The Power of Coaching in Modern Management: Lessons from Vodafone
Authors
Carl Clarke - Director Talent, Learning, Leadership, Skills, People Performance & Talent Acquisition - Vodafone
Zsofia Belovai - Behavioural Science Lead - MoreThanNow
Teodora Mechetiuc - Solutions Lead - EZRA
Roper Peckham-Cooper - Global Enterprise Account Director - EZRA
Economic and leadership development trends have collectively reshaped approaches to people management, making processes more dynamic and personalised to the employee. However, this evolution requires ongoing adaptation of management practices, particularly as new technologies, evolving working patterns, and the rise of remote working continue to change the context in which managers seek to enhance team performance.
Managers are pivotal in aligning employees with the organization's mission and goals, setting clear expectations, removing obstacles, and guiding teams through complexity and uncertainty. Recently, this role has become even more essential as organizations intensify their focus on performance management in response to economic pressures and the changing nature of work. To create constructive and people-centred processes, many have turned to coaching practices to empower managers to give feedback, fostering enhanced performance and transformative growth.
Coaching inspired by transformational leadership theory has gained prominence as a crucial part of effective performance management, emphasising the importance of inspiring others and developing individuals to achieve their potential and deliver higher productivity. With this approach, the role of a people leader is to function as a “team coach.” The theory suggests that when managers adopt a “team coach” mindset, they support employees in setting and achieving their goals, providing continuous feedback and encouraging self-reflection, which in turn fosters personal growth. Research shows that managers who embrace a coaching style create a more supportive and collaborative work environment, leading to higher levels of employee engagement and performance.
Adapting to these changing trends, Vodafone set out to explore how managers could be upskilled to play an effective coaching role in a rapidly changing environment, at a time when organizational priorities were being reset to drive performance improvement. The goal was to ensure that people managers could communicate organizational performance goals, using coaching tools and having effective conversations with their teams. Throughout the rest of this article, two studies are introduced on how Vodafone approached this challenge, leading to a holistic and evidence-based strategy for achieving these goals. Based on the findings, recommendations are provided to people managers and organizations on how coaching can be adopted as an effective lever for human capital performance.
Assessing impact through experimentation
Research was conducted on two elements of Vodafone’s performance management framework, providing insights on how coaching tools could be introduced to support managers and employees. The first evaluation was conducted with MoreThanNow, and the second with EZRA, an online coaching provider.
The MoreThanNow study
First, the impact of manager communication styles during mid-year performance discussions was explored. Using a randomised control trial, four different conversation guides were tested with 3,300 managers, encouraging regular 1-to-1s ahead of mid-year check-ins. The content of the guides varied by focus, asking managers to centre the conversation around either:
· The delivery of Vodafone’s goals, or
· The delivery of individual goals.
Second, the way managers were prompted to conduct the 1-to-1s was varied, with managers adopting either:
· A facilitative coaching style, or
· A directive feedback approach.
Managers who focused on the delivery of individual goals, and who adopted a coaching feedback style, provided 22.9% more formal feedback to their employees compared to the control group who received no messages. Employees whose managers were in the coaching feedback style group focusing on individual goals reported that they felt 45% more accountable for delivering performance outcomes, also compared to the control group. This study highlighted that coaching is an effective method to increase feedback and accountability. It also highlighted the benefit of increasing manager coaching capability.
The EZRA study
The second study explored the impact of 1-to-1 coaching delivered via an online platform on managers over 18 months. To show that coaching had a measurable impact, team engagement survey results from 61 managers who received six months of coaching were compared to those from 56 managers who did not receive coaching.
Coaching was found to have a positive and statistically significant ripple effect on the teams of managers who received it. While the organization was transforming, coached managers increased their team engagement scores, while managers who were not coached experienced a decline in their teams’ engagement results. Notably, team members of coached managers reported a 9% increase in their manager action-taking on the engagement results. Teams with managers who did not receive coaching saw a decrease in perceived action-taking by their managers. This 18% gap between the two groups was statistically significant.
Insights and implications
Based on our findings and the growing trend of focusing on the individual, organizational leaders should prioritise coaching and personalisation in their performance management strategies. Here are our suggestions on how people leaders and organizations can act on these findings:
People leaders:
1. Role model coaching behaviours: People leaders should lead by example, demonstrating coaching behaviours in their interactions with both their teams and peers. This can be done through listening actively, asking open-ended questions, and providing constructive feedback. By consistently practising and promoting coaching, leaders can create a supportive and collaborative work environment, empower team members to take ownership and contribute to a culture of continuous improvement.
2. Align coaching with team and individual goals: People leaders should connect coaching efforts to both team KPIs and individual career aspirations. By tailoring coaching conversations to align with the unique goals of each team member, leaders can foster personal growth while driving collective performance.
3. Make it personal and relevant: The studies showed that when leaders make coaching personal to the employee, it has a greater impact. Therefore, focusing on individual goals and how they connect with and reinforce the organization’s aims is crucial for meaningful engagement.
Organizations:
1. Integrate coaching into organizational strategy: Embed coaching within organizational strategy by aligning coaching initiatives with the company’s mission, values, and performance goals. This strategic alignment ensures that coaching efforts are not isolated but contribute to the overall success of the organization.
2. Invest in comprehensive coaching programs: Develop and support robust coaching programs that include training, resources, and ongoing development for both coaches and coachees. Organizations should create a pool of internal coaches and ensure they receive the necessary support, supervision, and continuous training to maintain high standards.
3. Track the impact of coaching: Encourage a culture where coaching is a core part of everyday work and it is looked after through data-based methods. The impact of such an investment on performance can only be established if it is appropriately tracked, and adjusted as needed based on regular review.
Following the completion of the two research studies, Vodafone has taken the advice and immediately started working on adjusting manager guidance to encourage coaching and personalisation. Similarly, all managers will be given the opportunity to sign up for coaching to scale up the trickle-down effect we found.
With our example, we hope to inspire HR leaders across the world. By investing in coaching, combined with existing L&D and HR interventions, companies can create a more engaged, motivated, and high-performing workforce. While some companies might be tempted to cut back on these initiatives during periods of change and transformation, these studies highlight that coaching can be a critical lever for accelerating team engagement and driving performance.
We would like to say a special thank you to MTN alum Nicha Surawattananon for this work. Our experiment with Vodafone could not have become a reality without her involvement.
There are still so many research gaps to experiment in the workplace. The performance cycle provides time-bound avenues and involves specific behaviour that can help you explore your research questions to tackle strategic challenges in your organisation.