The what, and the why.
Thrive’s unique online coaching platform allows you a single point of access to a range of trainers, coaches and mentors, tailored to your businesses individual needs. Rather than having to sign up with a single coaching company, or to several and ending up going round the houses attending lots of different sessions in different locations, Thrive puts everything in one place, for people to access what they need, when they want to, at a time that suits them. We offer expert coaching alongside your organisation’s existing coaching team, and you can add any other professionals you think will offer valuable insight and support to your workforce. So there you have the ‘what’ of Thrive, in a nutshell. But how about the ‘why’?
After decades of experience as a business consultant, it dawned on me that all the success stories along the way shared a common thread. It started with encouraging the person in charge to subscribe to a single principle; that 80% of what you need to advance your business, is already within it. I realised that coaching was an incredibly effective way to mine that existing potential, and allow organisations to grow.
I wanted to make it simple and easy for companies who know they are obligated to provide coaching, but don’t have the faintest idea where to start. I wanted to create a system that took that challenge off their hands. I wanted to be able to enable everyone, no matter their position in an organisation, to access a wealth of coaching and mentoring expertise, and for businesses, a way to provide this to their employees at scale.
The lay of the land, as it stands.
Companies, no matter their form or end product, all strive on some level whether consciously or otherwise, to be a great place to work. They want to be distinctive, to appear in lists of top places to work. Most organisations would be over the moon to hear that their employees had been posting about how great an experience working for them is on LinkedIn, raving about how much they love their job. But a lot of businesses don’t know where to start when it comes to achieving this. This is where Thrive comes in.
Getting people on board with the idea that coaching is a core contributory factor to productivity, can be a challenge in itself. The biggest percentage of the population by 2028 will be the over 55s – they will represent 50% of the workplace. This generation will have no impulse to work with a coach, because they have grown up being told that you must stand on your own two feet. That if you work hard then you’ll get to where you want to be. There’s a real challenge on the horizon for this group in senior roles, as they encounter a more savvy, curious audience; Generation Z is beginning to emerge as an important voice in the working world. They are voicing their preferences, and these look very different to those of their predecessors. They want to work in a purpose led way, for an organisation that represents their values.
How you can overcome it.
So what can you do to address this conflict in attitudes to work and employment? Coaching can help you to uncover these wants and needs, creating an ability to create loyalty and engagement in an increasingly transient workforce, who need to feel a personal connection to what they do. How can you make your company a place that people clamour to work for? How can you achieve that if you have no idea where to begin?
In my experience, for a manager to truly appreciate the invaluable benefits that coaching can offer, it needs to be experienced by them first hand. In founding Thrive, we’re looking to educate leaders on how to be ‘coachlike’.They are invited to experience a coaching conversation themselves, take it with them, and see the benefits in the way that they operate. Once they are on board with the concept, they are open and receptive to a new style of management.
Where to start.
Enormous potential can be released simply by saying “we value you”. By asking insightful questions like “tell me about a time that you felt underestimated” you can gauge potential future talent. These statements and questions are so much richer than questioning someone on their productivity, or asking for a list of strengths and weaknesses; boring questions get boring answers. Interesting questions encourage reflection, and they can provide valuable insight into both the mindset and capability of your employees. Consider your questions – the more thoughtful and captivating, the more you’ll get back. Listen, and make your staff feel trusted. In turn you will make people’s work and personal lives happier, healthier and more productive.
When I’m asked how I see businesses embracing a coaching culture, I tell them to imagine a 100 piece jigsaw puzzle, with pieces of all shapes and sizes. The overall picture, once the jigsaw is complete, is leadership & development. One piece might be retention, another is high-performance. Wellbeing is certainly one, but there is something crucial to bear in mind here; coaching is, and always should be a bigger piece than wellbeing. Throughout my years in business I’ve seen a lot of very well-meaning organisations getting what they perceive to be ‘wellbeing’ very wrong. It means more than ‘Wine-down Wednesdays’ and ‘Beers & Beanbags’. For me, coaching should address the issues that have given rise to the need for better wellbeing, and investing properly and adequately in your people will allow your company to soar. This runs through everything that we do.
Why we exist.
We exist to show businesses that coaching is worth the investment, both financially and in terms of time spent. All too often we hear that managers and employees ‘don’t have time’ for anything other than the task at hand, but coaching can deliver a huge ROI across all facets of an organisation’s day-to-day operations. Say one of your management team goes into a negotiation fresh off the back of a 30-minute coaching session on effectively negotiating with an expert in the field. Their meeting could go from delivering an average to good outcome, to an extremely successful one. Efficiency in processes can benefit hugely from coaching too. Just half an hour of coaching could earn you back 5 hours down the line.
We exist to combat toxic work cultures, and create healthy conversations between everyone who works at an organisation, no matter what the discipline. We’ve worked with a vast number of clients; global giants PepsiCo and Viacom, household names like Curry’s and Sky, charities such as Crisis and brainstrust, and so many more. The golden rule for all of them remains the same, regardless of your end product; recognising every individual is vital to unlocking their potential. If you can master this, then your business will shine.
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