Using Business Coaching to Enable Workers to Take Initiative

One of the foremost issues which many managers of businesses claim to suffer from is a lack of time. Whether it is a time management problem on their part, trying to take on too much, having to deal with too many problems, or any such similar occurrence, the net result is not enough time to get everything done. This not only leads to tasks being rushed or left uncompleted, but will also raise the stress levels of the manager which will have a detrimental effect upon their health and wellbeing and can increase their chance of becoming ill. This will then reduce their capacity to work or even force them to take time off through illness, leaving them with even less time to try and cram in what was already too much for them to cope with. A vicious circle like this can easily cause problems for a person's mental wellbeing along with their physical condition.

Breaking out of this cycle and tackling time management issues can be done by delegating tasks and getting employees to take initiative. Without proper instruction and guidance as to the boundaries and what they should and should not do without speaking to the manager first, many employees will be extremely reluctant to attempt to tackle an issue on their own, particularly if there is a long history of referring everything to the manager. This is where business coaching sessions can prove to be extremely beneficial, as they provide a dedicated forum for the detailed discussion of the methods of working going forward. It is also a chance for workers to express any reservations they have about taking on the additional work, and identifying any potential training requirements that may be necessary before the employee is capable of taking the work on. For example it would not be acceptable to delegate health and safety responsibilities to an employee who had little health and safety training or formal qualifications in the subject.

Taking the time to provide business coaching to their employees and discuss delegation matters with them will obviously be time that cannot be spent on doing tasks. This may cause short-term disruption, but having an employee(s) who are able to tackle and sort out problems without a manager ever having to get involved will ultimately free up a tremendous amount of time for them in the long run and so is well worth doing.