Coaching and Counseling for Peak Performance

Coaching and Counseling for Peak Performance

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COURSE OBJECTIVES• Increase productivity by creating a work environment that promotes learning.• Build employee confidence by recognizing and tapping into their individual

strengths.• Gain valuable feedback from your team through improved communication

skills.• Promote and build trust and rapport by responding to behaviors rather than

personalities.• Learn how to prepare for coaching and counseling sessions.• Generate outstanding results by helping each person contribute his or her

best.• Learn how to minimize conflict by employing effective, easy to use problem

solving techniques.• Create a positive learning environment by recognizing and working with

individual learning styles.• Encourage individual and team performances by recognizing individual work

habits.


The What & Why of Coaching and Counseling


Coaching & Counseling; The Difference

A common area of confusion for people helpers these days is in making the determination between coaching or counseling. Both are important skills that can bring transformational life change to clients however they are not the same. More and more professionals are hearing about the growing profession of life coaching and may want to expand their skill set to offer more comprehensive services to meet the growing needs of their clients.


Coaching & Counseling; The Difference

Counselors can gain certification to offer coaching services, or a coach could gain the training to offer professional counseling, but they are not the same… not by a long shot!

Professionals need to know the difference so they can rapidly guide people God entrusts to their care. Here’s a quick comparison to guide you in not only knowing the difference between these two important disciplines, but in making sure that you are working ethically and appropriately.


The Differences Between These Two Powerful Professions

• Counseling is more focused on solving painful problems from the past.

• Coaching is more about finding creative ways to reach your potential in the future.

• Counseling guides clients toward experiencing relief through recovery.

• Coaching is driven by one word- results in people’s lives.• Counseling helps people to build supports to stabilize their life.• Coaching guides clients toward strategic ways to maximize their life.• Counseling develops healthy emotions and relationships to

experience peace.• Coaching builds healthy patterns with accountability to experience

personal power.


When to Coach and When to CounselA good manager is both a coach and a counselor.

Generally, coaching should precede counseling.• As a coach, a manager:

Identifies an employee's need for instruction and directionAnd, this need is usually directly related to his or her

performance or career goals. Coaching is collaborative. It relies on mutual, progressive goal-setting, personal feedback, and an ongoing, supportive relationship.

You coach to help retain employees and to show you care about your employees as individuals. It's best to coach when a new procedure is introduced, a job is changed, and/or a skill gap is identified.


When to Coach and When to Counsel• As a counselor, a manager:

First identifies a problem that interferes with an employee's work performance and then helps the employee to define specifically what behavior he or she needs to change in order to improve his or her performance or resolve a problem.

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So, the difference between coach and counselor is subtle, but important. And, as Sharon Armstrong further shares in her book, "The Essential HR Handbook," a good manager who is both a coach and a counselor:• Motivates employees to do good work.• Reinforces good performance.• Encourages employees to stretch.• Sets clear expectations.• Provides positive feedback on an ongoing basis.• Provides constructive feedback on a timely basis.• Acknowledges employees' progress toward their goals.

Increasing Your Coaching & Counseling Effectiveness


Preparing for a Coaching or Counseling Session

At this point you should have filled out the checklists describing work situations that may require coaching or counseling included earlier and should know which type of session you need to conduct. Hopefully you have already analyzed whether you are dealing with a skill, motivational, or resource deficit.

Once the initial assessment is complete, you need to develop your plan of action.


Coaching/Counseling Session ChecklistFor your next coaching/counseling session you have to prepare by

completing each of the following steps:• Consider how many sessions will be needed, the degree of trust, and the

employee's confidence level.• Be clear about your reason for the session and define your goals.• Review the work goals and past performance of the employee.• Give the employee notice of the time and place.• Allow a minimum of 30 minutes for the session.• Remove all distractions (phone, visitors, etc.) from the meeting place.• Remove physical barriers between yourself and the employee (e.g., don't sit

behind a desk).• Write out what I plan to say and rehearse it. (Use the guidelines on the next page

and on the third page following this one. You may want to keep your notes in front of you during the session to avoid the feeling of losing control.)

• Plan to take notes to document the session, and develop a record of the corrective action plans and performance improvements.


Pitfalls to AvoidWhat else lies at the heart of coaching/counseling? It’s

the ability to actively listen. It’s the ability to resist ‘leaping in’ with a solution too soon. It’s the ability to help team members discover what they don’t know they know. That’s all! Sounds simple doesn’t it?. Yet many managers are confused about what coaching is. In my work with many clients I’ve identified the 18 Classic Traps that the inexperienced or ineffective manager/coach falls into:

Not spotting the opportunities to coach. Thinking that coaching is time consuming Not recognizing that a coaching conversation can be as short

as 5 minutes Thinking that coaching is a formal process and not recognizing

all the informal (the 3C’s – corridor coaching conversations)) opportunities that exist.

Jumping into Solution Mode too quickly Not asking enough questions Not asking the right questions – not probing deeply enough Treating symptoms and not helping the team member identify

root cause.


Not liking silence or using silence wisely Not listening – having a preoccupation with the process or having

‘selective hearing’ Guiding the coachee to come up with the solution the manager

wants and then thinking that the coachee hasn’t recognized they’ve been manipulated

Listening to what’s being said and ignoring what’s not being said Thinking that coaching is telling Talking too much – as a general rule of thumb the team member

(coachee) should do far more talking than the coach Being too busy to coach Only holding coaching conversations at appraisal or performance

review time Not using coaching to enable reflection on things that have gone

well for team members (learning from success) Thinking that coaching is appropriate for every occasion – it isn’t

Effective skills for Coaching and Counseling sessions

In conducting the counseling session, the manager/instructor must maintain exemplary professional bearing. Professional bearing includes such characteristics as good body posture; appropriate eye contact; calm, yet deliberate voice patterns; good listening skills; and a general air of confidence and sensitive concern.


Step 1: Friendly greeting by the manager/instructor

• The first step in the counseling session is to inconspicuously invite the co-worker/learner into the office or other appropriate location where the conversation will not be overheard. It might begin like this: "Joe, grab a cup of coffee and come on in for a few minutes." The manager/instruc tor's tone of voice would be low key and friendly.

• Inappropriate, unprofessional opening behavior on the part of the manager/instructor might include loud yelling, swearing, derogatory statements, and body language that indicates anger. Here is an example of inappropriate behavior. Au instructor yells across the automotive laboratory so all of the students can hear: "Hey Joe, get in here. I'm going to ream you out for another one of your stupid mistakes!"

• It is important to note that a positive opening has the tendency to reduce the probability that a co-worker's or learner's anxiety will reach a level that may hinder open communication.


Step 2: Manager/Instructor Briefly States Facts

• The concern for employee/learner openness will continue into Step 2. In this step the goal is to begin the problem identification process by briefly stating factual observations. Noting that a learner during the last two weeks (ten class meetings) has been late to class eight times, and that this tardiness has ranged from 5 to 20 minutes, is a factual observa tion. However, it would not be a factual observation if the instructor characterized the learner as a "lazy person." The latter is a conclusion that probably will evoke a defensive posture in the co-worker/learner. If the co-worker/learner becomes defensive, open communication will be significantly inhibited; likewise, an accurate definition of the underlying cause of the learner's tardiness may be difficult to define. Keeping Step 2 as brief as possible also has a tendency to hold the co-worker/learner's anxiety to a manageable level.


Step 3: Co-Worker/Learner Explains• The third step begins with the manager/instructor asking the co- worker/learner to

explain the facts presented in Step 2. The statement might be like this: "Joe, can you please explain to me why you have been late for class so much in the last couple of weeks?"

• As soon as the co-worker/learner begins to respond, the manager/in structor becomes a careful listener. This attitude of careful listening promotes open communication. It also helps set the ground rule that when one person talks the other person listens; thus, there should never be a situation in which both people are talking at the same time and neither party is listening. Of course, if necessary, the manager/instructor should not hesitate to prompt or cue the co-worker/learner if the expla nation lacks sufficient substance or bogs down. Prompting might be like this: "Is there anything else you can tell me?" Or, "I’m not sure I understand what you are saying; could you give more detail?"

• When the co-worker/learner makes a statement such as "that’s about it," it may be appropriate to move to Step 4. This type of statement, combined with the co-worker/learner's tendency to repeat him/herself, lends more support to move on to Step 4.


Step 4: The Manager/instructor Explains.• Step 4 begins with the manager/instructor reviewing the main points presented by the• co-worker/learner in Step 3. This review is important to ensure that the two parties

understand the key aspects of the problem the same way. The manager/instructor might want to add an interpreta tion after reviewing the main points. If the manager/instructor senses that this interpretation has opened an avenue for new information, he/she may want to recycle back to Step 3.

• Here is how a Step 4 review might be presented: "Joe, let me see if I understand what you have said. You have been on time for every class until two weeks ago, when the baby sitter for your two children was hospitalized. Now you are having to use relatives as temporary baby sitters and they live a great distance from your home, your wife's work, and our school. Am I correct, that is why you have been late eight times in the last two weeks?"

• Once again, good eye contact and a calm presence are fundamen tal. The manager/instructor should speak only when the co-worker/learner is paying attention. It is important to note that, if at any time the co-worker/learner begins to reveal deep-seated emotional problems, the manager/instructor should not attempt to assume the role of a therapist. This point will be discussed in greater detail in Step 6.


Step 5: Presentation of Rules, Regulations, and Laws

• After the manager/instructor and co-worker/learner come to a initial understanding of the problem, the next step is to review appropriate job-related rules, regulations, standard operating procedures (SOPs), policies, instructions, laws, and executive orders. This step also in cludes laws and executive orders affecting job discrimination, for example, the Americans with Disabilities Act and sexual harassment

• Managers and instructors must possess a good understanding of their organizations' rules, regulations, and SOPs; they must also be well aware of the ever-increasing federal and state laws, as well as executive orders affecting the work environment and employee rights. Managers and instructors Should also understand those aspects of collective bargaining agreements that may have implications when advising co-workers in volved in organizational T&D/HRD programs.


• One of the serious mistakes often made by managers and instructors is to tell the co-worker/learner that they disagree with the organization's or school's policy. Some truly disagree, while others say they disagree simply to get closer to the co-worker/learner. Managers and instructors rarely gain any advantage by stating that they disagree with rules, regu lations, SOPs, and laws; in fact, they are likely to erode the respect the co-workers/learners may hold for them. Managers and instructors must remember that they represent their organizations and institutions, and they are responsible for fulfilling their assigned duties. Ensuring that co-work ers/learners adhere to rules and other standards is part of their job.

• In the fifth step, the manager/instructor states the rules, regulations, SOPs, laws, and executive orders that relate to the co-worker/learner's job-related performance. The "heart-to-heart" counseling method is specifically designed to catch problems early before they become seri ous, necessitating more formal disciplinary action. This is particularly true in cases involving safety, substance abuse, and discrimination.

• Here is an example of how a manager/instructor might conduct Step 5: "Joe, as you may recall, on the first day of instruction we reviewed in detail our school's rules and regulations. Two days later you passed a written test on those rules and regulations. Being on time is particularly important because we have on-going health and safety instruction at the beginning of each class and periodic quizzes. Thus, we cannot make exceptions to this important rule. Do you understand?"

• If the co-worker/learner understands the organization’s rules and other standards, then the manager/instructor moves quickly on to Step 6, the action plan.


Step 6: The Action Plan.• Many times the problem is solved by the time the manager/instructor and• co-worker/learner complete Step 5. These situations often occur because

most people want to be responsible for their actions, and the "heart-to-heart" counseling session becomes a reminder of their job or school responsibilities. However, there are times when an action plan should or must be established. These instances occur in cases requiring professional counseling, retraining, or follow-up.

• To implement many action plans, the manager/instructor must be aware of the resources at their disposal. These resources include the organization's employee assistance program (EAP), the T&D/HRD department, and the school's testing office, counseling center, health center, and disabled students' center. Often another co-worker or student may be used as a coach or role model.


• In the case of Joe's tardiness, the plan of action might go like this: "Joe, why don’t you take this weekend and work out your child care problem. It appears that you are going from one relative to another and you may not be aware of your driving time and traffic problems. With a little planning this weekend, you should be able to work out this tempo rary problem. Okay? Just before class on Monday come by my office and let me know how you solved the problem."

• You will note that the instructor in this case established a follow-up meeting. A follow-up plan with specific milestones (e.g., dates and times) is important in many cases. (Follow-up plans are sometimes called administrative controls.) The follow-up plan is important to ensure that the co-worker/learner makes appropriate progress. If the co-workers/learners fail to meet standards such as rules, laws, or competencies stipulated in a policy manual, job

Step 7: Review of the Counseling Session

• Now that the problem has been identified and an action plan estab lished, the manager/instructor can turn to a quick review of the counsel ing session. The quick review is to double check that the manager/ instructor and the co-worker/learner have a common understanding of what has been covered and agreed upon. In a sense, it is like the summary at the end of a lesson. It might begin like this: "Joe, let's recap what we have talked about today".


Step 8: Positive, Supportive Closing.• The "heart-to-heart" counseling session ends

with a positive, suppor tive closing. It should be brief and to the point. Step 8 might be met with a statement such as this: "Mary, learning how to don a breathing apparatus can take a little time. If you put the time in on drilling to master this task, we will be there to work with you. Thanks for coming to see me.


Learning to Counsel• Counseling takes time to learn, but it must be learned for a

manager of human resources to be effective. Unfortunately it is not a competency for which managers are formally prepared, including managers of learning environments. Most of the time, industries and schools expect their managers and instructors to pick it up "as they go along." Sometimes a flier comes across their desks for a workshop on handling the difficult employee. Other times they learn the hard way when an employee or student is injured unnecessarily. Some managers and instructors learn when they are giving a deposition in preparation for litigation.

• The eight steps presented here are a model. Some managers/instruc tors might use other models to achieve the same end. The key point is that managers need to work with employees and students so they become productive workers.

Successfully Coaching & Counseling Others


Identify Four major learning styles

• The learning activities and the instructional sequence that accommodate four major learning styles identified in the literature. The sequence used is modeled after the 4MAT System developed by Bernice McCarthy, author of 4MAT in Action: Creative Lesson Plans for Teaching to Learning Styles with Right/Left Mode Techniques.

• This cycle of learning is based on a number of premises. First, different individuals perceive and process experience in different preferred ways. These preferences comprise our unique learning styles. Essential to quality learning is an awareness in the learner of his/her own preferred mode, becoming comfortable with his/her own best ways of learning, and being helped to develop a learning repertoire, through experience with alternative modes.

The fact that a student may have a preferred, most-comfortable mode does not mean she/he cannot function effectively in others. In fact, the student who has the flexibility to move easily from one mode to another to fit the requirements of the situation is at a definite advantage over those who limit themselves to only one style of thinking and learning. The four learning styles identified by McCarthy are:• Type 1: Innovative Learners are primarily interested in personal meaning.

They need to have reasons for learning--ideally, reasons that connect new information with personal experience and establish that information's usefulness in daily life. Some of the many instructional modes effective with this learner type are cooperative learning, brainstorming, and integration of content areas (e.g., science with social studies, writing with the arts, etc.).

• Type 2: Analytic Learners are primarily interested in acquiring facts in order to deepen their understanding of concepts and processes. They are capable of learning effectively from lectures, and enjoy independent research, analysis of data, and hearing what "the experts" have to say.


• Type 3: Common Sense Learners are primarily interested in how things work; they want to "get in and try it." Concrete, experiential learning activities work best for them--using manipulative, hands-on tasks, kinesthetic experience, etc.

• Type 4: Dynamic Learners are primarily interested in self-directed discovery. They rely heavily on their own intuition, and seek to teach both themselves and others. Any type of independent study is effective for these learners. They also enjoy simulations, role play, and games.


• Traditionally, instructional techniques commonly used in public schools best address the needs of the Type 2 Analytic Learner, with heavy emphasis on linear sequential processing of information.

• This curriculum is designed so that all styles are addressed, in order that more than one type of student may be permitted to both "shine" and "stretch." That is, each lesson contains "something for everybody," so each student not only finds the mode of greatest comfort for him/her, but is challenged to adapt to other, less comfortable but equally valuable modes.

• The instructional sequence suggested by Bernice McCarthy and used in this curriculum teaches to the four styles using both right- and left-brain processing techniques. This integration of styles and processing modes ensures that we are educating the "whole brain."

• The diagram below illustrates the 4MAT cycle of learning. It represents graphically the teacher behaviors appropriate to each stage and style, and provides a framework for planning any lesson or unit, for any age level or content area

Counseling and Addressing Performance Problems

• Fact: No matter how carefully you recruit and select your employees, there will inevitably be a few who are unable or unwilling to meet performance expectations.

• Fact: In employee surveys and leadership assessments across a wide variety of organizations, one of the most consistent supervisory issues is that managers do not address poor-performing employees.


• When these two facts collide, you have a workplace where the poor performance of a few is tolerated and where those employees who are capable performers become increasingly disenchanted and disengaged.

• Why are supervisors reluctant to address poor performance? Several reasons may be at play: It is not an easy task to work through a performance issue with an employee. The employee may get upset when confronted. The supervisor may believe the employee will not change, even if confronted, so why bother? Performance expectations may never have been clear to begin with. The employee may "out argue" the supervisor or file a grievance, etc.


• But here is the issue: If you, as the supervisor, let poor performance continue unaddressed, you will need to work harder yourself to make up for the slack created by a poor performer. Your unit's performance will go downhill as the poor performer's coworkers become disgruntled. At some point, you may decide to live with the status quo you have created due to inaction, and just accept the fact that you manage an underperforming unit and fatalistically acknowledge the poor performer's continued existence as "just the way it is." This is not a happy ending!

• So, how can it be made easier for you to address performance problems and increase the likelihood that poor performers will either improve or leave?

The purpose of counseling is not to punish poor performing employees but to let them know that their performance is not meeting expectations, and then help them raise their performance to the expected level.

Some general principles apply across all situations in which there is a perceived performance problem:• Address the problem quickly — Do not let a performance problem

linger. Counsel the employee as soon as you know there is a problem. You do not need to wait until a scheduled "interim review" or the end-of-year appraisal. One of the cardinal sins of supervision is to save up evidence of poor performance throughout the year and dump it on the employee in the annual appraisal discussion. This is one case where saving is not good. Use your evidence as soon as you acquire it! Deal with it while it is fresh.

Counseling Discussions

• Look for the cause — To solve a problem, first find the cause. Why is the employee missing deadlines? Why are there consistently too many errors in the employee's work? Why is the employee late to work so often? Problem-solve to help the employee identify the cause of the performance problem. Then ask: What will you do differently to address the cause and bring your performance up to expectations?


• Place accountability where it belongs — If the cause of the employee's performance problem lies with the employee (for example, frequent lateness is due to the employee's difficulty in waking up in the morning), then the employee needs to be held accountable for addressing the cause and correcting the problem. On the other hand, if the cause is located in the work process or equipment (for example, missing deadlines is due to an overly cumbersome work flow), then accountability for fixing the problem will rest with the supervisor.


• State a fact and then inquire — This is a very effective method for engaging the employee during the counseling discussion in solving a performance problem. Using specific facts, neutrally inquire about the problem behavior. For example:– Fact: I have noticed that your numbers have dropped during the last

month.– Inquiry: Can we talk about how that might have happened?– Fact: I have noticed that you have been late for work three days out of

every five for the past two weeks. Your leave record shows a pattern of using sick and vacation leave within the month that it's accrued.

– Inquiry: What is making it difficult for you to be at work during your regular work hours?


Corrective Action Plans• Corrective action plans are short-term action plans for

bringing employees' performance up to expectations in their current jobs. You should prepare a corrective action plan whenever an employee's performance falls below expectations. The performance problem should be a persistent problem, not an isolated or one- off incident.

• Begin documenting the problem as soon as it is noticed and document any discussions of the problem with the employee. The reason for documenting is that, if the problem continues despite the supervisor's and the employee's efforts to correct it, it may be necessary to take disciplinary action.


• Supervisors should keep notes concerning performance observations and follow-up discussions. To complete the documentation loop, the corrective action plan should be attached to the end-of-cycle appraisal and the ongoing documentation of the performance issue should be summarized in the appraisal.

• The corrective action plan can be a standardized form or a memo. Its format is not important so long as it includes the following information: What is the problem? — Concisely describe what needs

improvement, why, and the consequences of failure to improve How will improvement be measured? — Describe how you will

know when the employee's performance has risen to the point where it meets expectations. Refer to the specific results expectation or behavioral expectation on the employee's work plan that is in question.


• What will the employee do? — Describe the action steps the employee has agreed to take to improve performance. Note the target dates for completing these actions.

• Are any resources required? — Describe any resources the employee will need to carry out the actions agreed upon or any support you have agreed to provide.

• When will the supervisor follow up? — State when you will meet again with the employee to check on progress. Schedule and conduct follow-up discussions at frequent intervals. If a long interval is set for a follow-up meeting, you are communicating an expectation that it will take a while for the employee to make the change. Tighter time frames place a greater sense of urgency on the need to change.

Corrective action plans can be difficult to write, especially if you do not have to write them often, which we hope is the case. It is always good to have some models to refer to.


The End


Coaching and Counseling for Peak Performance

Recruiting & HR

Transcript of Coaching and Counseling for Peak Performance