I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the SPACE that gets created by disruption. Where are our opportunities to think, envision, and reset?

We’ve all been very aware of the unpleasant things that usually get created by disruption, and this COVID-19 disruption in particular. All the uncertainty, pain, fear, grief, scarcity, disconnection, isolation, having to learn how to manage SO MANY new things, and managing ourselves in the face of everything happening (and not happening!)…

But there is also deep gratitude. Getting to practice and receive empathy. Moments of grace. Birds singing. More honest and real communication. These are some of the things that have been created by many inside the space that’s been created in this disruption.

As many places start to “reopen,” now is the time to think deliberately about what we want to create in the “new normal.” What’s been the best of the “before,” what’s been already created that we want to preserve, and what else do we need to create?

My research and work with clients show that fully 90% of managers are not trained and are unprepared when they get into management! It’s astounding how frequently this happens: people get promoted into management because they’re great individual performers and then are asked to manage others…with no training whatsoever.

One of the challenges with this “tried and true” way of doing business in the past is that the workforce of today and tomorrow is demanding coaches, not bosses. Untrained managers will be even more hard-pressed to succeed inside of this requirement.

In the age of frequent (and in some industries, constant) disruption and change, coaching allows managers and employees to manage shifting priorities with more facility. With ongoing coaching, it’s drastically easier to have clear accountabilities that are aligned with business goals and where employees are able to meet those opportunities with clarity and enthusiasm.

Coaching requires high emotional intelligence, an ability to truly listen (which we humans are notoriously poor at!), flexibility, and a spirit of generosity and positivity. Coaches see their role as leaders as facilitating high performance, development, and learning.

This is very different than “command and control,” micromanagement and its opposite “anything goes,” shame and blame, complete self-reliance, or “swoop in and then disappear…” and the myriad of other styles that people have created in the vacuum created by the lack of training!

In addition, C-Suite executives remain deeply concerned about the recruitment and retention of top talent. One of the challenges is that these leaders are often trying to solve a management problem with money and benefits, thinking that people will stay with higher pay or more perks. The problem is that the vast majority of people voluntarily leave a job because of poor management.

We created the graphic below to help managers see the vast disconnect between what employees need and how employers try to fix their retention problem. As you see, the top 2 things employees need to stay are “appreciation” and feeling “in” on things. In contrast, employers keep trying to fix their retention problems with money and benefits. They rank appreciation as #8, and having employees be in on things, as dead last in their top 10 list of things on which to focus.

In the space created by disruption, let’s disrupt our old ideas of what it takes to manage and lead. Let’s instead reinvent training and help our managers to be great coaches!

I was having a conversation earlier today with a leader who is accountable for developing the retention program at her firm. We were talking about the challenge that – while there’s an investment either way – it’s different if we’re looking at the company’s ROI with time spent with recruitment, training and getting people up to speed (which on average takes 3 years!) vs the manager’s time spent coaching. It is different. If you have an employee who isn’t “cutting it,” is it better for the manager to spend the time on coaching – or better to “churn and burn” through staff until you find the right fit?

The honest answer is that it depends on your perspective.

If I’m a manager who is struggling with personnel and have never been trained to manage, it’s always easier for me to fire people rather than to coach. It’s less humane but it’s way more time-efficient.

If I’m an organizational leader, on the other hand, it’s almost always better to coach. Granted, there are always employees who aren’t a great fit – either on the skills or the demeanor side of the equation. For those, let them go. I definitely subscribe to the “hire deliberately and fire fast” school.

But for everyone else, the organization has already made the investment to recruit, hire, onboard, and train them. We spend $1 billion annually on needless turnover. If we invested in coaching and training, it would cost WAY LESS!

70% of a team’s performance is determined by their manager! When we invest in training our managers, we end up with a workforce that’s high performing and people who are profoundly inspired and deeply committed to their organizations.

The commitment to great managers and coaching must be embedded in the culture of the organization and cascade from the organizational leadership through the organization. If it isn’t, it’s always easier to fire. But in the end, it costs our organizations tremendously – not to mention the costs to our humanity.

You choose.