If like many people, when you saw the title of this post you thought, “hmmm, we really should be doing that” and had a vague sense of discomfort, don’t worry you are not alone!

In our experience at dancing lion, whilst coaching has been provided for some NHS staff,  many organisations have let coaching and mentoring slip whilst they survived the pandemic. It hasn’t been the priority.

I recommend reading the following article – “Not-for-profit organisation offering FREE high-quality coaching support for key NHS and care workers directly impacted by COVID-19” from Coaching through COVID website.

For those managing teams remotely there have been huge challenges this year.  Keeping up morale through zoom or teams, assisting staff to deal with some of the personal problems caused by Covid -19, just keeping business functioning has been a major achievement. 

Finding the time for coaching has stopped for many. Personal and professional development has been put on the back burner. Some sports organisations have managed to continue, but they are in a minority.

Please see the following article regarding this topic – “Coronavirus (COVID-19) and safeguarding in sport” from NSPCC website.

Yet, as we emerge from the restrictions of the last 18 months, your organisation probably needs to be firing on all cylinders to meet the demands of the time.

If you take a look at your team(s) now, you may find you have a mix of confidence, skills and experience, length of tenure and ambition amongst members to further their careers.

Perhaps you have people who are set in their ways, comfortable with how they do things and don’t want to change.  Others who have joined recently and have massive learning curves.

How can you help them with their different needs? Some organisations have found that a structured training programme may be the answer. This is delivered remotely or face to face.  As important is the reinforcement programme you put in place afterwards to ensure the learning continues and that new behaviours become good habits. This is where your coaches and mentors come in. 

Ensure that they have the capability to build the key skills your organisation needs, including:

• Clearing the backlog of work that has likely built up
• Set learning and performance goals
• Identifying learning and performance gaps
• Coaching remotely
• Troubleshoot performance problems
• Assisting people to change non-productive behaviour
• Setting up an easy to implement coaching structure 

Of course, it’s going to take some thought and commitment to make it happen. At dancing lion, we can assist. We’ve done it many times before for clients across industry sectors in the UK and abroad.

If you can harness the experience of your seniors and managers to show leadership, pass on their know how and experience and become change champions, mentors and coaches, your organisation will be one of those that flourishes. 

For further information please contact dancing lion.