Peaking

Work Place Improvement

Government departments, Multinational Corporations and private entities have heavily invested heavily in high end performance management systems. Management and supervisory ranks have defined areas of responsibility and appraisal mechanisms are in place to periodically evaluate the levels of achievement realized by employees for their organizations.

A further look at the length to which these entities have gone in establishing performance management tools still indicates lacking in enhancement of peak performance for employees, management and hence organizations at large. This necessitates the purpose of motivation, mentorship and coaching of personnel from all ranks. Building internal coaching and mentorship programmes for the organization is certain to enhance cost effective means through which employees can be inspired and helped to establish focus on individual and corporate goals. Such resources engage Human Resource People, certain employees from management cadre, and competent executives.

Management ranks have generally been reached by assessment of technical skills rather than abilities of the employees being considered to inspire and lead employees in their units. Consistent complaints often surface indicating lack of understanding between management and employees, unqualified feedback mechanisms and insufficient investment in development of employee careers. Absence of these important coaching skills results to high staff turnover, huge recruitment and training costs and deployment of functional systems.

As Theodre Zeldin a leading philosopher puts it;
‘Finding colleagues who like lovers and friends are inspiring rather than boring or dominating is increasingly a priority’.

Establishing an environment that favors employee self awareness and self improvement then becomes the one way with which the organization can fill the gaps associated with fulfillment of employees well being, cohesion and communication. Forward thinking companies thus need to conduct employee and customer satisfaction surveys to establish their needs. Programs to train employees on team building, communication, leadership and mentoring identify with easiness to work together. Coupling such measures with already installed performance management systems and appraisal mechanisms hence enables the organization yield desired results.

Consideration must be put to various issues when exploring such initiatives requiring careful account with emphasis being laid on designing so as to identify the desired outcome taking to consideration ego in the workplace, ranks and organization culture. Reasons for establishing the coaching initiative as improvement of individual performance and helping management with people skills are critical. Fostering proper work and life balance, positive change in organizational culture and change management are also some factors that must be considered.

Sourcing a coaching and mentoring resource to bring about employee motivation and self improvement is as important. It is prudent to shop around for the various approaches available. A methodology that is relevant to the organizations values, objectives, mission and vision is important. Finding specialists in the field is much applicable as compared to the having training companies that handle this as just a unit. A number of institutions have come up regionally that handle this growing need with reference to among others Peak Performance International, Capacity Building Institute, Training Solutions among others.