Five Ways to Boost Employee Performance through Coaching
The world of work is complex and constantly changing. Fast paced and high pressured, it places increasingly tough demands on employees throughout organisations.
Coaching is a particularly powerful tool in the modern workplace – one that has proven to be a highly effective way of developing individual and organisational performance by unlocking talent and capability. The focus is on growth, progression and results.
Line managers are key to improving employee performance and coaching is the fastest way to facilitate the development process.
CMI Research identifies coaching as the single most important tool for driving up performance, yet many organisations do not implement this initiative. High performing organisations provide 20 per cent more coaching than lower performing organisations. They integrate coaching into their daily management activity, executed across the entire business at all levels.
Here are five ways in which line managers can implement coaching daily:
- Initiate Informal One-to-One Discussions
Coaching doesn’t have to be a long-winded or over-complicated. One of the most effective ways that line managers can integrate coaching daily is to have productive and considered dialogue with team members. Given how busy everyone is, often pre-scheduling these important discussions ensure they happen. A 15-minute one-to-one discussion can make a huge difference in building relationships and improving employee performance.
- Adapt line management approach
Coaching ideally isn’t an event that takes place occasionally; ideally, it becomes a style and daily approach to line management. Rather than directing and telling team members what to do and how to do it; those managers that adopt a questioning approach better engage their staff and create a productive environment of empowerment.
- Use coaching to help facilitate tricky conversations
It’s easy to say thank you and to say ‘you’ve done a good job’ when things are going well. When things are not going so well, we find that many managers struggle with how to say what they really want to say to staff and end up not saying anything which escalates the problems.
We find that managers have a lot of mental blocks when it comes to giving feedback and often down to irrational fears like they will come across in the wrong way or cause conflict and upset people etc.
- Give motivational and developmental feedback
We’re not talking about saving up feedback for the annual appraisal; we’re talking about tackling performance related issues in a way that motivates staff and nips ineffective behaviours in the bud to avoid these mushrooming.
Done properly, feedback is a tool that motivates staff, raises capability, improves employee performance and develops confidence in others.
- Encourage staff to progress on the job
Many managers may think that it is quicker to complete tasks themselves when team members come to them for support. But is it really quicker over time? Coaching is an effective way to help team members start to think through the answers themselves so that they learn on the job and self-discover how to complete new tasks or improve on what they do. Not only does the manager benefit from team members gaining more confidence and developing their skill-set; they create themselves more time to do their job rather than that of others!
Line managers can gain internationally recognised coaching and mentoring qualifications to develop their coaching knowledge and skillset and significantly improve employee performance. Short qualifications can be achieved in as little as 4-weeks. To find out more about what these can look like, click here.