Individual Contributors Get Mentoring, Little Coaching

By: AMA Enterprise
 
Sept. 2, 2014 - PRLog -- While individual contributors at a majority of organizations are provided mentoring by managers, relatively few employers provide them with coaching by outside professionals, according to a survey of executives and managers from more nearly 700 organizations by AMA Enterprise (http://www.amanet.org/organizations/our-approach.aspx), a division of American Management Association.

Three out of four organizations offer some sort of development to individual contributors, employees who may have no direct reports or formal leadership position but whose expertise is important for the enterprise’s success. Among these organizations 59% provide mentoring, the most common offering for individual contributors. In contrast, just 15% offer what might be considered professional coaching.

If your organization develops individual contributors, which of the following elements are part of that effort? (check as many as apply)

Mentoring by managers          59%
Individual development planning          57%
Personal assessments          53%
Elearning          48%
Classroom learning          45%
Special workshops and training          44%
Exposure to senior executives          40%
Access to external development offerings          38%
Coaching by external professionals     15%

“In recent years, senior management at one in three companies has become more aware of the benefit of training and developing individual contributors,” said AMA Senior Vice President Robert G. Smith. “Though they’re still largely taken for granted at many organizations, individual contributors are often key players who get things done despite having no direct management authority.”

“Nevertheless, what their development efforts consist of is sometimes unclear,” observed Smith. “For instance, ‘mentoring by managers’ tops the list, but that may mean different things at different organizations. It may indicate a formal, structured program delivered by an internal coach…or it may be just a catch all for routine encouragement by one’s boss. But as our survey findings suggest serious coaching is more of the exception than the rule.”

The survey also explored how the development of individual contributors is evaluated.

How does your organization assess the effectiveness of its efforts todevelop individual contributors? (check as many as apply)

      Feedback of participants          46%
      Improved performance of participants          37%
      Observed behavior changes of participants          37%
      Positive business results attributed to participants 31%
      Don’t know/Does not apply          30%

“Having clear success outcomes in place is essential to be able to measure the effectiveness of any development initiative,” advised Smith. “Usually it is best to look for behavior change related to what’s needed on the job, as well as obtain direct feedback from participants. Our survey respondents seem to be making strides in this respect.”

AMA Enterprise provides organizations with assessment, measurement and tailored training solutions. The survey was conducted November 16, 2013 to January 22, 2014 and respondents consisted of 721 senior-level business, human resources, management professionals and employee contacts drawn from the AMA database of contacts.

AMA offers two types of coaching services: skill-based coaching and executive coaching. Skill-based coaching follows on an AMA classroom and/or virtual classroom event. The goal is to ensure knowledge transfer and support application of the learning back on the job.  AMA executive coaching may or may not be aligned with an AMA learning event. Such behavioral and executive coaching is provided by AMA in partnership with CoachSource, an organization with more than 900 coaches in 45 countries who are trained in the Goldsmith coaching methodology and possess certifications in a range of coaching instruments.

With more than 90 years’ experience and headquartered in New York, American Management Association (http://www.amanet.org)is a global leader of comprehensive talent development. AMA Enterprise, a specialized division of AMA dedicated to building corporate and government training solutions, transforms enterprise-wide talent to fuel a culture of innovation, high performance and optimal business results.

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Shari Fryer
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Source:AMA Enterprise
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Industry:Business, Human resources
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