How does an organization level up its professional development offerings? As 2023 drew to a close, that was exactly what the leadership team at Chatbooks was asking themselves. As a company, they had a strong, award-winning organizational culture and high engagement scores. The one opportunity for growth that Chatbooks employees identified was providing more in-house professional development support.
With a history of working with our CEO and co-founder, Whitney Johnson, Chatbooks approached Disruption Advisors to explore what strengthening professional development support would look like.
Specifically, Chatbooks was looking to design an engagement opportunity that invested in the leadership skills of their managing team. Employees depend on their company’s leadership team to define their entire ecosystem, a job that is crucial for the well-being of both individuals and the organization as a whole. Investing in these high-impact individuals can trickle down and dramatically change the professional development experience of all employees.
The reality is –– investing in managers is always a good idea. The data tells us that the quality and approach of an employee’s managers are one of the biggest predictors of whether they will stay at the company or look elsewhere for a position.
With this goal in mind, we co-created an engagement with Chatbooks. We designed this partnership to be anchored in the Smart Growth Framework and S Curve™ Insight Tool, and to create space so that we can delve into key coaching competencies to enhance their effectiveness as coaches, not just managers – connecting the two roles as indispensable to each other.
The Chatbooks manager engagement was comprised of several key activities:
- An introductory session to set the groundwork and introduce the Smart Growth Framework, explore its applicability at Chatbooks, and prepare to take the S Curve Insight Tool.
- A session with the executive team to review their S Curve Insight Tool results.
- A virtual workshop with managers to help them explore their results and the framework in greater depth.
- A three-hour, immersive workshop on how to lead people who are each at different points along their personal S Curve, how to use the tool for professional development conversations, and how to use coaching questions to advance discussions with their teams.
The three-hour workshop gave managers a chance to connect and consider how they can amplify their impact by understanding growth. During the session, a few insights emerged that are valuable to any leader.
- Professional development and performance management are not the same thing. Managers wear a lot of hats and interact with individuals differently depending on which they are wearing at the time. It’s important to be clear about the intent of a conversation ahead of time, as well as the hat you’re expected to wear as a manager, so that it is framed accordingly.
- A person’s perception of where they are in their growth is a predictor of behavior. If you as a manager disagree with where someone thinks they are on the S Curve, there is power in a dialogue to explore the gap in perception. Otherwise, there may be a gap between your expectation and their performance. For example, the S Curve Insight Tool can point out that an employee doesn’t feel as challenged by the work as their manager might think. We can use that to adjust expectations and assignments to the person, not to our perception.
- Beware of the advice monster! As Michael Bungay Stanier says, we often rush to give advice right away when someone presents us with a challenge. As a coach, one of the best things you can do is create a container for the individual to explore their own solutions. We tend to jump to advice because we want to be helpful or – in some cases – it’s simply just faster when we have limited time. Coaching and managing aren’t always about speed. They’re about growth.
Managers are critical to the success of any organization. By investing in their team of managers and more importantly their ability to coach effectively, investing in the individuals directly impacting the rest of their team members, Chatbooks invested in the growth of the entire organization.
Are you looking to invest in the growth of your organization? Consider partnering with us to develop your managers into coaches!
