Career Coaching can help to defuse the “turnover time bomb” that exists in many companies today. According to the May 2010 issue of the Harvard Business Review, 25% of top employees intend to change companies as the economy improves. This turnover will cost companies millions of dollars in hard cash. Reducing turnover through effective coaching can mean great opportunities for coaches working in this area.

How Career Coaching Can Reduce Turnover

Employees, who are being career coached, have higher morale and productivity. They feel understood and appreciated. And they feel that their careers are on track. Because of this they are much less likely to look elsewhere for opportunities.

Career coaching involves four steps:
1. getting to know the employee through interviews and assessment instruments,
2. mapping out a career path with the employee,
3. creating a development plan to prepare the employee for each new position,
4. coaching the employee to help them stay on track.

Partner with Supervisors to Greater Efficiency and Effectiveness

Working with supervisors to coach their people has three major benefits for you:
1. It establishes you as the expert.
2. It leverages your time and effort.
3. It gives the supervisors a strong sense of commitment to coaching AND to you.

Establish Yourself as the Expert

Whether we are talking about coaching or algebra, there is something about being the teacher that automatically makes you the expert. As you teach the supervisors how to coach under your guidance, you will establish yourself as the expert. Once this is done, it is difficult for another coach to replace you. Once you are seen as the career coaching expert, you can easily transfer this perception to other areas of coaching. This can help you win additional business within the client company.

Leverage Time and Effort

Obviously, if you are training and coaching the supervisors, and then they are working one-on-one with their people, you are getting more done with less personal effort. This leads to bigger results with less work for you.

Develop Commitment and Create Clients for Life

Once supervisors begin to provide career coaching, they will depend on you to back them up. They will demand that you be there so they don’t make mistakes and look foolish in front of their peers and subordinates. This will help lock you in and make companies where you career coach into clients for life.

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Dave Iuppa
JTS Advisors Strategy and Accountability Coach