How neuroscience can help managers coach during the pandemic!

Managerial coaching has gathered considerable momentum over the last few years. However, not all managers are proficient in how coaching works. Instead, outsourcing coaching to an ever-increasing pool of external coaches has gained popularity. In the context of Working from Home (WFH) during the COVID-19 crisis, my research reveals that managers acknowledge that one of the differentiating skills they need to have is coaching, albeit virtually. 

There are two reasons why virtual coaching becomes a crucial skill during these times. Firstly, to get the task done, KPIs accomplished and objectives met; and of course, secondly, to develop and grow the employee. An employee's effectiveness depends on how they perform a given task and display organizational citizenship behaviors (collaboration and teamwork, engagement, and going above and beyond). Coaching is a tool to enhance organizational and individual performance.

For managers to develop virtual coaching skills, especially amidst the pandemic, there are few necessary considerations. 

Context: The current context is socially, emotionally, and psychologically difficult for employees. Employees work hard from home, their work and life boundaries blurring, mostly in physical isolation from their co-workers. Health fears, financial and job-related worries compound the stresses in their lives. Studies show that the productivity surge at the beginning of the pandemic is waning as the reality sets-in over the long term nature of this pandemic. So, the current context calls for compassion and empathy. 

How neuroscience can help:  Research done by Prof. Richard Boyatzis and others point to how advances in neuroscience give us a new way of looking at coaching. According to Prof. Boyatzis, an essential feature of our neurobiology is the existence of, and an adversarial relationship between two cortical networks- the task-positive network (TPN) and the default mode network (DMN). The TPN is the driver behind our ability to get tasks done, including problem-solving, decision-making, and focus. DMN is related to our socio-emotional state and drives creativity, emotional awareness, and openness to ideas. 

While we recognize that both, TPN and DMN are important, neurologically, activating one, deactivates the other. In other words, the brain is limited in its ability to handle both states simultaneously. An overemphasis on the tasks (or TPN) would negatively affect the socio-emotional state (DMN) and vice-versa.

Understanding how neuroscience impacts our thinking, Boyatzis, and his colleagues have pioneered the concept of coaching with compassion versus coaching for compliance. Coaching with compassion activates the socio-emotional state (DMN) and is associated with engagement, motivation, openness, and creativity. Coaching for compliance starts with what the employee needs to 'fix' and 'address' to be effective. Often, this kind of coaching is the default coaching model for managers. Coaching for compliance, as per neuroscience, leads to employee defensiveness, and them shutting down. Researchers have been able to validate this theory by mapping the neuro-images through fMRI studies, proving the efficacy of coaching with compassion.

Implications for managerial coaching:  Coaching with compassion not just leads to desired change and performance, but it also enhances a person's well-being and health. That's is why, in the current context of the pandemic, it offers an elegant solution that can be practiced by managers. Research tells us that once you open up an employee through coaching with compassion, getting to focus the person on tasks to be done and accomplished will be easy. That is so because the job will not just be a chore that needs doing, but a mission that needs accomplishing. It elevates the task to a higher calling: empowering, and motivating the individual to do what's necessary. On the other hand, coaching for compliance makes the employee an 'instrument,' dehumanizing him or her, only recognizing the employee for what needs to be done, irrespective of their context. 

Steps to coaching with compassion:  Step 1: Listen like a friend: For a successful coaching relationship, even during normal times, but more pronounced now during the pandemic, compassion is the foundation. Compassion here means caring for the other person, acting on the other person's feelings, and therefore empathizing. A simple way of showing compassion is to listen like a friend, not to judge, but to understand. Step 2 is to notice the need or desire in the conversation, not the pain or suffering. Typically, compassion is considered a response to someone's distress. In a coaching relationship, however, the manager should determine the need behind the pain. Does the employee need some time off? Or does the employee need to vent? The manager's function is to tap and identify the employee's intense need to return to equilibrium. Step 3 is empathy. Empathy here is not 'to be in the other person's shoes.' Studies have shown that such empathy actually causes distress in the empathizer or the manager. Instead, imagining how the other person is feeling leads to showing empathetic concern, because the attempt should be to reduce the other person's distress, not the manager's own. Step 4: Based on the above three steps, coaching with compassion moves from the discussion around reducing pain and suffering to evoking the person's better self -a vision of his or her ideal self. This shift activates the positives in the employee and makes them open to new ideas. Neuroscience tells us that when positive feelings are activated, the heart rate slows down- releasing several hormones, primarily oxytocin in women and vasopressin in men. These hormones are associated with many benefits, for instance, reducing anxiety and increasing feelings of attachments and closeness.

What does coaching with compassion do: When approaching coaching with compassion and evoking the DMN (default mode network), positive emotions are invoked. That allows for the person's positive energies, values, and beliefs to be a guiding factor in their performance. It appeals to the person's ideal self and allows them to aspire and perform to their utmost excellence. Secondly, it taps into the person's strengths, not their weakness. Nevertheless, it also allows the manager to coach on the weakness since these needs are a barrier for people to be at their ideal/ best selves.

Virtual reality: Working virtually in the pandemic is not optional; it is a business continuity need and is likely to stay with us for a while. Our current pandemic-driven reality eliminates many natural physical touchpoints managers have- the watercooler, the casual walk to and fro to a meeting for coaching opportunities. Managers have to calendarize coaching sessions virtually. It is a discipline well worth it. One popular intervention that has come into practice over the last few months is the concept of check-ins. A check-in is a temperature check that informs the manager of how the employee is doing. Some managers have converted these check-ins to be coach-ins. Instead of a perfunctory 'how are you doing,' it becomes an intentional coaching-with-compassion conversation. 

Neuroscience tells us that coaching with compassion will allow employees to accomplish the tasks needed and will enable them to grow. Further, a rapport of empathy and trust will create a positive work culture.