Coming back from his annual management retreat, where one of the participants explained how he incorporated coaching into his management practice and shared the results, a manager – let’s call him Karel – was determined to see how he also could implement coaching in his supervisory role.
Many managers struggle with what exactly coaching is and what it entails. Within management, coaching is about increasing the performance of an individual by enabling the employee to gain clarity about his objectives and goals: what he has to achieve, how he is best going to achieve it, and how he will measure his progress and success. In a nutshell, coaching is a facilitative skill that employs the combined communication skills of proactive listening and strategic questioning.
Most of the time, a manager will use coaching to identify an individual’s blocks to performance. Coaching in management is about present-day performance; it is about enabling employees to identify their business objectives and supporting them to find the most effective way to achieve them. It is also about identifying their strengths and weaknesses and supporting them in building a personal development plan, and then continuing to support and enable as that plan comes to fruition.
One of the biggest challenges while coaching someone is time management. And this is where many managers fail: by not understanding that in order for coaching to happen, a certain time period is required. Unless managers learn to manage their time effectively, they won’t be able to coach their staff.
A manager can coach his team member most effectively during the formation of a business plan or a personal development plan. What is the employee trying to achieve? What are his objectives? How best is he going to deliver against these objectives? What skills does he need and how is he going to acquire them?
Once a business or development plan is in place, then regular reviews should be arranged in order to identify how the employee is progressing towards his objectives. Coaching will be used to keep the employee on track. This is “dedicated time” coaching.
A manager can also apply his coaching skills when an employee is implementing a new skill or attempting to enhance a skill he already possesses – for example when a sales executive is attempting to close an important order or an IT executive is implementing a new software system. This is “capability” coaching.
Managers can also benefit from sharing information and best practices with other managers, as Karel saw at his management retreat. One way to promote such an exchange of information is to organize (or join) a monthly coaching support group, where several managers get together to share ideas, issues and challenges.
When run well, these coaching groups can be very powerful and productive. Managers usually leave such meetings with renewed energy, especially when they have been supported through a challenge and see a new and clear way forward. These groups can be established inside a company or outside with managers from different industries.
Managers who incorporate coaching into their role help team members leverage their talents and strengths to achieve the desired results. They also create a ripple effect throughout the company they are working for, improving morale, communication, retention, efficiency and productivity.
Is it time for you to start coaching your team members?