skills hiring managers to look at before hiring anyone. According to the hiring managers, these skills are the essential requirement for any job entry. For instance, for an employee who doesn’t know how to operate a computer, performing any job with the current technology revolution would be hard for them. Good communication skills are another great skill needed on any job. Hiring managers recommend effective communication in an organization because it is the elemental remedy to solving a problem in any company.
“Retaining and developing employees’ skills is the major challenge facing organizations” Krinks and Stack, 2008, P. 13. Employers for decades now have been facing the problem of retaining the employee due high cost associated with the activity. With technological advancement and new client needs, employers have been forced to train the employees to meet the new trend. Being an employee in the banking sector, I had to keep up with the new technological trends. Bank depends on technology to function, so when left behind, the organization can find it hard to meet the market needs (Hezlett, & Gibson, 2007). If a company wants to move to mobile banking, the employees must be trained to assist customers who have an issue accessing the platform. Training employees to meet the current market needs is a way to improve effectiveness in the organization (Savickas, 2019). However, the dilemma of retaining highly trained employees in case of financial struggles has been an issue. If the company has invested in an employee, they would love to retain them for the longest time, probably until their retirement. But the question is, why invest in career coaching and training an employee to meet current market trends and lay them off later?
References
Swanson, R. A. (1999). The foundations of performance improvement and implications for practice. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 1(1), 1-25.
Overview of Career Counseling or Coaching. A 24-minute Video from Denise Harris, Director of the Career Development Center at Buffalo State. (2021).
Hezlett, S. A., & Gibson, S. K. (2007). Linking mentoring and social capital: Implications for career and organization development. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 9(3), 384-411.
Savickas, M. (2019). Career counseling (pp. xvi-194). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.