HR Question:

As a supervisor with an employee who is having a performance issue, I want to coach them effectively and help them improve. What steps can I take to ensure I successfully coach employees to improve their performance?

HR Answer:

Effective coaching can improve job performance, satisfaction, and commitment, which are crucial for retaining talent, while poorly delivered coaching can be uncomfortable and cause unnecessary conflict. The Society of Human Resource Management shares in the article, “Coaching in the Workplace: It’s Different from Traditional Managing,” that coaching focuses on developing employees in the areas and skills they need to succeed. It is first important to understand why coaching is important and then learn steps to make it effective and improve performance.

Why is Coaching Important?

• Coaching allows you to improve or correct behavior. For satisfactory performers, coaching can elevate their performance. For those needing improvement, coaching steers them in the right direction before they get too far off track.
• Coaching can build positive rapport between leaders and team members. A Good Hire study showed that poor leaders are one of the most common reasons employees leave an organization. Engaging with your team members, building rapport, and showing a genuine commitment to their growth, development, and overall success helps retain talent.
• Coaching is a teaching opportunity. Coaching should aim to help employees learn and develop skills or behaviors that lead to positive outcomes. Coaching should not be approached as a punitive experience. If you create a team environment that values and rewards individual growth and development, your employees are more likely to be growth-focused and open to coaching opportunities.
• Coaching one employee can help to retain many. Providing effective coaching for one employee not only helps them to improve, but it can also help your whole team. For example, if you help one employee to modify their approach or behavior that impacts others on the team, your efforts can result in better team relations and a more productive work environment overall.

Three Steps to Coach Employees to Improve Performance

Leading an effective coaching conversation is integral to building trust and a valued relationship with your employee. Below are three tips on how to facilitate a successful coaching session.

1. Be Specific

   Effective coaching conversations should start with you sharing a specific behavior or action that needs to be addressed. What did the employee do, how did they do it, and when was it done? Help the employee clearly understand the behavior or performance that needs to change and its impact. Good coaches share why the employee’s actions matter. What impact did their behavior or performance have on other team members? How will it affect the customer?

2. Be Timely

   Studies have shown that immediate feedback enhances learning and retention by helping individuals connect their actions to outcomes. Prompt positive feedback encourages repetition of good behavior, while immediate constructive feedback prevents errors and promotes proper task performance. Timely feedback strengthens rapport by showing prompt interest and concern.

3. Be Interactive

   Coaching conversations should be two-way dialogues, not a lecture from “the boss”. After clearly sharing the specific behavior or performance and its impact, you should actively seek the employee’s thoughts and perspectives. Great coaches are exceptional listeners who genuinely care about their employees’ perspectives and strive to understand them. Good coaching requires active rather than passive listening and a good eye for messages sent through body language. Learn more about how you can be a good listener here.

A common mistake supervisors make in coaching is assuming that they know what the problem is. For example, you have a team member who has consistently been late. Rather than assuming the person is too lazy to get up on time, sit down with them and ask about the root of the issue. By having a conversation, you might find that it is not a matter of motivation. Instead, it is because the first bus of the day gets them to work 5 minutes early – but only if it is running on time. Through this conversation, you can understand the cause of the problem and set reasonable goals together.

The Crucial Importance of Follow-Up

When you coach employees to improve performance, this conversation should lead to mutual agreement on the next steps. Employees should address their performance or behavior, while managers help remove roadblocks to their success. For example, a skills gap may be the issue that a manager can address through training. A lack of “the big picture” on team processes may be resolved with the coach providing a clearer overview of the employee’s work and how it fits into the team’s desired outcomes.

Once a plan has been established, an effective coach will establish a specific timeline for follow-up. You should tell the employee when you will check in on their progress, and do not fail to meet with the employee as planned.

Review the progress regularly and CELEBRATE successes. Progress made toward goals often goes uncelebrated and unrecognized. Bringing positive attention to positive steps forward can encourage and motivate team members.

Coaching takes time and effort. While it would be easier to just let things slide, immediately recognizing and addressing a coaching moment can make a positive impact on an individual and a team’s overall performance.

Thank you to Terry Wilson, Training Practice Manager, for contributing to this article.

Do you need training for you or your supervisors to learn and practice effective coaching skills? Our Training & Development Services may be the perfect solution. Call Clark Schaefer Strategic HR today at (513) 697-9855 or submit a training request on our website to be conducted with one of our HR Business Strategists for more information.