“There is a new generation of people arriving to the workplace - millennials, and they react differently, they expect different things and I think it’s time to make a shift from the old way of leading, which was all about control, coerce, impose, to a new way of leading which is all about communicate, co-create, collaborate,” said Executive Coach Marion Gamel on the latest episode of The Boardroom. 

Ms Gamel said currently, businesses are adapting to a new reality, which is why coaching is particularly important at the moment, “to help leaders transition from one style to another so they keep adapting and being relevant to their new workforce.”

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for agility in businesses of all kinds. “There is a big difference between working with everyone around you at the office or working remotely from your kitchen table and having zoom calls, and people had to do that overnight, so that highlighted the need for agility which appears in many levels at any organisation - that is becoming more international, more digital, and lots of other big changes,” she asserts.

Responding to how businesses can know whether coaching is for them, Ms Gamel says first, one needs to identify whether what's needed is an upgrade in a team's skills, training and IQ, in which case, coaching doesn’t interfere. “Ccaching is not training, I don’t teach people how to do their job.”

On the other hand, if skills such as “behaviour, human skills, motivation, storytelling, knowing your values and strengths” are lacking, “this is where coaching can help,” she explains. “If a company sees they need a shift in mentality because everyone needs to be more productive, digitally-aware and agile, coaching can help.”

Through her experiences as an Executive Coach, Ms Gamel has worked with clients ranging from Twitter to Renault. Do larger businesses face greater challenges? “What’s really interesting is that you find the same challenges and issues in any organisation, even in small organisations, start-ups and incubators too. It’s about confidence, building on your strengths instead of focusing on your areas of development and being negative, finding your voice, what you stand for, expressing your vision very clearly, storytelling, relating to people and understanding,” she explains.

“You know you need coaching when you look at your situation now and you know that the way you were doing business yesterday is no longer going to cut it,” adding that applying the exact same way of behaving, leading and decision-making to today’s situation will lead to a wall. 

“That is usually where coaching is the most needed - it is not about changing you completely, but finding the 2.0 version of you, and that anyone needs to do it, whether it’s the CEO of a huge company or the entrepreneur who is creating a start-up - there are moments in the evolution of an organisation when the old ways are just not going to cut it anymore,” she asserts.

Sharing her key coaching tip, Ms Gamel says “what, why and how. Those are very powerful questions that anyone can ask themselves about their work and their company, with or without a coach. What are we trained to do, why is it important and how have we gone about it in the past, and how can we go about it now.”