Are you successful at coaching your employees?
In years studying and working with companies on this topic, they have observed that when many executives say “yes,” they’re ill-equipped to answer the question.
Why? For one thing, managers tend to think they’re coaching when they’re actually just telling their employees what to do.
Source: Harvard Business Review by Julia Milner and Trenton Milner
The research looked specifically at how you can train people to be better coaches. They focused on analyzing the following nine leadership coaching skills, based on the existing literature and own practical experiences of leadership coaching:
- listening
- questioning
- giving feedback
- assisting with goal setting
- showing empathy
- letting the coachee arrive at their own solution
- recognizing and pointing out strengths
- providing structure
- encouraging a solution-focused approach
In generally, multiple assessments of participants by experts before and after the training course resulted in a 40.2% increase in overall coaching ability ratings across all nine categories, on average. Given that this was a very short training course this is a remarkable improvement.
What can organizations learn from our research?
- First, any approach to coaching should begin by clearly defining what it is and how it differs from other types of manager behavior. This shift in mindset lays a foundation for training and gives managers a clear set of expectations.
- The next step is to let managers practice coaching in a safe environment before letting them work with their teams. The good news, as evidenced by the research, is that you don’t necessarily need to invest in months of training to see a difference. You do, however, need to invest in some form of training. Even a short course targeted at the right skills can markedly improve managers’ coaching skills.
If you are interested to learn more about important coaching skills and how you can embed this is your organisation and culture, please feel to contact me (ilse.denruyter@hotmail.com or +32 492/15.23.05)
