Creating a Coaching Climate for Employees
Identifying the Manager's Role in the Coaching Process
Feb 4, 2009 Britta Stromeyer Esmail
Most managers don’t receive any training on how to coach their employees. Many are promoted to their positions because they are top performers. With a promotion to management comes a new set of responsibilities and the expectation to know how to manage. Without formal training, managers are often left to their own devices, managing and supervising through trial-and-error. Quite likely they were never properly coached themselves and have no clue how to do it.
Coaching takes time! With the economy in disarray, continuous downsizing and increased workloads, time is a precious commodity. But, time well spent on coaching in the short term results in long-term benefits.
Coaching Tips
Here are some quick tips to get started:
- Before beginning the process of on-the-job-coaching, be clear about your expectations and know how to articulate them well. Specific performance standards are critical.
- An effective coach is also a good observer. Before giving feedback, be sure to observe it first-hand and not act on hearsay!
- Identify the coaching focus: Recognize the specific behavior that needs coaching and compare it to your performance standards. The gap is your coaching focus!
- Determine the root of the problem: unclear expectations, external obstacles, lack of training, or lack of ability?
- Create a coaching climate: Coaching requires a safe and comfortable environment that is conducive to two-way communication. An effective coach is aware of body language and actively listens!
Giving Feedback: The Key to Effective Coaching
Giving feedback is essential to the coaching process. When done correctly, feedback is a valuable tool to help the employee improve performance. If done poorly it can de-motivate and in some cases, destroy a person's self-confidence. Feedback is most effective when it immediately follows performance. It should be relevant to the task and provide information on how to improve performance.
Feedback can be negative and positive. Be sure to point out things done right. Positive feedback should also be specific. It's not enough to tell a worker that he or she's doing a good job. A much more effective and meaningful comment would be: “Karen, I liked the way you managed this difficult customer. You showed restraint while remaining very professional by not raising your voice or losing control of the situation.”
Focus on behaviors that can be observed, measured, and discussed objectively without generalizing or making assumptions which could adversely affect the employee’s response to the feedback.
Sample Feedback, both Negative and Positive
For example, stay away from statements like these:
“You are sloppy in your work.”
“It doesn’t seem you are interested in truly helping the customer.”
How would you react if someone said this to you? These statements are judgmental not observable behavior. Instead, consider the following:
“I feel frustrated when you hand in reports with incomplete information. I expect you to ensure you have the right information and include all project data before handing it in.”
"When you don't look up and acknowledge the customer in front of you, the customer may react by taking his or her business elsewhere. Because we pride ourselves in customer service, I expect you to look up, smile, acknowledge the customer, and tell the customer you will be with him or her in a moment.”
These two statements provide effective feedback by describing the behavior, the consequences and clear direction of set standards and expectations.
It is vital to the performance improvement process to monitor the employee's work. But it takes time, patience and practice. To develop employees into top performers, managers need to learn and practice respect, reinforcement and recognition. Coaching done right, gets results!
What do you think about this article?
More in Education & Career
Latest Articles