Over the years many leadership gurus have eloquently told us about the latest trends and best practices differentiating managers from leaders and coaches from mentors.
Common denominator in all trends so far has been the level of personal involvement as a positive means of constructive interaction. The latest trend however seems to be an artificial, digital support tool or APP.
Good news for leaders busy completing Excel files and filing reports from behind their desk, left with no time to interact with their people! Good news too for their people as they now have this artificial buddy where they can log their problems, challenges and time constraints and get an immediate answer from the system that sits behind it – just as routinely and a little bit out of context as they used to get from their manager –
Now can we activate our team from behind our desk using an APP as a support tool for leadership and coaching practices? How do we feel about this?
3 topics to consider:
1. Intrinsic Motivation
Personal reflection and development is not going to take place using a self paced training device when there is no drive. No matter how nice the tool, nothing will happen unless the individual is personally motivated to change and put effort.
2. Context
Activation does not happen in isolation – it needs context like place, time and peer group. These elements need to be integrated in the tool or the tool needs to be embedded in an overarching initiative providing context requirements.
3. Integrity
Many tools store data – and have trainers, consultants, managers, leaders, peers etc. look into very personal information when users are invited to log their thoughts, emotions and feelings. This asks for integrity and careful selection of who is assessing what for whom and to what purpose.
About the Author: Marja van Soest has been working as a director, trainer, consultant and coach in international Sales, Service and Leadership for over 25 years for a diversity of companies and audiences. Parallel to her business career Marja is a sports trainer specializing in In and Outdoor Cycling. Combining her passion for sports, groups, individual and organizational performance Marja developed a highly effective model on Motivation and Engagement to Activate People and Business: Engage, Empower, Perform, Enjoy. Using this model to empower leaders to build a culture of trust is her inspiration for both business and sports practices.
