Four ways coaching can help your new hires

11 / Feb / 2020

When an Executive starts a new role, be it an internal promotion or external hire, they are expected to deliver from day one.

But the reality is that even the most capable, driven and commanding executives will experience a dip in their motivation and or performance in the first 90 days.

By: Chris Pestell

This can be for any one of several reasons. Dealings with a particularly tricky stakeholder or belligerent customer, the realisation that the processes or systems aren’t as slick as their last company or perhaps their expectations of the role are different from the reality.

Over the years I have interviewed hundreds of senior candidates that had suspicions very early in their tenure that they weren’t in the right role for them. When their boss asks ‘is everything ok?’ and ‘Are you settling in?’; the answer would be a resounding, ‘Yes’.

After all, who wants to admit to their new boss that things aren’t as wonderful as they hoped they would be?

Research shows us that without either a very strong internal sponsor and or external Coach, these individuals may never return to peak performance and that you are unlikely to see a strong return on your investment in hiring the individual in the first place. In some cases, new hires that suffer from an early dip don’t ever return to their full potential.

how coaching can help new hires

Think of the engagement and impact as a business you can have with your new hires when you send this message:

“We want you to be successful, so we are providing you with a Coach to help you thrive in our business.”

An external Coach or separate sponsor can help the business and the individual ensure the first critical months are the best they can be for both parties.

Every Coach is different in the way that they achieve this, but broadly speaking their value add is:

The Coach can meet with the business to understand the expectations of the new hire. This is often not just about the technical elements of the role, but much more about how the new hire needs to show up, what does their stance in the company need to be and what does ‘good’ like after 90 days.
The Coach is a true confident for the new employee, giving them an independent sounding board and trusted counsel to discuss initial challenges, thoughts and observations. Having this time to reflect away from the ‘day job’ is crucial to maintaining objectivity and really presenting objective options to consider.
Through a series of monthly meetings, good coaches or sponsors will help the new Executive to ensure they are meeting the objectives and expectations, discuss any issues that they are encountering or even understand the team that they have inherited.
By engaging with a Coach, the individual learns to self-solve; process their thoughts to consider the options open to them and make their own decisions as to which course of action will best suit the business needs. They can practice the briefings or talks they need to give, test ideas and sometimes just throw around ideas in a safe zone without reprisals.

Having these conversations with external coaches can remove the political agenda and burden of time and resources from the business. Our research indicates that Executive candidates who have been invested in and provided with an independent Coach, are retained in the business for longer and more successful in their career with that employer. A small investment for a significant pay-back to the organisation.

If you’d like to understand how Executive Heads includes coaching as part of our recruitment methodology, then watch this video on how the 90-Day Accelerator Programme benefits candidates and businesses.

About the author

Chris Pestell has more than 14 years’ experience working with clients to place HR Leaders in a range of sectors across the UK and Europe.

He works with ambitious and growing businesses to help find, assess and develop the best talent for HR managerial and leadership positions.

Chris’ success has been to assess the best in class commercial HR talent that add significant return on investment by creating a people culture that helps businesses to thrive.

As well as numerous successful executive appointments, Chris also works with a bank of Executive Heads’ consultancy coaches to help deliver the 90-Day Accelerator Programme, leadership coaching and culture change transformation programmes.

Click here to connect with Chris on LinkedIn.

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