What was once old is new again. A recent Inc. article issued a high alert and sounded the alarm for business leaders waiting for a crisis to help them develop their employees. In the past, one way to motivate people or create leadership development was through adversity. It was called character building. Modern business management is quite different from the days of three martini lunches, typewriters, personal secretaries, and the telephone – including roadside telephone booths and desk phones.
The crisis has passed, and while the article said, “it is too late,” it’s not! We’ve brought about complex change on our own because of our hunger for more of everything we have or want. The article paints a picture of gloom – if you let it do so. We live with complexity daily in our personal and professional lives. What exactly did we expect with the technology acceleration, globalization, and unlimited access to information?
It’s obvious that with all our sophistication and push to be better, we still struggle because our personal resilience is low, leading to a loss of motivation and burnout. It’s like the age-old question: which came first, the chicken or the egg? People want more and along with that comes increased stress and anxiety caused by a loss of motivation and burnout. Were people stressed first or did the stress come later?
The Inc. Article suggests one way to respond to complex change is through personalized coaching. New research from Better Up suggests that personalized coaching creates an internal resiliency buffer. The following 4 wins were cited as results of the study:
- Improve your ability to cope with unexpected and stressful situations
- Develop psychological capital, enhancing well-being and a sense of being grounded
- Prevent some of the detrimental effects of unpredictability
- Drive lasting change
I’ve often thought that when people are doing what they are enthusiastic about, then stress and anxiety is manageable. For example, if motivation falls off and burnout is occurring, then personalized coaching can be most effective if the individual is open to receiving it and applying new learnings.
Coaching is not the outcome; personalized coaching is focused on an individual achieving their desired outcome. To be effective, the individual must have an achievable goal in mind. For example, seeking a way to better manage their role, taking on more responsibility, improving capabilities or ensuring they are not put in situations beyond their control and competence.
Personalized coaching can lead to self-actualization. Abraham Maslow defined it as, “the desire for self-fulfillment and to become more and more of what one is and everything that one is capable of becoming.” The sky is the limit when you approach personalized coaching with an open mind and an achievable goal
.