Role Of Talent Management & Executive Coaching In The Millennial Era!

Since the war for talent has been going on, the entire industry has been dealing with only one major concern and that is to find, acquire and retain top talent. And today, recruiting and retraining top talent is not just a mere concern, it is the need of the hour.

However, the question remains how to retain, let alone attract the top talent available in the market. The simple answer to this will be by introducing learning and development programs and coaching in your organization. Coaching or rather executive coaching, can help in resolving various issues that plague talent management industry.

The question remains how it can step-up retention, develop leadership skills and enhance workplace productivity. Let’s understand here.

Talent Management Industry & the Era of Millennials

Working with millennials is no easy task as they are not routed in traditional practices — be it how they find jobs, or how they perceive an organization. This has definitely put lots of pressure on organizations — who want to attract and retain the top talent. Ditching the age-old practices, millennials prefer —

• Career open houses, and social media platforms that focus on network building while searching for jobs.
• An organization that has a robust learning culture and healthy work environs.
• Employers with clear vision and are not satisfied by being a good fit in an organization.

These are just the few things that a millennial candidate prefers. Interesting to note is the fact that millennials won’t shy away from quitting before or within the first year, if they don’t feel engaged in an organization. With almost 70% of millennials admitting that their decision to stay put in an organization will largely depend on organization’s sustainability plan.

If this is worrisome for recruiters, then read on to know what the real problem is

• Only handful — about 29% millennials feel that they are engaged in their work,
• Almost 55% feel that they are not engaged.
• While there are 16% of millennials who feel that they are actively disengaged in their work.

So how does a talent management professional ensure that not just millennials but other employees are also positively engaged so as to reduce attrition and increase retention?

By introducing executive coaching to its employees.

The five Cs of executive coaching not only improves retention but also attract new talent to an organization. Here are those five Cs…

1. Clarity: Remove the ambiguity in the roles and improve communication process through executive coaching. Result — create a base of shared understanding amid employees.
2. Commitment: Customized coaching assures employees that an organization is invested in their personal growth as well. It deepens trust and nurtures employee-management relationship.
3. Courage: Instill the courage to deal with any interpersonal and organizations challenges and conflicts by being open, communicative and collaborative through executive coaching.
4. Challenge: The coaching enables leaders and aspiring leaders to step out of their comfort zones and challenge themselves. This nurtures their potential and skills to build a positive and resilient attitude.
5. Collaboration and Compassion: Nurture a candid and transparent workplace environment through executive coaching. This in turn will make employees approachable and also cultivate the culture of honesty.

While there are several benefits of executive coaching for workforce training in today’s era, the primary and important advantage is

• Enhanced retention
• Increased engagement levels

So, the importance of executive coaching is clear, the next step is to find the right coach who will lead this program. Here’s what organizations need to keep in mind before hiring an executive coach.

1. Qualifications of the coach
2. Style of teaching/coaching
3. Tools used for coaching
4. Ideation to initiation
5. Survey
6. Productivity

Once you have find an ideal coach to initiate executive coaching program in your organization, you will start seeing the changes.

In a nutshell, if you want to attract and retain top talent then you need to introduce executive coaching in your organization.

Originally published at https://exed.canvas.harvard.edu.