All About Employee Coaching

All About Employee Coaching Coaching out in the business world looks a lot different to coaching out on the field. While shouting and whistles might work for some people, employee coaching is about encouraging and nurturing talent, offering constructive criticism for improvement in agreed upon areas and providing positive feedback to employees to keep them and, therefore, the team moving forward. Its about teaching and reinforcing productive and ultimately successful behaviors to curate a mora effective force of contributors.What Is Employee Coaching?In order to improve employee performance, employers should be both counseling and coaching employees on what works well and what doesnt. This doesnt need to wait for the annual review but, rather, employee coaching should be happening during day-to-day interaction between a manager and an employee who reports to that manager.That said, a number ofprofessional coaches would arguethat managers should bedrngnis attempt to coach their empl oyees, as theyve too vested an interest in the outcome of their coaching that they couldnt be neutral, effective coaches. Others would argue that managers already spend their time teaching, telling or advising (some may even be micromanaging), and therefore are already coaching their employees regularly.Its important to understand what employee coaching really means to better understand whether or notlage you or the managers on your team could serve as employee coaches. The fact is that coaching is actually a two-way street it requires advising and listening, with which some managers may struggle. An employee coach should be able to have both directive and non-directive skills. Some directive skills includeTeachingAdvisingProviding FeedbackOffering SuggestionsNon-directive coaching, however,is mora about listening to the employee and asking them questions. This is because, when an employee solves a problem on his or her own (usually with the help of challenging questions from the c oach), theyre typically more committed to the issue at hand and, therefore, are more likely to achieve success in actually doing something about it. This is also key because, when employees arent afforded the opportunitiesto solve their own problems, theybecome inevitably dependent upon management and never get better at problem solving, which can hurt both team productivity and their careers.In shortWhile feedback and direction are indubitably helpful tools, a coach is not onlydirecting or acting in an authoritarian manner. They should also be able to collaborate with the employee to stimulate an employees own ideas by helping them to reduce the noise cluttering their brains and solve problems on their own. They should be working together toidentify, targetand plan for performance improvement.While it may seem like coaching sounds a lot like mentoring,a mentoring relationship usually involves a senior employeepassing on their know-how and experience to assist a lower-levelcolleague . Coaching is done intentionally with a professional at coaching itself, not necessarily the industry.Coaching in the workplace can be a difficult skill for managers to master as most managers are used to directing work rather than achieving it through employee development, according to Coach 4 Growth.In this situation the coach is acting as facilitator to help the employee achieve self-realization aroundopportunities for improvement by asking probing, and often tough, questionsand challenging the employee to think about their goals as well as how to achieve them. This also means that the coach does not need to be an expert on the development area. Sure, it helps but since coaching is more focused on the employee owning their own development the coach can help by providing resources in place of direct expertise.Sometimes when acoach should be brought in are when an employee laughs off the managersfeedback, isnt interested in being coached, is a star employee who needs high-levelcoac hing, according to the Harvard Business Review. Remember that the objective of coaching an employeeis tohelp that employee make distinct improvements that are measurable.Some managers are capable of doing that, while others are not and, sometimes, it all just comes down to how busy they are.Coaching may takemore time and patience than managing.How Should YouStructure Work Coaching?The truth is that coaching takes practice, and the more employees with whom you work, the better at coaching youll certainly become. But in order to get started, you should have some idea of how to structure work coaching, as a framework can help streamline the process.Many coaches use what is called the GROW Model. There are several versions of the GROW acronym, but here is a popular oneG forGoal This refers to the goal or purpose of the conversation what does the employee wish to gain from the conversation with their coach?R forReality This refers to the issue at hand what is the problem that needs to be solved?O forOptionsThis refers to the possible solutions what are the various thingsthe employee can do to tackle the issue at hand?W for Whats Next This refers to the next steps of all the options for solutions, what will the employee choose to do to tackle the issue at hand and by when?Remember that, regardless of your coaching structure, you should always possess some key characteristics of a coach who understands their role. Coaches should always be all of the followingTrustworthyDependableConfidentin the EmployeeEmpatheticRealisticCan Hold the Employee AccountableConsistentA Good ListenerAn Effective Communicator Who Provides ConstructiveFeedbackACheerleaderWhats an Example of an Employee Coaching Template?Heres a good example of an employee coaching schablone from Bargainator that has some questionsto askemployees.Some activities to do with employees upon filling out this form includeRegularly meeting to discuss progress and successesRegularly meeting to discuss concerns Regularly meeting to affirm goalsImplementing incentive plans to reward employees successesWhat Are Some Resources for Employee Coaching?There are tons of resources out there for coaches to better their skills and help employees reach their full potential. Here are some podcasts, books, trainings and conferences for the coach what really wants to understand what employee coaching is.PodcastsCoaching CultureBring Out the Best in Your Employees Through Performance CoachingHow to LeadBooksThe Coaching Habit Say Less, Ask More and Change the Way You Lead ForeverUnlocking Potential 7 Coaching Skills That Transform Individuals, Teams, and OrganizationsCoaching, Counseling Mentoring, Second Edition How to Choose Use the Right Technique to Boost Employee PerformanceCoaching for PerformanceTrainings ConferencesThe Conference BoardEmployee Engagement ConferenceMore InformationFor more information on employee coaching, be sure to check out these postson FairygodbossWhy Leadership Coaching I s Essential to Your Career DevelopmentCould This schrift Of Coaching Boost Your Career?5 Things You Should Know About Working With a Career Coach--AnnaMarie Houlis is a multimedia journalist and an adventure aficionado with a keen cultural curiosity and an affinity for solo travel. Shes an editor by day and a travel blogger at HerReport.org by night.