Studies show that employees thrive in the workplace when they know that their supervisor cares about them as people, and invests time and resources to support their development. Coaching is a vehicle to achieve this level of engagement and is predicated on the following: a culture of trust is present (an absolute requirement for coaching to be effective); the coachee (employee) is receptive to the idea of change; and the coach (manager) exhibits superior communication skills, such as listening, questioning and feedback skills to empower and inspire the employee to take action.

How do you measure the effectiveness of coaching? Outside of conducting a full-blown employee engagement survey, you can measure the success of your coaching endeavours through observing the following:

1. You “ask” more than “tell” or direct.
2. You provide 5 positive comments to every 1 critical comment daily.
3. You meet regularly (monthly/quarterly) with staff to discuss their needs, goals and motivations.
4. Regular use of affirmative language such as: “I will” or “I can.”
5. More collaboration up, down and across.
6. Fewer surprises and fewer fires to put out (more regular communication).
7. People come to you with solutions not just problems.
8. People are working smarter not harder and/or longer.
9. People find ways to leverage their strengths and manage their weaknesses.
10. Less push back from staff.

When you take time to coach your employees, you’re effectively saying “I care about you and your job satisfaction – not just your performance”. Please visit www.theconfidentcoach.com for additional articles on coaching skills and to learn about our Confident Coach™ training program for managers.

Enjoy this issue of talent talk !

Rebecca

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