Research Paper: Coaching at Work | International Coach Academy

By:?Silvia Macedo

Introduction

Coaching is not only a growing profession worldwide but also a growing communication style adopted by managers, teachers, parents, friends, and others. Numerous studies now exist that provide evidence that coaching in the workplace is an effective strategy for boosting productivity, morale, job satisfaction and profitability.

The coaching process affects individual lives by helping people know themselves better, manage themselves better, relate more productively with others, and develop approaches to think about and address challenging situations (Jean L. Hurd, 2003).

This paper reinforces the impact coaching can have in the lives and in the performance of individuals at work. The interest on this topic comes from working in different organizations?? and?? mainly?? from?? experiencing?? the?? effects?? of? ?different?? working environments where, in the majority of them, coaching was not present.

It is grounded in a belief that organizational success ultimately is the result of individuals successfully working with other individuals, in groups, teams, departments, across functions, and ultimately as a corporate entity. Coaching can be effectively used to help building stronger relationships and ultimately help creating a better work environment.

A Working Definition of Coaching

Coaching should be an individualized instruction that is mutually desired (by the coach and coachee). There are two key points that inform the rest of this paper:

I. Coaching is individualized: as we know, employees? performance and abilities in the work place differ from one to the other. To get their best, coaching skills need to address their unique strengths and needs.

II. Coaching must be mutually desired to be effective: if the employee is not engaged coaching is less likely to succeed.? A successful coaching session happens when an employee?s desire is present. If desire is absent, this is the first change that needs to occur.

Revolutionary discoveries in science would suggest that individual change at any level could have an enormous ripple effect. If, as the study of chaos has shown, ?a butterfly flapping? its? wings? in? Tokyo? can? affect? the? weather? in? New? York,?? an? individual contributor can have a similar effect in an organization.

The benefits of good coaching flow in all directions. A positive behavior change in one individual can have an ongoing positive effect throughout his or her sphere of influence and beyond, with a potential return of investment far exceeding one individual?s performance improvement. Coaching is not only for executives. The more that lower levels of the organization develop self-management and relationship skills, the sooner the organization reaps the benefit. By the time a person without these skills reaches the upper management levels of the company, it is likely that he or she will cost more to the?organization to develop those skills than if that investment had occurred when he or she was still a junior employee.

The Coaching Mindset

Adopting a coaching mindset, building the attitude of a learner, and conveying high expectations are all essential in creating the mutuality required by coaching.

The foundation of coaching is the development of a growth-oriented, positive mindset in the manager (as the coach in our organization). An effective manager is stimulated by the development of an employee?s excellence and views the coaching process as a noble endeavor. Coaching is one of the skills the manager can use to get the best out of their employees. Good management is not an isolated, one-time activity of the manager; it is rather a process that pervades the entire managerial function.

Recognizing and Identifying Strengths and Potential

Peter? Drucker,? a? well-known? management? consultant? said,? ?Find? the? employee?s strengths; that?s ?all you have to work with.? Unfortunately, very few managers are trained in spotting strengths or potential in people. Most of us are more acutely aware of what is wrong with others and ourselves. Managers who are good coaches tend to focus more on the talents, ability, and skills that are inherent in the employee. When we know our employee?s strengths we can help develop them even further, allowing the person to?experience new things at work and getting the recognition they need. A combination that is key to the coaching mindset is the manager?s belief in his or her people?s capabilities plus an ability to convey this faith. In working with employees, the expectations communicated about their achievement can have a powerful effect upon the results they achieve. ?When ?a ?manager ?conveys ?limited ?expectations ?or ?negative ?messages, ?the?following chain of events can take place for the employee:

When a manager conveys high, positive expectations, the impact on the employee is very different:

Positive expectations should not be confused with unrealistic ones. In order to convey high expectations effectively, the manager needs to tie them to a specific strength or previous achievement. Be realistic about obstacles but also be realistic about the employee?s strength, potential, and ability to overcome them. Acknowledge obstacles; encourage overcoming them. This is achievable by spending time with the employee and working together on the development of a Personal Development Plan and in defining their work commitments for the year ahead.

Often managers? coaching objectives are relatively narrow, i.e., they focus on someone improving at the immediate task at hand instead of focusing on the ?bigger picture?. Managers with a coaching mindset hope to achieve broader goals with their employees. They want people to develop their potential, learn to be team workers, take greater responsibility, become problem solvers, and take the initiative to develop themselves. As coaches, managers have the opportunity, on both a short-term and a long-term basis, to determine how far their people will go in achieving these goals.

Coaching ? What to focus on?

Managers should focus on four specific steps in order to be effective and allow employee development: observation; feedback; instruction and follow up.

Observation:??A ?manager ?observes ?his ?or ?her ?employee ?to ?see ?which ?areas of?performance offer an opportunity to coach. The most reliable source of information about the person is direct observation by the manager. Many managers state that they have?minimal time to observe their employees directly. This often causes a dilemma for managers. The challenge for most managers, then, is to be able to increase their observation opportunities. Observation is part of the managers? role so if they complain they do not have time to spend observing their direct reports, we as coaches should inquire them regarding their responsibilities as managers.

Once a manager has observed his or her employee over time, that manager has a whole gamut of information about that person?s developmental areas. Rather than coaching on each individual action, the manager should focus on the actions that, when changed, will cause the most improvement in the person?s performance. Targeting requires solid knowledge of the subject matter. When a manager knows how to do a task, he or she will also know which key piece of knowledge or skill the employee is missing. When a manager targets just that piece of knowledge or skill, he or she is focusing on creating the most development.

While targeting, the manager needs to keep in mind the employee?s ability and style. A manager targets developmental areas that the employee is capable of changing and is motivated to improve if given the knowledge or skill. A manager also respects the basic style of the employee. Knowing that different people approach tasks differently, the manager tries to understand the employee?s frame of reference.

Feedback:??Feedback ?can ?be ?a ?very ?effective ?instrument ?for ?bringing ?about ?change.

However, inappropriate or poorly given feedback can cause more harm than good. Ineffective feedback can disempower people. This step involves giving feedback on the behavior or behaviors that are observed and targeted as described previously. However,?an accurate description of behavior is just one part of the content for coaching feedback. When coaching, feedback content includes:

?? ?A statement of the standard

?? ?The description of the behavior

?? ?The impact that behavior may have

The behavioral description is an objective description of the specific behavior seen in the ?observe? part of the first step. Description of the behavior should be limited to actions that can be seen or heard (it should always be as objective as possible).

The impact describes the result of the behavior. This can be either an actual or potential impact. Here is an example of a corrective feedback message:

Standard: ?At our last review, you agreed to work on your delegation skills to improve your impact as a team leader.?

Behavior: ?In looking at the latest project plan for your team, I see you are responsible for all but one of the major deliverables.?

Impact: ?Because of this you are limiting the number of developmental opportunities for your team and delaying your own career progress by doing the work yourself rather than effectively leading others. What do you think you could possible do about this??

Managers can also use the same feedback model when they want to reinforce and praise the correct behaviour:

Standard: ?One of our meeting norms is to let the speaker finish his or her thought before adding your point of view.?

Behavior: ?In this morning?s meeting, you let Joanne finish describing her idea, even though you looked anxious to add some thoughts of your own.?

Impact: ?As a result, not only did Joanne get to explain her idea completely, but she was more receptive to hearing the points you had to make.?

Before actually giving feedback, a manager can help develop receptivity on the part of the employee by inviting self-feedback from the employee.

Instruction:?After giving feedback, a manager may decide to instruct the employee,?assuming there is a gap in the employee?s knowledge or skill. To instruct effectively, we recommend selecting from the three options outlined below:

Tell How: The manager states what the employee could do to become more effective in this area.

Show How: The manager shows how to do the new behavior. When working on a difficult developmental area, a demonstration greatly increases the odds for effective learning.

Practice, with Feedback: The manager has the employee try out the new skills or behaviors, accompanied by immediate feedback. This way the person being coached can readjust while still in learning mode rather than repeating the wrong thing.

Follow up:?Having gone through the first three steps with an employee, a manager wants

to ensure that the employee has the best chance to progress in that developmental area. The final step of the model, follow up, is so crucial that it is not an exaggeration to say: if you do not have time to properly follow up with the person, do not coach the person.

Here are some ideas on what a manager can do to follow up on coaching.

I)?? Ask what the employee will focus on to implement the changes he or she wants to make.

II) Offer to observe and give feedback on the progress. III) Schedule opportunities for observations and feedback.

Conclusion

This method of employee coaching can be an effective way to improve performance among employees. It accelerates development, helps people learn from their mistakes, and,? by example can help employees to better develop each other. The benefits of this coaching approach can be beneficial for everyone. The organizational climate would be pleasant for employees and this aura would transfer to the community at large starting with the home and family.

Goals are met through groups of people working together in relationship, and how well they work together depends on the individuals involved. On the way to meeting goals, good coaching creates learned individuals ? individuals who have the self awareness and?social? awareness? to? create? organizations? with? better? leadership? and? less? pain,? where people are learning and growing, and bringing their full selves into the workplace. It does this by creating the foundations for learning and changing behavior ? creating safety, support, feedback, and opportunities to practice, practice, practice over time. Coaching at its best is truly a process of learning for life.

Bibliography

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Church, A. H. (1997). Managerial self-awareness in high-performing individuals in organizations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82(2), 281-292.

Drucker P. (2001). The Essential Drucker. Great Britain. Butterworth-Heinemann. Hurd, J. (2003, November 12). An Investigation into the Effect of Organizational

Coaching on Individual Lives. Retrieved March 2, 2012.

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