By Lorna Riley, CSP
According to American Management Association’s President Lawrence Appley, the primary job of managers is to, “get things done through others.” This includes “ing” functions such as planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, and coaching. Managers get paid for delivering results, therefore the achievement and non-achievements of the people they manage equals their score.
The truth is, managers need their employees more than they need managers. Both managers and leaders get paid for what their employees do, not what they do. To optimize this agreement, managers and leaders must effectively intervene to get things done through others.
When executives hire, they merely “rent” behavior, knowledge, skills, and attitudes. The paradox is that it’s behaviors that drive results, but it’s people that provide (or don’t provide) the behaviors. The challenge for managers and leaders is that while keeping score on results, they must reach the person behind the behavior in order to influence results. Coaching is the answer.
Effective coaching is one of the most powerful strategies leaders and managers can employ to develop the people behind the behaviors. The Oxford Dictionary defines coaching as:
"To tutor, train, give hint to, prime with facts"
Coaching is a directive process to train and/or orient employees to the realities of the workplace and to help remove barriers to optimum work performance. When managers learn that they can get results not through intimidation or threats, but through supportive relationship building and communication, results can soar off-the-chart. The benefits to coaching are enormous.
BENEFITS TO COACHING.........................
1. Maximizes employees’ strengths
2. Empowers employees to work more effectively
4. Increases employee buy-in and loyalty
5. Clearly communicates expectations, priorities, & standards of excellence
6. Orients employees to company values, strategies
7. Holds employees accountable for work performance
8. Reduces employee stress by knowing how to “win”
9. Encourages employees undertaking new or challenging assignments
10. Builds trust
11. Provides appropriate training and support when needed
12. Solicits and responds to new or innovative ideas
13. Views employees as partners and critical to the success of the unit
14. Helps executives become effective role models
15. Strengthens relationships and loyalty
16. Offers explainations for decisions and procedures
17. Diverts attentions from discouragement
18. Identifies roles and behavior that help attain goals
19. Gives advance notice of changes when possible
If coaching is a power-horse for reducing and even eliminating obstacles to peak performance, then why aren’t more managers and leaders coaching their people?
TWO TYPES OF COACHING...........
Coaching can be divided into distinct categories of purpose:
1) Motivational
These include encouragement, compliments, improving morale, networking, rewarding good performance, and building confidence.
2) Developmental
These include feedback, evaluation, training, goal setting, creating strategic plans, mentoring, employee orientation, removing workplace obstacles, gaining understanding of a problem, changing unproductive attitude/behaviors, diagnosing performance gaps, resolving conflict, clarifying standards and expectations, and career planning.
There’s a fine line between motivational and developmental coaching. Developing employees (when it’s done right), can be very motivating, and motivating employees helps their development. Don’t split hairs over this. Coaches help bring out the best in others, but remember, you can only coach and manage what you can measure.
For more information and a complementary needs analysis, contact us.
