Effective Managers Need To Coach
by Wendy Hearn
Published on this site: February 24th, 2004
Bearing in mind the fast pace of business today and the need to
stay competitive, it's essential that managers should be effective.
They need to be especially effective with their people and this
requires learning to coach. For most managers, coaching has been
added to their role anyway, but the majority haven't received any
training in coaching skills. More than 80% of organisations use
coaching to develop their staff, but only a fifth train their managers
in coaching, according to a survey by the Work Foundation.
This lack of training can be costly and damaging. It's like putting
a complete beginner in a car, telling them to drive and just saying
"Good luck". They may have some idea of what to do, but
they won't have sound training in the skills required. Coaching
is a specific set of core competencies and skills, not just a new
label to add to what a manager has always done.
Managers need training so that they develop those specific skills,
know when and how to use them, and have confidence in themselves
to coach people. With the right training, your company will benefit
dramatically from this coaching. Benefits such as:
- Improving employee performance to an optimum level
- Being a stronger, more productive company
- Handling change easily and encouraging growth
- Bringing out the very best in people and unlocking potential.
You don't want your company to miss out on these benefits, do you?
I invite you to start the process of ensuring that your managers
have been adequately trained in coaching skills. And not only trained,
but most important, they need the opportunity to learn, experience
and evaluate coaching.
First, they need to understand what coaching is and isn't, and
how it's distinct from mentoring, training, counselling or teaching.
Without this understanding,
they'll be caught in the trap of not knowing whether they're coaching
or not. They'll need to know at least one coaching model to give
them a process and a structure to work with. This gives the coaching
focus and clarity, and reaches a conclusion with agreed actions.
To start with, they'll need a thorough grounding in basic coaching
skills such as listening, questioning, evoking, clarifying, requesting,
trust and rapport building, challenging, acknowledging, collaborating
and action planning. As these are learned, practised and refined,
they can be built on more.
Being trained in coaching skills is the first step and the real
learning comes from experiencing coaching for yourself personally
and coaching others. Therefore, it's important that you don't just
get trained in the basic coaching skills and leave it there. There
needs to be a supportive structure and environment for you to continue
with your coaching. How often have you learned something new, only
to find when you're back in the workplace that you've only retained
a little of it?
Or that you're facing obstacles you don't know how to overcome?
Managers need their own fully experienced coach to continue working
with them after their initial training. This is where they'll dramatically
improve their ability to coach and have confidence in themselves
as coaches.
Training your managers in coaching skills doesn't have to be done
all at once and overnight. You can choose to start in a small way
perhaps with only a couple of managers and as you experience the
results, build on this. As you start thinking about training for
your managers, I suggest you first find out what your managers really
need to be effective; what they already know about coaching; what
more they need to know and which of them already has a keen interest
in learning to coach. Asking these questions of your managers will
give you a clearer picture of what's needed. This may involve some
time and commitment now, but it will ensure they get the training
they most need. Knowing your company as you do, what's the most
important action you can take today that will move your managers
closer to being coaches?
Wendy Hearn, Business Coach
She works with individuals and companies unlocking their full potential
for greater success and results. Receive Wendy's fr^ee report, '7
Key Elements For Managers To Learn Coaching Skills' http://tinyurl.com/29n55
http://www.Business-Personal-Coaching.com
Copyright, Wendy Hearn. All rights reserved.
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