Study the passages below to answer the questions that follow each passage.
Passage II:
A global shift is clearly underway. Many organisations are finding themselves in short supply of the right talent as their operations expand globally. The problem is only going to be exacerbated further over time.
According to a recent research report, in order to sustain economic growth, by 2030, the US will need to add more than 25 million workers and in other western countries, a further 45 million employees will be required. However, due to the uneven quality of education systems, only 25 per cent of Indian professionals are currently considered employable by multinationals. Something must be done in India to ensure our talent is able to take their seat at the table in an increasingly competitive global talent market.
The realisation has dawned on Indian leaders that effective performance management is not only a key to delivering results (perhaps the most powerful HR tool in doing so), but also plays a fundamental role in developing talent in the right direction and promoting employee engagement and retention. Companies are moving away from the ‘competitive assessment’ model and are inching towards a ‘coaching and development’ model of performance management. The competitive assessment model assumes that organisations improve through a process of ‘rigid individualism’ in which employees are ranked and rated against each other, thus driving performance on a comparative basis. The coaching and development model assumes that people perform best through careful selection, then coaching, development and continuous focus on job fit.
Executive coaching, leadership coaching and performance coaching form the crux of all coaching and development models:
Executive coaching reserved for the top tier of the organisation. The purpose of this coaching is to help executives improve both their performance and leadership abilities. It is provided by someone outside the firm who holds an unbiased perspective towards the executive.
Leadership coaching that focuses on helping managers throughout the organisation become better leaders in order to prepare them for the next level of leadership.
Performance coaching is for all employees that focuses on improving employees’ performance in their current jobs. This coaching is frequently, but not always, reserved for those who are, at a minimum, meeting expectations.
Most organisations struggle to effectively leverage performance coaching - senior leaders do it infrequently and managers do not do it well. Further, HR often fails to adequately support it. The most severe performance management challenge is managers’ inability to coach their employees. It has been found that organisations highly effective at teaching managers to engage in on-going coaching and the ones who provide excellent cultural support for coaching, reported significantly higher employee productivity.
A high-impact coaching culture is like a three-legged stool, with leaders, employees, and HR each having important responsibilities to fulfill. HR’s role is to create the environment for coaching, do the needful and then measure the impact. Senior leaders must communicate the importance of coaching through their actions and words. Finally, employees of all levels need to adequately prepare for and actively manage their performance and their development.