Business and Life Coaching

By Jeff Green (Perth, Western Australia, WA November 2006)

Coaching is a passion of mine, it doesn't matter if I am adopting one, responding to a request to be one or looking for opportunities to coach, and I am always delighted with the results. Coaching in the work place covers issues like performance, problem solving, career development, motivation and teamwork.

Coaching is the art of improving the performance of others. Managers who coach, encourage their staff to learn from the challenges in their work. A good coach listens first, asks searching questions, provides constructive feedback and is ready to generate creative ideas.

Coaching helps you bring out the potential of your staff in a more positive way. Use it to deal with immediate problems, as a constructive way to interact with your staff without being confrontational and use it as an aid to their long term development, it is an unending process, each new achievement forms a platform for the next challenge.

The coaching process closes the gap between a person's or a team's present level of performance and the desired one. Start by mutually accessing performance, discussing and agreeing on achievable goals, then discuss the present position and what options are available, as well as exploring new initiatives, develop a plan of action, then support them in the execution of the plan. In all this they are the owner of the process and outcome, you are the guide and facilitator.

It is not necessary to know everything about your employee's work to coach them well. Good coaching occurs when the manager is able to take an objective view of the employee's goals without being distracted by the details. Good coach’s help people learn from their mistakes, as a coach, avoid telling people what to do, instead help them choose the best way to succeed.

Effective coaching gives your staff the confidence to tackle new challenges, they know that they have your support and you will be there if they fail. If your team has a positive attitude, it is more able to face new challenges and changes. Encourage them to discuss their ideas and provide the necessary resources for them to achieve their goals.

By coaching you eventually increase you peoples skills but more importantly you develop a greater trust in their abilities, after all, you helped develop them. You are then in a position where you can give them more responsibility, delegate more tasks to them and spend less time supervising them. Most people enjoy the trust being bestowed on them, by giving them more responsibility and this creates a positive cycle of development.

Tell them what you are doing.

Talk to your staff about coaching, tell them how it works. By asking searching questions, getting them to reflect on what could have been done better and providing feedback, you will encourage your staff to become more aware of their strengths and weaknesses. As their confidence improves, building on their strengths and developing new skills, their self-esteem grows and they will take more initiative in meeting new challenges. But, one important point don't just delegate the tasks you don't enjoy, they have to be fulfilling tasks with positive results for the team for coaching to be effective.

Make it interesting and involve them.

Find out what your people value most in their work, and then involve them in these areas. Their passion for a particular activity will give them more motivation and deliver a better result. Involve them in the decision making processes, they will have a greater commitment to the final decision. Each team member should feel they play an essential role in the structure of the team. Team members should feel free to contribute their ideas in a positive environment.

Take Notice.

Just the increased attention to your team can improve performance. In the 1920s a physiologist conducted a study at the Hawthorne Electrical Works, to prove his theory that better lighting improved productivity. The lighting was increased and productivity increased, as further proof the lighting was decreased but productivity increased again. The workers were interviewed and it was found that the physiologist's research and interest in them made the workers feel more valued. Someone was taking notice of them, this improved moral and this improved productivity. This effect is know as the "Hawthorne Effect" and is used by a lot of organisations, usually in the form of the much maligned "Staff Opinion Survey".

Coaching styles

Sometimes people want answers to their questions and sometimes they want you to help them find their own answers. Lets call this "Push" and "Pull". Pushing is the same as directing, you simply give clear instructions on how to achieve a goal. Pulling is an art form I learnt from effective parenting classes. When you don't have the solution to your child's problems (bullying, relationships, teachers etc….) you just listen, empathise and listen some more. Be prepared to take lots of time but eventually you will jointly come to a decision on how you are going to handle the situation.

Using the "Pull" style acts as a catalyst to help staff find their own answers. Listen to the answers and probe further to help and guide them in developing their own solutions. This will result in commitment, accountability, motivation and the opportunity for some positive feedback "that sounds like a good idea” or “that looks like a solution".

Emotional Intelligence

I recently attended a discussion on Leadership Selection. It was agreed that the strongest skills of a leader are their ability to self motivate, their self awareness, their self regulation and their ability to influence others. These qualities are know as Emotional Intelligence. According to Daniel Goleman, Author of Vital Lies, Simple Truths, these skills are more important to business success then academic learning. You will need to develop these skills to be an effective coach.

Business Optimisation Systems & Solutions can help you develop a coaching culture in you business. We can coach your management team through group and specific one on one sessions. Also, using certified workplace trainers, we can help you with frame works for training and development plans through to course development and delivery.