BLUF: I am looking for ideas on how to introduce coaching as a positive concept to my directs.
I don't coach right now. I totally see the rationale and I think it sounds fabulous. I have a fear that my employees will feel I am telling them they are bad performers if I bring up the idea of coaching. I want them to coaching as something positive.
I was thinking of introducing the idea of coaching to them all at a staff meeting so they can see this is not something for the poor performers - but something for everyone to gain from. I myself use a business coach. I totally see the value in having a coach.
I also struggle because some of the areas I know I need to coach my directs are things I myself am not good at. For example, I have a direct who needs to be coached on getting projects done on time and yet I struggle with this as well. I know that the coach does not need to be the teacher but I feel like it is almost hypocritical of me to coach them on things I need to improve on.
I have a small business. I am the president and I have 3 directs. Resources within the company are slim. We will need to seek outside resources and are on a limited budget. All of these things scare me away from coaching - but I really feel that coaching is what we need to move our business forward.
Are there other managers out there who have struggled with this and how have they dealt with it?
Lori
Ideas for Introducing Coaching
I say this with Love.
Coaching as part of employee development is not something that you should not have to introduce. It should be part of every organization's basic structure. If you have employees, you should be developing them. That said, I realize that it is not done well in most organizations or at all in others.
If you want your business to grow, you need to develop your staff *PERIOD* You get a whole bunch of credit for realizing that coaching is what you need to move the business forward. It makes absolutely no business sense to want a business to grow by say 10%/year and not expect your employees skills and abilities to grow by that same amount. The only way to do that is to increase headcount by the same measure. Can you do that? Do you want to? Probably not...
OK
*pushes soap box away*
Now, how to do it given that they have never been developed or coached...
See coaching pod-casts...follow instructions. Mark and Mike have laid it out for you already. This includes my answer to this quote.
[quote]Resources within the company are slim. We will need to seek outside resources and are on a limited budget. All of these things scare me away from coaching - but I really feel that coaching is what we need to move our business forward. [/quote]
Really bad excuse. Coaching can be done for free. Training costs can be tightly controlled...trust me on that one. My management is SO TIGHT when it comes to training money due to the complete lack of managerial oversight on most of the training budget (a la Coaching), so we find other ways to get the training we need. Development assignments (OJT), community college courses (sometimes for less than $250/class), Internet has TONS of free training, books, other staff, mentors and myriad other non-traditional sources of training are available all over the place for free or at minimal cost. Have your staff do the leg work to identify resources and go with it. They will WANT THIS and if they DON'T, get rid of them.
No excuses anymore, OK? We are here to help. You came to the right place. Sorry for being a bit harsh.
Ideas for Introducing Coaching
Along the same lines as AManagerTool - don't introduce coaching, just start doing it. You don't even need to use the word "coaching." Just say, "I want to help you get better at meeting deadlines and managing your time."
Missed or met deadlines are behaviors that always call for positive or negative feedback. Negative feedback would sound like =
"When you miss a deadline that you committed to what happens i you make the team look bad. What can you do differently?"
Your direct is responsible for their work. Don’t consider excuses or slowness as a reason to be late. If they think that something will come up, or they won't be able to finish it on time, then they need to come up with a plan for reducing the risk.
It's perfectly fine to say, "I also need to get better at hitting my deadlines. I'm juggling so many balls it's tough."
Brainstorm with your direct possible solutions. For example, on Monday have him create list of tasks he plans to get done that week. On your next 1-on-1 ask him how it went.
Re: Ideas for Introducing Coaching
[quote="brillweb"]I have a fear that my employees will feel I am telling them they are bad performers if I bring up the idea of coaching.[/quote]
Lori - don't listen to your fear. It's irrational. People WANT to improve, and they LOVE the recognition that's implicit in coaching.
[quote]I also struggle because some of the areas I know I need to coach my directs are things I myself am not good at.[/quote]
Again - not a problem. The Manager-Tools coaching model is particlularly clever because it gets you past this exact issue. Listen to the podcasts - you'll see what I mean.
Stop thinking about doing it, and start DOING it. You'll love the results and so will your employees.
-Hugh
Ideas for Introducing Coaching
Thanks for all of the quick replies. Don't worry about giving it to me straight. That is what I need.
I appreciate your advice and encouragement. I will give it a go.
I am going to go back and re-listen to the coaching podcasts again as a refresher. It has been awhile.
Lori
Re: Ideas for Introducing Coaching
[quote="brillweb"]I have a fear that my employees will feel I am telling them they are bad performers if I bring up the idea of coaching. I want them to coaching as something positive.[/quote]
Lori,
Tell them that you want to take the team's performance and their individual performance to a higher level.
If you set the tone of "Let's get better!" most people are going to be there with you. The trick is to talk about where you want them to be, and not treat it as a deficiency.
John