The January 27-February 2, 2005 issue of Business Weekly Review features, under the Title "Help Wanted - Urgently" a very detailed study describing the current and future labour shortage in Australia as "nearing a crisis point". The study points to a ratio of 3:1 skilled workers who are leaving the country coupled with cuts in University funding as the major reasons for the less than optimistic view on finding the necessary skills in the future.

The study will send the employers to their corporate boardrooms to start planning on how to attract, retain and nurture talent for the future needs of their business success. Emily Ross, the author of the study, stresses the importance of companies taking a different approach to attracting, retaining and managing talent.

On her list of changes employers have to consider if they want to be successful, Ross ranks as high the importance of "Start(ing) a retention strategy at the beginning of the employment cycle, not when someone says they are thinking of leaving" and the fact that "Managers need to stay in touch with the workforce. No workforce is perfect, so there is an enormous need to listen and respond".

In an effort to attract and retain talent, companies are employing new approaches to managing their employees. More and more we see a shift towards offering employees the opportunity to achieve professional growth through self-awareness, clear and detailed career plans and a coaching management style approach.

Sean McPheat , CEO of the Executive Coaching Studio describes the Coaching Management Style as: "Directed towards professional growth of employees. Manager focuses on helping employees identify their strengths and weaknesses, improvement areas and set development plans that foster career goals. (The) manager creates an environment that supports honest self-assessment and treats mistakes as learning opportunities in the development process."

When acting as a coach, the manager has to remember that coaching should be a continuous process. As such he/she should avoid employing it solely for dealing with an acute problem. While coaching can deal with the odd issue such as: absenteeism, low productivity, etc, managers should use coaching as part of their talent management activities.

A must have resource for managers who want to become better as coaches for their employees is a book called Coaching For Improved Work Performance by Ferdinand F. Fournies.

Ferdinand F Fournies who is an international consultant and former professor at Columbia University' Graduate School of Business brings the best coaching skills to every manager's fingertips. Fournies offers step-by-step coaching solutions to ensure: increased performance, higher quality, reduced absenteeism, increased creativity, increased sales, etc.