Effective strategies for coaching and developing your employees Part 1

Performance coaching is not about disciplinary action, nor is it about accountability (although it may promote accountability in the long term). It is really about leadership development - teaching your team of supervisors, managers and leaders the skills and behaviors that are necessary to perform their jobs as efficiently as possible in order to get the best results for themselves and the company.

Performance coaching is not about telling your management team whatto do; it is about telling them how to get the best results from their people and processes. If you are experiencing mediocre productivity, ongoing conflict or high turnover, you should look first at your management team. They are the root cause for success and failure. There is an old Chinese proverb that says, “For every hundred men hacking away at the branches of a diseased tree, only one will stoop to inspect the roots.”

It is surprising the number of managers and executives who have no idea how to conduct performance coaching sessions. While facilitating an executive coaching session with a vice president, she told me that she had continually written her managers up and they continued to deliver substandard performance! Her frustration was evident, but writing people up is self-defeating when you have not performed due diligence in the supervisor’s or manager’s performance training. It does not teach the employee or manager the skills they need to move forward. It only punishes them for making mistakes and not performing up to expected standards.

The fact is that most supervisors and managers want to do a good job, but many do not have the skills to deal with the complicated workforce issues prevalent in today’s organizations. Many supervisors and managers are learning as they go. This process is slow, ineffective and costly to organizations as supervisors and managers bungle their way through each day, trying to do the right things.

To effectively conduct performance coaching sessions, you must first understand the root cause of poor performance. Performance is a function of both ability and motivation. For example, someone with 100 percent motivation and 75 percent ability can achieve good to above average performance. However, someone with 25 percent ability will most likely not be able to perform to expected standards, no matter how highly motivated they are to succeed.

Key signs that low ability may be the root cause of poor performance include; evidence of strong effort despite poor performance and lack of improvement over time despite ongoing coaching and training. In this case, you will have to identify a strategic plan to provide this person with the skills they need to succeed or you may have to assess whether they are in the right position.

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