Research has shown that the most effective leaders at leading and adapting to change at any level in the organization are those that have the highest level of emotional intelligence. Many intractable problems in the workplace are the result of poor communication and lack of self awareness and other emotional intelligence competencies. The components of knowledge, skills, and abilities that compose emotional intelligence can be learned. Coaching and mentoring are highly effective mechanisms to support this type of competency building. The challenge is to accelerate the development of leaders and institutionalize leadership as a core competency throughout your organization. Coaching and mentoring are effective tools for impacting the development of future leaders and creating environments that support continuous learning. 

Coaching is the artful use of conversation utilizing the communication skills of affirmative listening, giving feedback, and asking effective questions to create a process of learning, change, and accountability. The coach helps the client establish a vision for change, clarify and set goals, shift perspective to see new possibilities, develop new action strategies. The coach requests action, holds the clients accountable to what they say they want and what they will do, and draws out the clients’ inherent wisdom and intelligence. Mentoring is a long-term relational process for developing an individual (protégé) under the close guidance of a teacher, counselor, or leader who knows how to navigate within the culture of the protégé’s organization. Mentoring generally refers to a relationship between two individuals, the mentor and the protégé (mentee), that uses coaching skills to guide the learning and growth of a protégé who seeks to acquire or strengthen competencies needed to improve job performance and career progression. Coaching and mentoring programs are used to develop knowledge, skills, and abilities that produce real and lasting results beyond just delivering information as is typically done in most training courses. The Journal of Public Personnel Management (1997) reported that training alone improves productivity by 22.4%, but when combined with coaching, productivity increases to 88%. In successful programs, organizations ask participants to focus on their professional developmental needs while working on competencies needed to produce results aligned with the organization’s mission and strategic goals. The value of these programs  is their diversity and flexibility to adapt to the organization’s goals, culture, and learning goals of participants. 

Suppose you wanted to create a more perfect workplace, changing the culture with new and enhanced leadership skills. The leadership philosophy states that “all employees are leaders” and outlines the key personal leadership competencies that are expected of all employees. The “supervisor of the future” outlines key competencies expected of your managers and supervisors. How would you go about this metamorphosis when it is uncovered that employees experience your organization as lacking focus and accountability? Supervisory feedback also highlights that supervisors are lacking in providing focus and accountability. Employees do not feel valued or supported and therefore file grievances and administrative complaints relating to promotions, work assignments, or other job related issues. Supervisors and staff often do not have the skills to navigate the resolution of differences, provide feedback on the impact the other is having on them, and to clearly outline expectations. Like so many other organizations, your workplace has its share of intractable conflicts that lead to major disruptions, painful conflicts, disenchantment, reduced effectiveness, and overall pain and anger. You may want to provide support for the employees and their supervisors involved in these intractable conflicts by designing interventions that include mediation or other agreement creating meetings along with coaching for both parties over a time period. If you ask the supervisor and employee to identify what they want to see different, their own personal learning objectives, and the design and structure of the support, such as the number of mediations or coaching sessions, and they show a willingness to work together, they have taken a big step toward developing a positive working relationship.