Coaching – Saving Money on Training

Offer enough money and you’ll get the talent, right? Haven’t got the biggest budget so you have to settle, right? Wrong!

Remuneration alone is not enough to attract talent. More so than ever before there are a number of "deal breakers" for talent deciding whether to accept a job offer; of particular note, is professional development.

We’re not about to tell you that you can’t afford not to invest in your people. You already know that. In most organizations, allocation for training has been vaporized by the GFC.

Training is an expensive commitment, in time and money and often comes with no guarantee of return. Then there is also the delay factor involved between training your employees and the desired result. Regardless how you feel about it, providing training is a key way to ensure a congenial workplace. For smaller companies, budget can be the major constraint but given a little creativity there may be a solution... Coaching.

Coaching is simply using the strengths and harnessing the knowledge that already exist within your business (in the form of your current team members to train other staff members or your new employees). Coaching is versatile and flexible and results can be immediate. Employees can often find themselves trouble-shooting through problems to find the solutions specific to your industry and workplace, as opposed to be told the theory from a text-book or training manager in the more formal manner of "text-book training".

Of course one of the biggest attractions to in-house coaching is the cost benefits. It is often a rapid and wise investment, where the cost is the 'time' that coaches spend away from their daily tasks. It would be beneficial to spread the coaching responsibilities around the team and to utilise their different strengths. This empowerment approach also creates a positive environment, where staff feel valued and are therefore more willing to share their knowledge. 'Coachees' have the opportunity to test the ideas in a one on one environment and receive current, personal feedback which is relevant to their role. Employees will also feel valued as members of the business actively impart their knowledge and wisdom to help them succeed in their role.

Coaching is versatile and gives the opportunity for your employees to "shadow" their coach during a meeting with a client, observing a sales presentation or following the Coach's lead when negotiating that deal. In turn this will allow an impartation of skills and also develop a rich language culture that will become ingrained as time passes. Coaching also allows for problems and issues to be ironed out right away.

Coaching can be a rapid solution to helping your business grow, however it doesn't take the place of formal training. Coaching can be a useful tool, whilst being practical and versatile. Ultimately it sends one message to your employees, simply that you care!