We’re pleased to announce that Go1 will be at Xerocon 2018. Go1 will be a silver exhibitor at Xerocon, which is running on September 5th and 6th at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre.

Go1 will be at Xerocon to promote our partnership with Xero, and the Go1 referral partner program. If you are a member of the Xero Partner Network and interested in becoming a Go1 referral partner, visit our booth (number 30) next to the Mini Theatre at Xerocon to find out more information.

By joining Go1's Partner Program, Xero Partners can refer their small-to-medium-sized clients to Go1's platform and content library, helping ensure their clients meet their compliance training needs, reducing risk at the workplace. Thanks to a partnership between both organisations, the clients Xero Partners refer to Go1 will be able to receive 5 FREE courses on the go1.com learning platform and access a user integration that syncs user details between Xero and Go1.

If you want to find out more about how easy it is to get started as a referral partner, jump onto www.go1.com/xero or we will see you at Xerocon!

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Signing on the dotted line of an employment contract is always a thrill, signifying the start of an exciting new chapter in your career. These days, most companies ask new employees to sign an employment contract before coming on board. Employment contracts are standard practice across industries, regardless of whether an employee is full-time, part-time, or casual. Most likely, you signed one for your current job.

Accordingly, employment contracts are essential for both staff and employers, legally establishing your working relationship and setting out important frameworks, expectations, and policies.

These contracts provide employees and employers with a legally binding agreement that establishes their working relationship, including what is expected from each party and the rights, responsibilities, and obligations of all stakeholders. 

For workers, employment contracts protect your job security, income, leave entitlements, and other basic rights. On the other hand, they also protect employers from certain risks, such as breaches of confidentiality or underperforming employees. 

So, if you’ve ever wondered why employment contracts are vital to your business or your rights as an employee, we’ve got all the information you need right here. Here are five reasons why employment contracts are a must-have for any business.

One of the first things a good employment contract should do is clearly define an employee's position, responsibilities, and duties. 

For employees, role clarity is vital. It helps to have a document that contains information about your job description, duties, salary, and benefits. There’s nothing worse than starting a new role and not being clear on the tasks and duties involved. You're left stabbing in the dark, unsure on the workload you're expected to take on. Thus, your job description should be clearly established by your employer, through your contract, before the onboarding process.

While this might sound fairly basic, many businesses fall at this hurdle. According to Effectory, just 53% of employees experience high role clarity, leaving 47% of workers with poor role clarity. That's not all, as Effectory also finds that employees with high role clarity are 53% more efficient, 27% more effective, and enjoy a 24% increase in overall performance. If that wasn't enough, 75% of employees with high role clarity are more passionate about their jobs, reporting higher job satisfaction than those without role clarity. 

As such, role clarity is in everyone's best interests, and it starts with having a well-defined job description in your employment contract. Having a contract that explains the standards expected of each employee is a great way to get the best out of everyone. When all parties know what is expected of employee performance, there is no room for confusion. Plus, if an employee is consistently underperforming and not meeting the expectations outlined in their contract, their employer will have grounds to take further action.

Employment contracts typically also give the leeway to add or subtract benefits, such as bonuses, according to the employee’s performance.

An employment contract should also outline the terms of employment. That is, exactly how long an employee is contracted for or when their contract will be reviewed or re-evaluated. For example, is it a fixed-term contract with a clear start and end date? Will an employee have to pass a certain probationary period? Is there an expectation that an employee will be eligible for a raise or promotion after a certain amount of time? All of these questions should be answered in your contract. 

Having this information in the employment contract guarantees job security for employees, as long as they do not violate the terms of their contract. When staff feel secure about the terms of their role, they are likely to have higher levels of performance and engagement.

Unfortunately, job insecurity remains a significant issue in many places. According to a recent survey, 88% of Australians think job security is a big problem. Likewise, the ADP finds that just 20% of workers feel their jobs are secure. These are concerning numbers, leaving a lot to be desired for the state of job security in many businesses. 

Employment contracts should also specify exactly what actions can result in termination. Including this information ensures that employees know which activities are mandatory to their role and which actions or behaviours are against company policy and will result in dismissal.

Additionally, an employment contract should define pay rates and income. It should also state how often an employee will be paid (i.e. weekly, fortnightly, or monthly). 

Containing all this information in one document shows an agreement between both parties on salary, leaving no room for miscommunication. Workplace disagreements often centre around money, so employment contracts minimise this risk.

Within an employment contract, you can set your employees' annual income as well as their working hours and any relevant bonuses.

It’s also essential to include information about staff leave entitlements in your employment contracts. 

Throughout their employment, staff will need to take different forms of leave, such as annual holidays, sick days, or maternity or bereavement leave. Having this information explained in a contract means that the procedure for taking leave is consistent and legal for all staff.

This way, employees can refer directly to their employment contract for guidance how to take leave. The contract should also clearly define any payments staff receive when they take days off work, for whatever reason.

Despite this, taking leave is still seen as taboo in some companies; a sign that you're not fully committed to your work. While this attitude is becoming less and less common (particularly in the wake of COVID), a recent study by Attendance Bot uncovered some startling statistics: 85% of employees admit they've sgone to work when they're sick rather than taking sick leave. Alarmingly, 4% say they didn't take leave because their manager would frown upon them not coming in even if they're sick. While this number is trending downwards in the right direction, it should be 0%. 

These statistics underscore the importance of having clearly defined leave policies within your employment contracts, while also fostering a culture where employees feel psychologically safe to take their entitled leave. 

Confidentiality is primarily in the best interest of employers.

Many positions give employees access to confidential company information and data. If this information was leaked or fell into the wrong hands, it could have negative ramifications. As such, it’s standard practice to include a confidentiality clause in each worker’s contract to protect your business.

With a confidentiality clause in place, employees can't divulge sensitive or confidential information. Confidentiality clauses typically prevent information from being released to the media or public, shared on social media, or used for any other purposes. If an employee breaches their contract and leaks confidential information, their employer can take legal action against them.

Employment contracts also often include a ‘non-compete clause’, which prevents employees from working for any competitors for a certain period (perhaps two or three years) after the employment ends.

As you can see, employment contracts are essential in the workplace, protecting both employers and employees. Next time you’re asked to sign an employment contract, take the time to read it thoroughly and make sure it reflects your understanding of the position, salary, and benefits. For employers, ensure you’re protecting your workers and your business with clear, well-defined contracts!

For more insights, be sure to subscribe to the Go1 newsletter to stay on top of all the latest L&D trends. Or, you can book a demo today to find out how Go1 can help with your team’s learning needs.

If you’ve ever wondered just how important employment contracts are for your business, or for your rights as an employee, we’ve got all the information you need right here.

Why employment contracts are important for your business

Online courses provide endless learning possibilities. If you own a business and want to become a better leader, online training is the perfect solution. E-learning is also advantageous for managers who strive to become more efficient and effective in their roles, as well as employees interested in adopting new skills or honing existing ones to enhance advancement opportunities.

Participation – In today’s world of gamification, online courses make it easier for managers to get their teams excited about online training. Even though the best courses take little time to complete, they come packed with valuable information provided by industry experts. When your managers explain to their teams that they can improve on skills yet have plenty of personal time, most will jump at the chance to participate.

Communication – The most respected managers possess excellent communication skills. They know how to relay expectations and give directions in a way that produces positive results. For anyone on your leadership team struggling in this area, you can choose from many different courses that focus specifically on improving communication.

Cost Savings – Even with a set budget, your managers will have no problem completing multiple courses. Especially compared to traditional learning, online training is a far more cost-effective option.

Compliance – For staying compliant with different regulations and laws, it is essential for your managers to know what they are and how to adhere to them. When researching different training courses, you will come across many that specifically address your compliance needs. As a result, your management team avoids making costly mistakes.

Time Management – Everyone benefits from time-management courses, especially managers. Overseeing the work of multiple employees and performing a variety of tasks, your leadership team needs all the help they can get. Thankfully, there are incredible courses that provide a wealth of information on how to better manage time.

Flexibility – Like your managers, your support team values its personal time. Because online learning is so flexible, your employees can easily finish courses during their off time. Something else to consider, since so many of the courses take 30 minutes or less to complete while being affordably priced, you could use them as an incentive, allowing employees to complete them during working hours.

Topics – Whether interested in improving on customer service skills, dealing with conflict, learning computer skills, or something entirely different, your employees will appreciate the fact that they have so many fantastic options to learn.

Morale – Employees want to feel respected and appreciated. An excellent way to accomplish that is by investing in them. Having your team complete courses online shows that you care, which in turn, boosts morale.

Advancement – While some of your employees might be perfectly fine working in the same position year-after-year, most want to advance at some point. E-learning will help prepare them to move up within the organization.

Pride – You want your employees to feel proud of the jobs they do. Giving them the chance to improve on skills or learn new things will make them more efficient. The better they perform on the job, the prouder they become. Ultimately, that equates to optimal performance, happier customers, more sales, and higher generated revenue.

Time management is another big area for managers. As stated, many of them have a hard time attending traditional classes, but with online courses, they can learn new things but without investing a lot of time. These courses teach people to work smarter. In addition to becoming better focused and more efficient, your managers will experience less stress at work.

Customer service is another popular topic, with courses available for managers and employees alike. After all, the reason for having a business is to provide customers with superior products or services. The goal is to ensure the customer’s 100 percent satisfaction. To accomplish that, your entire team, including managers, must know how to recognize and resolve conflict. They also need to learn how to surpass the customer’s expectations. Online training covers all this and more.

There are even e-learning courses designed to help improve relationships between managers and employees. Building a successful team comes down to respect, trust, and empowerment. Instead of having internal conflict, you can arrange for certain managers and employees to complete the same courses.

As you can see, there are numerous reasons why online training makes perfect sense for your business. The right courses allow everyone to enjoy serving the customers and growing the company.

Dealing with employee morale issues is tricky because there are many different underlying causes. Fortunately, you can rely on a variety of online training courses that will not only help you understand the reasons but also give you insight into how you can give your team a much-needed boost.

According to top career and human resource experts, there are 11 primary reasons for a reduction in employee morale. If you want to grow your business, you need a team of dedicated employees. For that, you need to make appropriate changes that improve overall drive and attitude.

Unused Potential – From an employee’s perspective, not working to full potential is frustrating and in fact, somewhat demeaning. If you have talent, use it but in the best way. Although this should start at the hiring phase, it is never too late to evaluate your in-house skill to determine if you have people in the right positions or performing the right tasks. Identify the potential of your employees and put it to good use.

Unfair Treatment – If you ask your employees what they want, the majority will say respect. Anytime managers or supervisors treat their team inappropriately, you can expect to see a decline in morale. Keep in mind that in addition to affecting the targeted employees, unfair treatment impacts others who become aware of the situation or see what is going on in the workplace.

Poor Communication – For any company to succeed, regardless of its size or the industry, excellent communication is critical, both oral and written. When someone lacks in communication skills, it leads to frustration and mistakes. The good news is that there are many online training courses available for this specific issue. In response to improved communication, employee morale improves.

 Unreasonable Workload – While you expect your employees to work hard, if they carry too much of a load, they become irritated and unfocused. Make sure you use your employees in the most efficient way possible. Although this is important in any scenario, it is most vital if you recently downsized.

Lack of Recognition – When it comes to boosting employee morale, nothing works better than handing out kudos. Recognizing hard work, excellent results, and even a positive attitude will go a long way in improving morale and creating a positive work environment. After all, recognition will give your employees a sense of pride and accomplishment in their work, motivating them to do more and perform better.

Undefined Expectations – When going through interviews with job candidates, you should lay out clear and realistic expectations. For your current employees, this is the perfect time to incorporate lessons you learned through online training courses to ensure that everyone knows exactly what you expect. With clear guidance, you will find your team performs at a higher level while maintaining an excellent attitude.

Poorly Defined Development Plan – Most people searching for work look at companies that offer an opportunity for growth. Otherwise, they would become stagnant in their jobs, causing an issue with morale and production. You need to have a plan in place so that everyone understands what it takes to move forward. That way, your team remains dedicated to you and your company, as opposed to going somewhere else.

Fluctuating Goals – Although there is nothing wrong with modifying goals to some degree, your employees need consistency so they have a clear target. By all means, make changes to outdated company goals but avoid constant fluctuations.

Empowerment and Trust – The reason you have hiring methods in place is to ensure you bring in the right talent for your business. Even with skilled and loyal employees, some companies micromanage their teams and have a lack of trust that they will complete the work on time and within scope. With the right online training courses, you will learn how to delegate without feeling the need to check on your team’s work activities continually.

High Turnover – Remember number two about unfair treatment? People within your company pay close attention to what is going on. If they notice a high turnover rate, whether justified or not, they will begin to question their value and security. As a result, employee morale decreases.

Salary – Obviously, salary should coordinate with the job title and responsibilities. You want to establish a fair pay scale, one that fits the company budget but also rewards your team for their contributions. If you cannot pay your employees at the top of the scale for their respective roles, consider creating some type of bonus program.

Based on these 11 causes of poor employee morale, you can select training courses to overcome the various challenges they present. Whether an owner or manager, you have the chance to become more efficient and effective in your role, which has a trickle-down effect on your employees. Using the vast amount of knowledge that you gain online, you can make changes within your organization that improve morale dramatically.

Although it takes many things to succeed in business, boosting employee morale is one of the most critical. With the right online training courses, you'll learn from experts’ proven methods for accomplishing that goal. After implementing new strategies, you will notice quickly that your employees enjoy coming to work.

A happy staff equates to higher production, satisfied customers, and more generated revenue. Your team is a vital part of your business, use training courses to learn how to make them feel more appreciated and respected.

How online education helps boost employee morale

During the first half of 2018, a lot of people took advantage of online training courses, and experts anticipate that even more will jump on board for the second half of the year. Indeed, from 2017 to the current date, the popularity of e-learning has skyrocketed.

Instead of taking just any training courses, it is essential that you select them from a trusted source. With award-winning online courses, Go1 has become the best place to turn to for upskilling and educating you and your team on compliance issues.

Professionals who create online courses bring years of experience and expertise to the table, which is critical, especially when covering compliance topics. For instant enrollment and to enjoy these top-rated online training courses, visit the Go1 Premium website.

After reviewing the best courses for 2018, five, in particular stand out.

1. Compliance – Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity 

With this online training course, you will gain tremendous insight and a wealth of information specific to equal employment opportunity and discrimination, and how they affect the workplace. Although this course only takes about 20 minutes to complete, a top expert developed it, giving you the most “bang for the buck.”

As a manager, supervisor, or business owner, you must comply with various compliance laws and regulations. Ongoing training is crucial if you want to remain compliant with current Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) laws.

This compliance training course covers a variety of topics, including affirmative action, diversity, harassment prevention, planning, tracking, deployment, and more. The creator of this course designed the material around legal requirements. Because of that, you can implement everything you learned into your business practices, knowing that you follow the most current compliance requirements.

In fact, with this training course, you can better address regulatory requirements and prepare your business if audited by a federal agency. As with many governmental policies, EEO changes periodically. Therefore, it is critical that you understand the changes and make the appropriate modifications to the methods used for hiring and termination within your company.

This online training course focuses specifically on privacy awareness compliance laws. Providing a high-level overview of the key components, you can ensure your company complies with current regulations.

Developed by a top leader in privacy awareness compliance issues, you can incorporate the information you learn into your company’s privacy training program. That way, you have the confidence that both new hires and existing employees understand the data privacy practices that your company expects them to follow.

Although this privacy awareness compliance course covers a broad range of topics, some of the more critical components include what privacy is, why it matters, current laws (national and international), principles, security, and responsibility. Staying compliant with privacy awareness dramatically reduces any risk while building trust with the customers you serve. With trust, you can expect to see an increase in the number of consumers who choose your business over another one.

3.     Compliance – Bullying, Harassment, and Sexual Harassment

Thanks to public education and stricter laws, there are fewer instances of workplace bullying, harassment, and sexual harassment. However, because this problem still exists, you want to do everything in your power to prevent it from happening within your company.

An excellent way to learn more on this subject and ensure you stay compliant with current laws and regulations is to take this online training course. Because you agree that there is no place for bullying, harassment, and sexual harassment in the work environment, to remain compliant you need to learn what to look for and the rules to establish to prevent bad things from happening.

This particular course offers an overview of behaviour considered bullying, harassment, and sexual harassment. Not only will you learn what actions to look for but by adding this information to your employee training manual, your team will understand what these three things are, how to avoid doing them, and what action to take if faced with one or all three of these issues.

4.     Compliance – Discrimination and Harassment for California and Connecticut Managers

If you work in a managerial or supervisory position in the state of California or Connecticut, you need to complete this online course. Both states require people in this position of authority to complete two hours of manager training. The course includes content taken from the creator’s standard manager course, as well as material required by California and Connecticut state laws, AB1825 and AB2053, respectively.

Included in this course is material for a broad range of topics such as working in a managerial or supervisory position, the correct way of responding to complaints of discrimination or harassment, collecting proper documentation, conducting an internal investigation, and understanding and preventing acts of retaliation.

Also included is material specific to abusive conduct within the workplace, avoiding discrimination during the hiring process, ways that people unintentionally create a hostile environment, and personal liability.

This online training course covers even more such as workplace diversity, immigrant workers’ rights, gender and sexual orientation issues that arise in the work environment, domestic violence at work, and technology used as a medium for discrimination and harassment.

This training course will prepare you as a manager or supervisor in the state of California or Connecticut to prevent bullying, harassment, and sexual harassment at work.

People use social media everywhere, including the workplace. Instead of viewing this as something bad, learn how to harness its power to benefit your company. In place of the “word of mouth” method, people use “Tweets,” “Likes,” and “Shares” on popular social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, among others.

Take an online training course that addresses how social media can positively affect your company. Use the material covered to encourage your employees to share positive events and opinions. For example, if you have a company team-building event, make sure you take a lot of photos and then share with your team. They can then use those photos on various social media sites to talk about the day of fun and education they had with other employees at the company.

The fact is that you can use social media to your advantage. With an online training course, you will learn how to accomplish that goal. Through tweets, likes, and shares, you can get information out about your company and its values. In exchange, that creates an opportunity to build trusted relationships with customers.

Most popular courses of January – July 2018: viable ways to improve your training

Apprenticeship programs allow workers to acquire the skills and knowledge they need in their field, while bringing a number of business benefits to employers.

As an employer, you’re responsible for providing your apprentices with employment for the duration of their apprenticeship. You also need to ensure you have the right resources to deliver effective work-based training and development to each apprentice.

How do you train the apprentices in your organisation? Or how do you plan to provide training, in your new apprenticeship program?

Traditionally, apprentices would learn through face-to-face, hands-on training and mentoring. These days, thanks to technology, more companies are using online training methods as part of their apprenticeship program.

Here, we look at the benefits of using eLearning to deliver high-quality training and development to apprentices.

Online learning – flexible, engaging and cost-effective

Online learning is a great way to make sure your apprentices are acquiring the right type of skills and knowledge. In fact, many companies, large and small, have switched to eLearning for staff training, as an alternative to traditional teaching methods.

The best thing about eLearning is that training is no longer confined to the classroom or conference. With eLearning, individuals can log into online training courses and modules whenever they like, wherever they like. Many online courses are also able to be accessed through mobile-friendly apps and devices, making eLearning even more convenient for users.

You might also be pleasantly surprised to see just how cost-effective eLearning is for your business. eLearning can save you considerable amounts of money in comparison to traditional training methods. By using online materials to train your staff, you’ll eliminate costs such as trainer and speaker rates, conference or room hire, staff transport and catering. And when you make changes and updates to your learning materials online, there is also no need to re-print materials, making eLearning not only cheaper but also greener!

Choose from off-the-shelf or fully customisable eLearning courses

Keen to learn more about how online training can work for your apprentices, and your business?

With eLearning, you can choose between off-the-shelf courses, or a customised online training program. Off-the-shelf eLearning courses are those that are already created, easy to purchase and ready to roll out to your apprentices, making them a great solution for training in subjects such as onboarding, compliance and workplace safety.

You also have the option of creating your own customised, tailored training program, with bespoke eLearning courses that have been designed for the specific needs of your apprentices. Using the Go1 platform, you can quickly and easily compile your own custom content for apprentice training. The eLearning tool also allows you to upload existing training materials, supporting a wide range of files and making course creation even easier.

Provide real world experience for apprentices

Christopher Pappas, founder of The eLearning Industry’s Network, recommends incorporating real world examples and case studies into your apprentice training program, to allow employees the chance to see how everything they've learned can benefit them in the workplace.

Pappas believes eLearning is the best way to provide apprentices with a broad range of online training resources. “From interactive scenarios and serious games to virtual presentations, employees have access to a variety of online resources,” he says.

With eLearning, apprentices can “login to the online training platform and immediately view product information, task tutorials, and skill-based simulations.” In this way, apprentices are getting the personalised online training they need, regardless of their preferences or learning needs.

Create clear, consistent training materials

When you start using eLearning, you’ll have peace of mind that all your training content is consistent – in terms of branding, strategic direction and writing style. Each apprentice will have access to the same materials, regardless of their geographical location. This has a significant advantage over classroom learning, in which content may differ greatly depending on the delivery of each trainer.

In addition to this, eLearning content can easily be updated at any time. You’ll save time and money on updates to training content, as you simply make any changes online and publish immediately across the system. This provides your company with a long-lasting online training solution that you can continually revise, update, and use for years to come.

With such easy-to-use online course creation, you can have fully branded, customised training materials ready to roll out to your apprentices in no time.

The benefits of using eLearning for apprentice training

Regardless of a company’s size or industry, there is always room to improve on communication. If you notice an increasing number of mistakes, feel the tension rising at work, or see a disconnect among your employees, there is an excellent chance that you have a communication problem.

When faced with these situations, you need professional help. For both oral and written communication, online training is a fantastic solution. Developed by topic experts, everyone in your organization would benefit from taking courses. Improved communication leads to many great things, including employees who perform at an optimal level, managers who effectively lead, and overall, a company that flourishes.

One thing that makes online training courses so exciting is that fact in addition to providing you with solutions, they cover the underlying causes of poor communication. As a result, you can learn how to implement appropriate change and avoid making the same mistakes in the future.

The following are some examples of what causes communication problems in the workplace and how different online training courses help.

Without question, this is the number one cause of poor communication leading to a host of business issues. Unless you provide every member of your team with a clear description of their roles and responsibilities, you can expect chaos. You will end up with people doing the same job, which means ignoring other responsibilities. You could also expect discord among your employees because they have no idea who to turn to for conflict resolution.

By completing the right online training courses, you recognize areas in trouble quickly. You will gain insight on creating and implementing strategies that correct problems and prevent them from occurring again.

Especially when it comes to major decisions about finances, investments, operational changes, and strategies, you need to communicate with your entire company who is in charge. Because everyone has an opinion, it is essential that you clearly define who the decision makers are in your company.

In addition to learning how to communicate more effectively, there are online training courses that address potential conflict. Remember, you have two types of customers, external and internal. Those on the inside consist of your employees. With online courses, your internal customers can learn to communicate, which builds respect and trust. As a result, you can expect your business to run seamlessly.

Written communication is another area covered by online training. Like all courses, these come from experts who developed proven strategies. You will learn how to create business processes and communicate them to your employees. Ultimately, you avoid redundancy, which is a huge waste of money and time. Well-defined businesses processes will also make it easier for your employees to do their jobs without conflict.

Through different courses, you may discover that instead of refining your business processes, you need to change them completely. You can even take compliance courses to ensure that your business practices line up with mandated laws and regulations.

You want your managers to talk to you freely about concerns with the alignment of their teams. As you go through various training courses on communication, you will come across many that focus on improving leadership skills. If you find that your managers do not share concerns, there is a good chance that you have given the impression of being unapproachable.

5 Myths that Block Effective Delegation in Business – What does this have to do with communication? For you to get the maximum return on investment in people, you need to know how to delegate properly, which is critical for effective communication.

Simplifying Business Processes – With this, you can take complex processes and simplify them. By doing so, you better communicate to your staff what you expect from them in the jobs they do.

Hazard Communication – This course covers mandates by Hazard Communication Standards. This along with related courses will ensure that a team working with potential or known hazardous materials knows the proper way to handle them safely. Other topics include Labeling, Safety Data Sheets, employee knowledge, and awareness, plus more.

As you can see, there is a host of reasons that communication issues exist in business. Whether one of these strikes home or you have a different problem, online training courses can help get you through a troubling time. Along with improving on oral and written communication, many courses cover topics that cause problems. Combined, you have the perfect solution for getting your company on track for achieving even greater success.

Overcoming communication barriers through online training

Can you think of an amazing coach you’ve had in the past? Maybe you had an outstanding sporting coach or perhaps a teacher at school who went above and beyond. Either way, you’re not likely to forget it. Good coaches leave a lasting impression, making learning a positive experience and inspiring each individual to work harder and fulfil their potential.

Can you say the same for the managers you’ve had throughout your career? Just because someone is in a management role, doesn’t always mean they have strong coaching skills.

As with any sport, workplace coaching should focus on improving each employee's skills by setting goals, monitoring performance, and providing feedback.

More and more, organisations are enjoying the benefits of coaching for both employees and the business more broadly. While many employers hire external coaches to work with staff, it’s also a good idea to build coaching into your company’s leadership methodology and ethos. This way, managers can develop their coaching skills and get the best out of their teams long-term.

With this in mind, we'll take you step-by-step through the importance of coaching for leaders. We'll start by sharing how to incorporate coaching into your business philosophy, before looking at adopting a coaching mindset and finally, offering practical coaching tips for managers. 

Incorporating coaching into your business philosophy

Hiring external coaches to work with employees is an increasingly common trend. According to the Academy of Leadership Coaching (ALC), while hiring coaches for leaders is widely accepted, training managers to become coaches within their teams is not as widely practised. Yet. 

“Often it appears as though coaching is embraced only as 'self-help' for the top-level executives to 'better themselves,' rather than a culture that is embedded within the organisation,” says ALC.

On the other hand, when you provide proper training for managers, you’re helping them develop the right coaching skills to benefit the organisation. With this mindset, coaching becomes a critical part of professional development at all corporate levels and a component of the entire business philosophy.

Incorporating coaching into your leadership role will help managers effectively motivate their team and connect with them on a deeper level. As ACL adds, “it helps the leader to develop trust among team members and create an emotionally centred work environment.”

Becoming a manager with a coaching mindset

So, what do managers do differently when they lead from a coaching mindset?

Think about the difference between managers who tell employees what to do and managers who take time to work with employees on their professional development. This commitment to coaching is the key difference between the two leadership mindsets.

Successful managers know how to support and encourage employees, helping them maximise their potential and achieve their career goals. 

Having a manager take on a coaching role will also help employees stay motivated and focused. When there’s someone else you’re accountable to, who has placed a lot of time and energy into your career, you’ll want to consistently deliver your best work.

A good coach can also help identify potential gaps in your skill set and push you to learn new skills and achieve new personal goals.

The benefits of leadership coaching are far-reaching, with numerous studies concluding that leadership coaching has significant advantages for employees and businesses alike. 

For example, a survey by the Institute of Coaching found that 70% of individuals who receive coaching noticed improved work performance, relationships, and more effective communication skills. What's more, 86% of surveyed companies felt they recouped the investment they made into coaching — plus more on top. 

Additionally, Sounding Board's 2021 Leadership Coaching Report outlined the incredible benefits of leadership coaching. According to their research, 67% of respondents said leadership coaching increased employee engagement and satisfaction, while a further 60% said it improved employees’ perceptions of the quality of leadership. 

Moreover, 50% of respondents said leadership coaching improved productivity. Finally, 44% said it improved the quality of work. 

Despite this, many organisations still encountered roadblocks, with a startling 41% saying the organisational culture does not support leadership coaching. Plus, 35% said leadership buy-in is a challenge in obtaining support for leadership coaching. 

Ultimately, these statistics show the wide-ranging benefits of leadership coaching, from increased profitability to improved employee engagement and productivity. However, many teams still have a long way to go to realise these benefits, with organisational roadblocks preventing them from reaping the rewards of leadership coaching. 

Now that we understand the significant benefits of leadership coaching, it's time to start working on your coaching skills as a manager. 

The Academy of Leadership Coaching believes there are specific characteristics that a leader must possess to successfully coach their team.

“Coaching is not just about communication, it is about connecting on a deeper level,” ALC explains. It’s about positively connecting with your employees.

Here are some of the characteristics of a good coach-manager, according to ACL. 

Non-authoritative – coach and employee work cooperatively to reach the predefined goals. The coach is only in charge of the process and structure but is not responsible for setting the agenda or leading the discussions.

Active listener – the coach is mentally present within the coaching conversation. They ask clarifying questions and listen carefully to understand the employee's core concerns and objectives. 

Powerful questions – ask open-ended questions rather than those that elicit a yes or no response. Use questions that start with words such as what, how, when and where.

No hidden agendas – an effective coach does not have an emotional attachment to situations described by the employee. They are honest, direct, and respectful.

Provide direction – the coach should provide the employee with tasks that will help them move toward their goal and produce the desired transformation.

Further, Sounding Board's 2021 Leadership Coaching Report identified the most crucial and hard-to-develop skills for leaders, thereby providing an excellent checklist of skills for prospective leaders to focus on. These include:

They break this down further, explaining, "for emerging leaders, interpersonal skills and execution were also identified among the most important leadership capabilities. For mid-level managers, execution and leading high-performing teams were also reported
among the most important capabilities. For senior and executive leaders, strategic thinking and setting vision and direction were among the most important leadership capabilities. Self-awareness and communication were also reported as the most difficult capabilities to develop in organizations, followed by managing change and strategic thinking." 

Remember, proper training is crucial to becoming a successful coach-leader. To learn more, see Go1’s professional development training courses, including our course on Coaching Skills for Leaders and People Managers, to start building a coaching mindset into your leadership role.

For more insights, subscribe to the Go1 newsletter to stay on top of all the latest L&D trends. Or, you can book a demo today to find out how Go1 can help with your team’s learning needs.

Leadership is about more than just being a good manager or leader; it’s also about developing people. Learn what makes a great coach!

Why coaching is an important skill for leaders

Just like any sport, coaching in the workplace focuses on improving the skills of each employee through setting goals, monitoring performance, and providing feedback.

Performance and productivity are two words likely to keep senior managers awake at night, as a focus on improvement is no longer optional if organisations want to survive and thrive.

Many organisations recognise that they need to engender a High-Performance culture throughout the organisation, with team leaders required to focus on which team members will work together productively enabling them to achieve great results.

Historically, teams have tended to be small, however, in our online-centric world, teams have grown dramatically, particularly those that are “virtual” in nature.

Believing team leadership is the key to success, MicroLearn embraces the ideas of leadership author, Gary Yukl, who wrote: “a shared process of enhancing the collective and individual capacity of people to accomplish their work roles effectively… the leadership actions of any individual leader are much less important than the collective leadership provided by members of the organisation”

Providing learning content via a resource library, MicroLearn’s courses can be used both for reflection and as a just-in-time learning tool, available at the team’s fingertips and designed to fit around their work flow.

The library helps encourage improved teamwork through the sharing of ideas, debate, collaboration, decision-making and dealing with changing priorities as well as the establishment and achievement of team goals.

In fact, MicroLearn’s suite of Leadership content helps leaders hone the three essential skills groups:

Task Skills—The ability to set goals, establish priorities, assign roles and responsibilities, plan and run effective meetings, and monitor results,

People Skills—The ability to connect with people, resolve conflicts, motivate, and celebrate success,

Diagnostic Skills—The ability to diagnose situations and determine what’s needed to progress.

In addition, MicroLearn’s catalogue also features courses on teamwork, personal development and team management as it looks to support both the team and High Performance Team Processes (communicating, making decisions and accountability).

As your high performing team seeks further challenges, pushes for increased performance goals and demands a higher level of performance from each other, ensure you’re supporting their development with MicroLearn.

For more information on how we can help support your organisation’s workplace wellbeing requirements, or to discover more about other ranges in the MicroLearn catalogue, enquire about Go1 Premium today!

Tracy Capaldi-Drewett is the Group Commercial Director at Microlearn. 

MicroLearn - Creating and maintaining high performers - Go1

MicroLearn – a vital ingredient for creating and maintaining high performing teams

Hiring a new employee is not an easy job, especially nowadays when there is such a wide market of choice and so many people with good qualifications. There are many factors to look at – some even beyond the skills that are required for the job.

This is why many hiring managers or employers make many mistakes in their hiring process. These mistakes could seriously harm their business or even their reputation in some cases. This is why they have to be recognized and dealt with the right away.

Take a look at our list of some of the most common mistakes employers make upon recruiting:

Employers often have a clear image of who their ideal candidate is and they tailor the job description to exclude anyone with slightly different skills or qualities. This may not seem like a mistake right away but it can be if the search is too narrow or offensive. You should never look for new employees based on their race, gender or anything else that might discriminate.

People are different and that doesn't mean that they are not fit for the job. In fact, the most skilled people are usually the ones that companies ignore.

First impressions go a long way, that much is true. However, first impressions can be rehearsed. A firm handshake and good eye contact are all a matter of practice that people often use to make themselves appear more confident. Even the tone of their voice can change in these situations.

StateOfWriting and Academ Advisor are tools that can assist you in formatting. Formatting is famous for giving any written piece more clarity and you should consider it.

UK Writings can help you with editing – it can remove a lot of unnecessary detail and leave you with a concise and understandable description.

Via Writing can offer you writing guides on creating good job descriptions. It provides great directions that will help you make no mistakes.

Boom Essays and Essay Roo are good at assisting with proofreading. They can point out some of the most common mistakes and give you guidance for removing them.

My Writing Way is a grammar checker that can clear your job description of any mistakes.

Paper Fellows, praised by Revieweal, is a great tool if you need some help writing catchy titles.

Freddie Tubbs is an HR consultant at Bigassignments. He is running Oxessays blog and is a regular expert contributor at The Vault and Australian help blog.

7 mistakes employers make when hiring new people

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