A coach can be a great asset to a leader, helping them to identify skills that need to be developed, key strengths, and strategies for improvement. Coaching can focus on achieving goals within a leader's current job or on moving in new directions. Executives who are struggling can also benefit from coaching to improve performance. Great managers foster open and honest relationships with employees that motivate and engage them.
In this blog, we'll share 12 rules for mastering employee coaching and creating a productive team of engaged employees. Rule 1: Establish a culture of 360-degree feedback. This encourages an ongoing dialogue that gives employees at all levels of the organization the chance to be heard. Rule 2: Work together with your employee to clearly define the desired behavior. It would be very tempting to just set the rules and tell the employee what to do.
Both should set goals that are specific, achievable, simple, realistic, and time-bound, as well as strategies to overcome obstacles and reach those goals. Rule 3: Provide guidance and leadership. Employees aren't pre-programmed to know what they need to do and how to carry out their tasks. Your leadership and guidance are essential and help create employees who do their jobs better. Rule 4: Train informally and formally. Mary Massad, who writes for Entrepreneur, states: “Coaching that works consists of constructive and consistent feedback aimed at increasing awareness and improving performance.
As a manager, you can train informally and formally, as well as delegate those responsibilities to other managers. Rule 5: Take your employees where they can't take themselves. Legendary University of Colorado coach Bill McCartney said: “Training is taking a player where he can't take him himself. This innovative approach to solving performance problems presents a training model and creative training techniques for managers to use in developing a supportive environment. Rule 6: Address individual differences. This innovative approach to solving performance problems presents a training model and creative training techniques for managers to use in order to create a supportive environment and address individual differences, including language, culture, age, and value systems. By following these 12 rules for mastering employee coaching, you can create an atmosphere where employees are engaged and productive.
Coaching is an important part of any leader's job, so make sure you're taking the time to provide your employees with the guidance they need.