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"A
coach champions the cause of the client, trusting in the client's ability
to generate creative solutions, & fuel motivation for the long
haul." |
Top 10 Tips to Ensure You Coach Effectively as a Manager 1. Ensure you fully understand what coaching is. Many managers don't exactly know what coaching is and how it can benefit them, their employees and the company. It is essential that a manager knows the distinctions between coaching and training, counseling and therapy. 2. Check your beliefs about people. If your beliefs about people are that they are there just to do a job and that given any freedom, people will not work, then think again! A good coaching manager's beliefs around people are exactly the opposite in that they believe that people are great and each person has huge potential. 3. Undergo suitable training. Coaches are not generated as a result of a one or two day or even week long course! Coaching effectively takes time and practice. Courses that do not have follow up mechanisms are not as effective as ones that do. Always check what the course content entails, the duration of the course and the skill levels and experience of the trainer coaches. 4. Get your own coach. The best form of follow up to any training course is to have your own coach. The best coaches are also the ones who have been effectively coached themselves. Training courses alone do not provide good coaches. 5. Get support from your own boss. Many managers do not even start to coach because of what their boss might think. Some senior managers are not convinced of the benefits of coaching and if this is the case, you have to convince them that there are numerous benefits. Once they are on your side you can then start to put time aside to coach. 6. Manage your team's expectations. If you have been the traditional "do as I say" manager and then suddenly you are seen to put time aside, and to listen and question, won't that seem a bit strange to the team? Is there a hidden agenda? Be up front with them. Tell them what is going to happen and tell them the reasons why - coaching is wonderful! 7. Manage your time effectively. Although coaching can be done in short sharp bursts, there are times when longer periods are needed to coach members of the team. This needs dedicated time and this must be built in to the manager's diary. Managers need to be able to put time aside for coaching and to ensure they keep that time, not let other less important tasks get in the road. 8. Know when and when not to coach. A new manager keen to coach can sometimes try to coach a team member when that is not the intervention that is actually needed. Managers should study the use of the skill/will matrix (capability / motivation grid) to know what intervention to use at what time. 9. Get regular feedback from peers, superiors and those you are coaching. The more quality feedback you get the more chance you have of building your coaching skills, your credibility, and your team's results. 10. Keep learning and developing your skills. Don't, once you have completed your initial coaching program, stop learning. Coaching is developing all the time. Keep up to date with the latest developments either through your coach, or through the latest literature, coaching websites, or conferences. Copyright 2000-2003 CoachVille. May be distributed if full attribution is given and copyright notice is included. topten.org is a service of CoachVille.com, the leader in coach training. |
