Mary M’Mukindia, an executive coach and CEO of Coach Development Institute of Africa. photos | courtesy
What you need to know:
As the job market changes due to new demands, work styles and globalisation, many organisations are shifting to reflect these realities.
The uptake of coaching in Kenya has been steadily increasing over the past two to three years.
Various coaches focus on different areas including life and career.
Almost two years ago, regional insurer Zep-Re (PTA Reinsurance Company) spent Sh3.2 million to train five of its employees to be coaches. The five employees’ role is to coach other staff members.
Joseph Nabimanya, the company administration manager, also a coach, says the investment has paid off after staff training and mentoring failed to give desired results.
“I think we have the least turnover in the market with maybe just one employee leaving in two years. People are aware that there is another ear to listen to them with the guarantee of utmost confidentiality,” he says.
He adds: “There is improved openness, self-awareness and innovation. Before, people never opened up about work challenges. Coaching also made employees realise that there are options to the obstacles they experience in the office.’’
As the job market changes due to new demands, work styles and globalisation, many organisations are shifting to reflect these realities.
According to human resources professionals and career counsellors, an increasing number of high-level executives or companies in Kenya are turning to executive coaches, life coaches, headhunters and professional CV writers to help them get new jobs, unleash their inner potential and improve their productivity at work.
“A coach only stands in the gap to extract knowledge from the employee. They connect employees to the deep reserves of their knowledge and improve their output,” Mr Nabimanya says.
Career coaches
Mary M’Mukindia, an executive leadership coach and CEO of Coach Development Institute of Africa, says many organisations are beginning to realise that old leadership styles no longer work.
People also now understand that it is important to maximise their productivity.
Ms M’Mukindia who says she was thrown into leadership at the age of 27 as the youngest departmental head in the oil and gas industry, believes that if Kenyan companies get leadership right, so many things will be fixed. Uduak Amimo, who made her name as a broadcast journalist is also a coach.
“The premise and promise of coaching is that a client achieves their goals faster than if they were working on their own. Coaching is a relationship being driven by a client with the coach acting as a partner and facilitator. The coach draws out the client’s own solutions to their challenges,” explains Ms Amimo.
Interest grows
The uptake of coaching in Kenya has been steadily increasing over the past two to three years.
Ms M’Mukindia says that most of the organisations hiring coaches are in the financial services industry which is more competitive.
International Coach Federation notes that the number of coaches has grown from 7,912 in 2004 to 33,711 in April 2018, even if only four per cent of these professionals are in Africa and Middle East.
Various coaches focus on different areas including life and career.
“On a personal level, coaching is useful for people who feel stuck, want to change jobs or careers, land a promotion or even want to plan ahead beyond their current jobs. On the organisational level, it can help hires settle into a new environment, equip new managers and leaders to better deal with their teams, and help open up new pathways for growth,” Ms Amimo says.
One of the principles of coaching, Ms Amimo reiterates, is that every individual has their solutions within them but because they are busy with other things, a lot of these inner wisdom does not surface. Therefore, coaching gives people a private, confidential space within which to come up with solutions to their problems.
“When someone comes for coaching, what I do is actively listen. There are many different things that leaders need to be coached on to advance their professional lives. But the key is, the agenda is set by the client, depending on their need,” Ms M’Mukindia says.
Ms Amimo adds that very few people have the tools to thrive at work.
“Employees might show up and do something and earn a salary, but they do not have the skills to soar. Coaching demonstrates that an organisation cares about its people. Many employees leave because they feel undervalued, frustrated, overworked, and see no room for growth. All these can be addressed through coaching,” she says.
Anyone can hire a career coach.
“Whether you are just entering the job market, you have been in the job market for a couple of years, or you are an executive, coaching straddles every life stage. There is always a need to upgrade skills, to plan for the future, to ensure that you are giving your best,” says Ms Amimo, adding that because people spent the first five to 10 years of their careers becoming technically proficient, relational competencies such as social skills and emotional intelligence become underdeveloped.
‘‘No one really prepares us— we go to school, study and we become technically proficient in our job but no one actually teaches us how to manage our careers and support ourselves,” says Ms Amimo who has coached from people in media and communication, law, business and management consulting, to those transitioning back to work after years away from the office.
