COACHING :
THE 5
SKILLS MANAGERS NEED TO COACH TODAY
Business coaching has gone from fad to being an essential part of the managers
job. This was badly needed, in a knowledge economy; where the young generation
believe: they are drivers of their own performance and would therefore detest a
dominating style of leadership. The prime purpose of coaching is to increase effectiveness, broaden
thinking, identify strengths and development needs and set and achieve
challenging goals. It is based on asking rather than telling, on provoking
thought rather than giving directions and helping a person become
self-regulating and accountable for his or her goals. Young generation have
their highest priority (after pay packet) ... how to grow in the role?... and a manager’s job is to
help them get there!!!
Research from both academics and the corporate world has fine-tuned the
skills managers need to coach others into five categories:
1) PUTTING TRUST AT THE CENTRE OF THE
RELATIONSHIP.
It’s easier to learn from someone you trust.
People can learn more from a friend than a knowledgeable but authoritative figure. Good Coaches must
effectively establish goodwill and build
trust by being clear about the learning and development objectives they set,
showing good judgment, being patient and following through on any promises and
agreements they make.
2) PROVIDING OBJECTIVE FEEDBACK .
In coaching the master question is: Where are you now and where do you
want to go? Helping others to gain self-awareness and insight is a key job for
an effective coach. The coach can provide timely feedback and help clarify the
behaviors that an employee would like to change. Performance improvement
is often an exploration; which focuses
on gaps or inconsistencies, on current performance vs. desired performance,
words vs. actions and intention vs. impact. The ownership of accepting the gap
is based upon the learner and not a prescription from the coach
3) PROVOKING NEW THINKING .
Thinking from a new perspective is an
important part of the coaching process. Challenging old myths and pet assumptions
helps to bring a new insight to the problem at hand or a fresh zeal to meet
daunting challenges. Hence good coaches ask open-ended questions, push for
alternative solutions to problems, motivate through task simplification and
encourage reasonable risk-taking.
4) TASK AND EMOTIONAL ENCOURAGEMENT .
Coaching places the responsibility on the
learner, who has to generate the solution; or at least work in partnership with
the coach to find solution Coaching is
certainly not a prescription or a command
mode of interaction. Therefore the learner understands the solution, and
how it was arrived at. Creating their own customized solution, they
are also more likely to carry it through. As partners in learning, good coaches
listen carefully, are open to the perspectives of others and allow employees to
vent emotions without judgment. They encourage employees to make progress
toward their goals, and they recognize their successes.
5) FOCUSS ON MEASURABLE RESULTS.
Effective coaching is about concrete results.
The coach helps the employee set meaningful ones and identify specific
behaviors or steps for meeting them. The coach helps to clarify milestones or key
measures of success and holds the employee accountable for them. Self
assessment is the key to learner participation and the low-risk context (if failure occurs) is what the coach should build.
CONCLUDING: START COACHING NOW
Coaching can assist organizations with key business goals. Within
the coaching partnership, the coach will work with your employees to identify
and create clarity around key business goals and establish effective management
strategies to ensure goals are met.
With all these benefits of coaching it’s surprising that managers feel
they don’t have enough time for coaching. Even if you make learning and
coaching explicit priorities, coaching is a neglected duty of most managers.
But as your coaching processes and goals become more consistent and more highly
valued, in-house coaching will take root. Your managers will have a new way to
develop and motivate their direct reports. Individuals and groups will strive
to build new skills and achieve goals. And your business will be on track to a
more efficient, comprehensive system of developing people.
My coaching system META-COACH® has helped many organizations to fast
track its high potentials and sales stars. This in turn has helped retention
and building the talent pipeline. Write to me if you need more details to start
in your organization. But most of all I would like to know your feedback about
using the instant template I have offered for you to begin on a new agenda in
year 2018
Best of luck
Dr Wilfred Monteiro