Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER March 6, 2017 6 NEWS Are your employees disengaged? Coaching can help, say experts Conversational approach increases motivation, empowerment: Study BY MARCEL VANDER WIER FOR EMPLOYERS keen to im- prove employee engagement, de- veloping a coaching culture may be just the answer, according to research from the United States. Employees who prefer coaching from their managers or peers as a form of learning and development are five to eight per cent more likely to be engaged than those who pre- fer webinars or classroom training, found "Coaching Employees for High Performance" by Quantum Workplace and Fuel 50, based on feedback from 976 U.S. workers. The coaching movement is gaining steam at companies that emphasize engagement, accord- ing to Dan Harris, workplace in- sight analyst at Quantum Work- place in Omaha, Neb. "We are seeing a shift towards conversation, essentially," he said, with frequent coaching replacing the annual or semi-annual perfor- mance ratings system. "It's not about the number. It's not about a checkbox anymore. It's about an evolving process. It's going from number tracking more toward a nebulous, ambiguous but guided uncertainty with re- gard to those conversations." "It's moving toward a little bit more of an intimate relationship between managers and supervi- sors and their direct reports." While coaching can be con- ducted in different ways, the rela- tionship between supervisor and employee is the largest factor in relation to employee engagement and burnout, said Dane Jensen, CEO of Performance Coaching in Rockwood, Ont. "We know that people join companies, but they leave bosses," he said. "And that relationship that the immediate supervisor builds with the person underneath them is the number one predictor of engagement." Coaching methodologies Workplace coaching is a relation- ship characterized by a manage- rial attitude supporting develop- ment and high expectations of employees levied with appropri- ate communication, said Jensen. "For us, coaching is a mindset," he said. "It really is just a differ- ent way of looking at your role as a manager. As a coach, you are constantly looking at the double bottom-line — results on the one hand, and engagement or com- mitment on the other." Fear tactics and monetary re- wards are unsustainable methods to drive performance and engage- ment, said Jensen. "Coaching is a way of manag- ing. It's a philosophy. We get to the results while building com- mitment at the same time." But some managers don't have that mindset, said Phil LeNir, president of CoachingOurselves in Montreal. "ey need help to realize that it's an important part of their role." Coaches serve in a "helping" environment, supporting and taking interest in employees in hopes that tasks can be better ac- complished and organizational growth can be achieved, he said. Differing from a mentor, coaches will lead by asking questions to ensure employees are able to learn on their own. "A coach is going to be more explicit about helping and talking to the coachee, asking what they're trying to achieve and, through directed helping, help them get there," said LeNir. "If it's a good place to be, you're more engaged. When people help each other, it creates an engaged and caring form of management, as opposed to an authoritarian or dictatorial form. That engaged form of management creates en- gagement — it's just that simple." Evolving practice More traditional training pro- gramming such as classroom ses- sions or e-learning are waning in terms of effectiveness, said LeNir. "If you look at any of these ap- proaches, they go through dif- ferent waves," he said. "Coaching started strong 10 to 15 years ago. Then there was some derision because people felt like coach- ing was there to fix people who weren't working." An understanding of coaching methodology has since matured within the HR community, and it is now viewed as a process to help workers become the best they can be, said LeNir. Today, companies are acutely aware that attempting to have staff grow and develop alongside their typical job execution is a best practice, said Jensen. "A large majority of compa- nies recognize the importance of this," he said. "How it's being implemented right now runs the gamut from a relatively low level of sophistication, that I think has oversimplified coaching into a feedback tool, up to very nuanced implementations by very knowl- edgeable practitioners." More companies are embracing the concept of coaching as part of their culture in the workplace, said Monika Jensen, certified coach and founder of the Aviary Group in Pickering, Ont. But executive coaches brought in to lead managers or employees through specific training sessions are also a part of the process, she said. "It's more personalized. The traditional way of just attending a course and saying, 'OK, now you're trained' isn't enough any- more," said Jensen. "More and more, people are doing that online webinar kind of training, not the face-to-face in classrooms, and they're finding that people need a bit more. Coaching unpacks that." "Employees really enjoy the opportunity to engage with their managers, and I find that man- agement people are constantly in meetings. A lot of times, employ- ees have a question, want some feedback, looking just to see if they're on the right track, and they're finding that managers just don't have the time for them." Coaching culture Leadership buy-in is a crucial starting point, said Harris. If cor- porate culture isn't involved in coaching, in favour of annual per- formance reviews, a major mind- set change might be required first. "ere has to be that strategic buy-in that it's essentially worth their effort, time and strategiz- ing to collectively think about the benefits that may be yielded from a coaching culture," he said. Once that is established, strate- gic communication becomes key, said Harris. "It's not something that should be communicated out of the blue. It's a constant, evolv- ing process." Managers should receive pre- training while employees are prepped for a shift to coaching and goal-setting to ensure reception. "Ultimately, this is attempting to cultivate a coaching culture, not just a coaching program. It's something that should be — to maximize effectiveness — part of the culture itself." It should also be implemented as a long-term, holistic vision, alongside the elimination of anti- coaching elements such as skewed reward systems, said LeNir. "Certainly, you're going to want some formal instruction," he said. "But, more importantly, you're go- ing to want to approach it like a culture change." Implementing a coaching cul- ture in the HR department first is also a worthy exercise, said LeNir. "You must eat your own dog food, as we say in the software industry." Sometimes third-party coach- ing is needed, especially to bring staff up to speed on soft skills such as communication styles, behav- iour and conduct, said Monika Jensen. is is customizable and can help when neutrality is re- quired due to conflict resolution. "Coaching is very time-con- suming for management," she said. "What we're finding is coaching is being used more as a corrective measure, as opposed to ongoing coaching. It's a bit of a cost savings, but it's also investing in employees." "You're addressing the issues that are current to those people. It's not just textbook. It's on-time, real-time kind of stuff." Alongside support from senior leadership, managers need to be shown what exceptional coaching looks like, and granted the free- dom to implement it informally if they are to appropriately adopt a coaching mindset, said Dane Jensen. Former smoker gets benefits for cancer Occupational asbestos exposure a factor in Ontario appeals tribunal's decision BY JEFFREY R. SMITH AN appeals tribunal has over- turned a previous denial of work- ers' compensation benefits for a worker who developed lung cancer after years of exposure to asbestos at work. e worker worked in an elec- trical motor shop from 1976 to 1982, where he took motors apart and handed them to electricians for building or repair. e motors used asbestos as insulation inside and the worker used asbestos cloths to put around the ends of wires in larger motors. He then worked as a butcher in meat shops from 1982 to 1984 before joining an automobile manufacturer as a tool setter in the company's brake assembly shop. He worked in that shop until 1999. e worker's job in the auto- mobile plant was located about 15 feet from the brake bounding assembly line — where asbestos brake linings were ground, drilled and riveted leading to airborne as- bestos. For a 10-month period in 1984, he worked on the brake line. In 1995, the worker experi- enced coughing and he was diag- nosed with pulmonary fibrosis. After his retirement in 2000, his condition worsened. In 2010, he was diagnosed with non-small cell carcinoma in his right lung. e worker made a claim for workers' compensation benefits, claiming his lung cancer was caused by long-term, indirect exposure to asbestos in the work- place. He noted that he smoked about one pack of cigarettes per day for 20 years, but quit smoking in 1990. e Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) found that exposure levels in the auto shop where the worker was employed from 1985 to 1999 were measured by an occupational hy- gienist in 1991 to be negligible and well below regulated exposure lim- its. e hygienist couldn't deter- mine the cumulative exposure be- fore 1991, which was the last year asbestos brake pads were used. Given the lack of data before 1991, the WSIB determined the worker's claim didn't meet the requirements for asbestos expo- sure compensation — a history of at least 10 years of occupational exposure and at least 10 years be- tween first exposure and the ap- pearance of lung cancer. e claim was denied. e worker died in November 2010 at 69 years of age. His estate appealed the denial of his claim. e WSIB appeals resolution office upheld the claim denial, pointing to the findings of the oc- cupational hygienist. In addition, a hospital report on the worker's treatment stated that he had told doctors he had smoked one to two packs per day since the age of 16 and quit in 1992 — at 50 — mean- ing he had a much more signifi- cant smoking history than he had let on in his claim. e appeals tribunal noted that "Questions still remain open as to what the exposure levels could have been prior to 1991" and there was no way of knowing the extent of the possibility of excessive ex- posure. is was significant, since the worker was employed in the auto shop for seven years before the 1991 measurements. Accord- ing to the worker, no respirators were worn and he was only 15 feet away from the area where asbes- tos was exposed, for 15 years. In addition, though the minis- try of labour recorded low mea- surements for other electric mo- tor shops in the 1980s, there was the possibility of some exposure in the job from 1976 to 1982. Despite the worker's smoking INCREASED > pg. 10 "It shouldn't be communicated out of the blue. It's a constant, evolving process."

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