7
OPINION
A performance coaching culture
W inning feels good. Whether you were a high school debate champion, competed as a college athlete, or simply enjoy jumping into a backyard game of bocce ball, earning the win brings a feeling that is often slow to fade. This is what makes athletes step up to the plate every day. This type of culture drives people to compete at their best, challenges everyone on the team, and pushes boundaries to elevate the entire game.
Samantha Boeck
But, as professionals, how do we achieve the wins? How do we bring that desire to compete, and ultimately succeed, to our teams? Is it feasible to structure an AEC firm’s culture to bring forward this type of drive and desire? Let’s take a look: ■ High performance isn’t accidental. When you’re competing as an athlete, the results of your performance are extremely measurable. There are individual records that calculate every moment of every game, as well as the less quantifiable factors like your form, drive, strategy, and teamwork. When you perform well, everyone around you knows it. When you don’t perform well, everyone around you knows it.
leaders and need to make sure we are persistent in helping them. This is where a performance coaching culture comes in. Similar to athletics, a coach helps you with awareness, enabling you to see what you are good at or need to work on. Without coaching, you aren’t forced to reflect on your performance. ■ Improvement requires keeping score. Based on Zweig Group’s annual employee survey, ISG is an award-winning Best Firm To Work For . We know that professional development, growth, and career advancement are valued by our team. Even so, from 2019 to 2022, survey results in the categories of training and mentoring had 6 percent to 7 percent lower ratings than the average of all questions. It’s our responsibility to ensure we push to improve this and maintain an environment for team members to thrive, that includes leaning into a performance coaching culture to raise the bar.
As an AEC professional, you also compete. There are results from your performance, but the metrics aren’t as obvious. It is easy for some firms to hold employees to metrics like utilization rates, but that isn’t enough. ISG is a young firm with an average age of 36. We are growing our future
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See SAMANTHA BOECK, page 8
THE ZWEIG LETTER APRIL 22, 2024, ISSUE 1534
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