Stop for a minute and ask yourself this – is “getting coached” a good thing in your organization? If you’re being honest, chances are it’s probably not.
Last week Pete and I spent an entire day running our latest workshop, teaching trainers to instill better coaching practices in their supervisor and team lead populations. We had 30 companies represented across nearly every major industry. It was a great crowd, with very energetic discussion.
The very first exercise of the day involved creating a goal for coaching. And while many participants jumped in an added their thoughts, two things were abundantly clear:
1) Coaching is a misused word and concept. The outcomes, methods, and intent of coaching around the room couldn’t have been more diverse. Naturally, we assume when everyone nods their head in agreement at the word “coaching,” it’s universally understood. Well, you know what they say about assuming…
2) Most organizations have not defined a true goal and purpose for coaching. We’re telling our leaders to “coach” without a sense of what that really means. Good coaching does not involve performance management, nor does it involve a conference room.
Since properly executed coaching is the single greatest driver of performance for service organizations (yielding more than a 12% increase in output), and poor coaching is among the most corrosive drivers of performance, this is one occasion where organizations need to provide clarity for their teams.
The question then becomes: how can we provide clarity around what properly executed coaching looks like?
CCC Members, check out our latest series of seven e-learning modules on proper coaching techniques for supervisors. Also, track coaching effectiveness of your supervisors with our coaching pulse survey.
Back at the workshop, we also found clarity by sharing the coaching goals we’ve created at CCC:
- Assisting staff in becoming more self-aware of development areas
- Providing guidance to change behaviors while continually reinforcing positive behavior
- Creating an environment of self-realization and improvement
The group also added several other components including – safe environment, collaboration, partnership, trust, engagement, inspiration, and candid but respectful. All good contributions our goal didn’t explicitly include.
A defined purpose and goal for coaching is vital. Several attendees said the first thing they’d do when they got back to the office is call a supervisor huddle and reach consensus on a definition.
While creating a goal for coaching not sufficient, it is a necessary step in creating a sound coaching program.
What are your thoughts here? What’s missing in the goal above? And more importantly, how can you get your supervisors and reps to build their own goal with your guidance?
(As a side note, HBR wrote a really great piece entitled “Can You Say What Your Strategy Is?” The piece demonstrated most organizations lack concision in their strategic statement and organizational goals. If you haven’t read this, please do yourself a favor and check it out. It’s a great tactical piece that applies to setting goals, well beyond this blog post.)
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