Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER OCTOBER 2018 FEATURES 47 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Adopting a coaching culture empowers employees, strengthens employers Sleeman Breweries, Canadian Blood Services see benefits of new programs By Nance MacLeod and Denis Lévesque A while back , Sleeman Breweries sales team lead Ross Danbrook re- called going on a sales call with a new employee. e worker made a generic in- troduction about the company to a potential client, instead of spe- cifically stating the name of Slee- man and what sets it apart from other beer providers. But rather than chastise the new hire, Danbrook leveraged coaching methods to ask what he could have done better to land the sale and separate himself from the competition. "e biggest thing I've learned is to get people to understand 'What if I did it this way?' instead of 'How does my company want me to act in this situation?" he says. Danbrook is one of 180 people managers at Sleeman who has gone through a coaching pro- gram as part of a new initiative the brewery rolled out in 2016. e move was conducted in ac- cordance with the ethical guide- lines and professional standards of the International Coach Fed- eration (ICF). In this and many other ways, the ensuing coaching culture that has developed has empowered employees and strengthened the company overall. Sleeman's coaching program arose from an internal survey that found employees at all levels wanted more feedback and coach- ing from their managers. To meet this need, the company partnered with an ICF-creden- tialed executive coach based in Toronto. "As a leader who is often busy, you want to tell your team what to do when they come to you with a problem," says Martin Durocher, vice-president of HR at Sleeman Brewery in Kitchener, Ont. "ere was a great deal of rec- ognition of how powerful coach- ing could be. It takes longer than telling someone what to do, but it's well worth it." "e program began at the very top with the executive team being the first participants and the first leaders to role model a coaching style of management." e program is fully aligned with the ICF's definition and principles of coaching — partnering with an employee in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires her to maximize her personal and professional potential. In this model, the coach enables the employee, who is seen as an expert in her own field, to be suc- cessful through self-realization. Establishing a coaching culture from the top-down can have a trickle-down effect that positively impacts revenue along with em- ployee retention and engagement. Whether it's a CEO trying to lead a company through a tran- sition, or an employee hoping to improve communication skills, coaching is a way for someone to broaden his capabilities through self-discovery, rather than being told what to do. Nearly 90 per cent of respon- dents to a 2017 survey who had been coached said they were satisfied with the experience, according to study commis- sioned by ICF and conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Further, they cited increased self-esteem, enhanced commu- nication skills and increased pro- ductivity as the three most fre- quent outcomes of coaching — all important elements of building a collaborative and effective team. "Unlike a training session, where everyone gets the same content, coaching is highly in- dividualized and tailored to the person's needs to help partici- pants set meaningful goals and make changes in a way that is ef- fective and sustainable," says Julia Rabinovitch, an ICF-credentialed coach in Ottawa. "Leaders who participate in coaching tend to become better listeners, ask better questions and apply a coaching mindset in working with their teams, which strengthens relationships and improves their leadership effectiveness." Developing high-potential leaders Rabinovitch manages the coach- ing practice at Canadian Blood Services, which adopted its coach- ing culture as a way to better equip leaders to support their teams, achieve results and contribute to optimizing employee experience. LEADERS > pg. 49 "Leaders who participate in coaching tend to become better listeners, ask better questions and apply a coaching mindset in working with their teams."

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