I have written earlier on the importance of Talent Management processes and how to get up to the speed fast: Talent Management not only for large corporates and Strategic Talent Management – get started and fast.
Increased interest in talent development
At AIMS International Sweden we witness an increasing interest and focus on different talent development initiatives among our clients. The common nominator being more and more often the need for individual to receive support in her or his development. I’m going to describe a typical leadership situation below and illustrate the benefits of coaching.
Team management challenges
Many leaders work in a very demanding VUCA-environment (read more about VUCA). The demands and expectations are set high, and the work is currently mostly performed from home due to Covid-19, making team management a challenge. When entering a new and more demanding leadership role they are often expected to establish a more strategic way-of-working for the new responsibility area, secure the engagement in the team and among stakeholders and ensure an implementation of the transformation agenda.
Quite often leaders struggle with the described leadership transition. Based on my experience I see a number of reasons why transitioning to more strategic roles is challenging and why coaching is an excellent tool to boost the individual development.
- Many leaders repeat the previous leadership style and ways-of-working to ensure their success also in the future. Even if it certainly helps if they have faced similar situations before they will face a high risk of failure if they are not willing to challenge their thinking, reflect on the current situation and seek for support. Coaching will help leaders to think in new ways, challenging the old leadership behaviors and analyzing needed decisions. The coach will not alone solve your challenges but she or he can boost your creativity and openness to find new perspectives.
- Leaders´ work pace is extremely high, full of stress, and difficult tasks to manage. The problem is that working strategically takes time and effort and will not work unless the leaders prioritize their daily routines and work with their personal goals. Coaching has a great benefit of focusing on actions which needs to be executed. A coach can help the leader to prioritize and ensure things get done in optimal order. The essential part of each coaching sessions is the focus on action.
- Developing as a leader requires that a leader receives feedback, reflects constructively around it, defines how to shape his or her leadership and takes actions to close any potential leadership gaps. The issue is that many organizations are ineffective in managing individual feedback, support, and creating an environment for permanent change. Coaching provides a neutral, forward looking, and positive environment to foster new leadership behaviors which are based on self-reflection, innovation and concrete daily situations.
How to meet the unexpected
The benefits of coaching for the employees are obvious. It also helps companies to develop their talents, increase employee engagement and strengthens talent retention. During times of uncertainty, as in current situation with Covid-19, it also increases company´s proactiveness and readiness to meet the unexpected.
We at AIMS International Sweden are specialized in supporting companies broadly when working with Talent Management issues including building new way-of-working and providing Coaching, Leadership Assessments and Executive Search. Please contact us in AIMS International Sweden in case you want to hear more about the solutions we can provide.
Mikko Taipale
Mikko works as Executive Search and Talent Management Consultant in AIMS International Sweden. He is also a Certified Coach by International Coaching Federation (ACC). Before starting in AIMS International Sweden he worked close to 20 years in large corporates as a HR leader with a focus on Talent Management practices.
Mikko has more than 20 years of experience in international roles within large global organisations. He has hold Senior HR leadership roles and specialist positions within both telecom and automotive electronics and worked in Sweden, Finland and Germany. Mikko has a Master of Law degree and he has practised in the City Court of Helsinki. Before transitioning to HR Mikko worked several years within legal consultancy.
