A 3 part process for developmental coaching: Going beyond “management by fear” and numbers

Coaching conversations, rather than algorithms, drive optimizing employee performance, especially when we use the developmental coaching approach for improving the performance of employees who are performing at least satisfactorily. Valuing the people that drive your organization goes beyond statistical purity to developing and sustaining relationships that involve developing skills and abilities, building trust and sharing knowledge. This helps manage employees as brand ambassadors in social media as well, as the corporate reputation online often rests upon how an organization builds relationships with its employees internally.

 

The developmental coaching approach focuses on conversations and actions that make employees successful, especially in their career development. Besides helping employees discover and maximize what they do well, it also involves helping them develop and maintain a positive attitude about themselves- which then inspires others to have confidence in them as well.  Furthermore, developmental coaching could be used to help them become more aware of their emotional intelligence and how their behaviors and reactions affect other people, as they can discover and improve opportunities to adapt their behaviors and actions based on other people’s needs and the situation.
 

The success of organizations rests upon how we develop employees. If employees are focusing on short term performance rather than long term success, your organization is falling into a “management by fear” trap identified by Deming where employees dread performance reviews and the organization lean towards formal performance reviews to inform employees about how they are doing (Walton, 1986).  This point becomes critical given how social networking, particularly online, influences organizational performance today. It creates an organizational culture bent on rushing instead of continuous improvement, which holds back not only the development of employees, but the overall organization as well.

In his blog post “Work harder, longer, faster, or smarter?”, Chris Merrington  (2013) explained how rushing results from how employees manage their workloads given expectation for more results in an environment of less time and support. Eventually, this rushing impairs the quality of work (best ideas are replaced by first ideas) and makes mistakes more likely (which affects costs and images).
 

Rushing does not have to be the norm, as we can take a developmental coaching approach towards helping employees balance their workload demands. The Power Point below goes over recognizing developmental coaching cues we often find in employee conversations, which is important since they provide coaching opportunities. Developmental coaching conversations help provide regular, consistent feedback and steer employees towards continuously improving long term.

Developmental coaching is about asking and listening to employees’ ideas, and working with them on a strategy to execute and evaluate their progress. It’s not about giving them ideas, as that could make them feel micromanaged. It is about helping them discover and execute on their ideas.

I use the following three part process to help guide my developmental coaching conversations:

1.     Determine: You’ll want to set the stage for analyzing the need by agreeing on the expectation for the developmental coaching with the employee, including that you are here to listen rather than prescribe. This stage focuses on helping them discover needs through asking and listening. It is crucial for you to listen first in order to understand and build the trust to get at the heart of the real issues for development.

2.      Act: Once the cause has been isolated, the employee and you can collaborate on how to deal with the gap, including how to practice and build upon what they have learned.

3.      Evaluate: You’ll want to discuss and agree on how to assess progress through a follow-up plan.

In summary, developmental coaching is about observing, listening and helping the employee analyze opportunities. What are your thoughts?

References:

Merrington, C. (2013, Oct 16). Work harder, longer, faster, or smarter? [blog]. Management-issues.com. Retrieved from http://www.management-issues.com/opinion/6777/work-harder-longer-faster-or-smarter/

Walton, M. (1986). The Deming Management Method. New York: Perigee Books.