In our current employment environment, it’s more important than ever for bosses to become coaches. Unemployment is at an all-time low, qualified candidates have become passive job seekers and bosses are still cited as the No. 1 reason employees leave. Instead of relying on performance improvement plans when the employee fails to meet expectations, it’s time to focus on developing employees’ soft skills, their ability to follow established systems and procedures, and a can-do attitude in the face of challenges throughout their employment.
For Success, Become Your Employees’ Job Coach
Coaching is needed at all levels within an organization. Being a boss who coaches employees is important. If you don’t have the interest, make sure to hire an experienced coach to help you and your team succeed.
Use Qualified Assessments. This is where you start. As the boss, understanding who your employees really are is required before you can coach for success. Without this, both you and your employee will feel frustrated. Qualified assessments provide coaching, team and managerial reports to clarify specific areas for coaching. For example, a top-level saleswoman had been achieving great results by opening up new markets for her company. In an effort to help broaden her skills, and improve her patience and diplomacy, her company reassigned her to work larger prospects with a much longer sales cycle. Because she was unable to close a sale quickly and change her personality (remember, you can’t fix and change a person), she left and joined a company where her skill set and job fit mattered.
Focus on Strengths. Focusing on weaknesses is a colossal waste of time. Instead, hire the right people for the right job. Build on their strengths to grow their effectiveness. For example: A customer service rep was having a difficult time working with a system that did not have a procedural manual. To develop her strengths, her boss advised her work with a longtime employee, take notes and create a procedural manual. Now, she’s the go-to person when something isn’t working and training is required.
Meet Weekly. It’s important to meet with your employees frequently. When someone is struggling, it’s even more important. Meeting weekly will help them fine-tune their skills and approach, and help you uncover any bad habits early. While habits can be transformed, first the employee must become aware of them and then you must customize an approach that works.
Hire Yourself a Coach. To become your employees’ job coach, it’s important for you to have your own coach to help you move forward. With your own coach, you will uncover your blind spots and improve your decision-making, project management and communication skills.
Hire a Team Facilitator. For those bosses who are not interested in being their employees’ job coach, hire a facilitator. A facilitator will help improve team meetings and communication skills, and keep your team focused on achieving success.
For those of you who doubt the importance of these techniques, one of my clients used all of the methods above, and each of his employees went from managing $750K to managing $1.25M.
©Jeannette Seibly, 2018
Jeannette Seibly has been called a catalyst. She is celebrating 25 years as a business coach, advisor and consultant who guides her clients to achieve unprecedented results. Remember, being your employees’ job coach will be effective, fun and rewarding! Are you ready? Step up now! Check out her website, or contact Jeannette for a preliminary confidential, laser-focused conversation.