Staff Supervision and Performance ManagementPart 2: Coaching

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Session Information

Agenda: Clarify the role of coach Coaching for development Coaching as a tool Strengthen your role

Objectives:Upon completion of this session, you will be able to Explain the role of a Coach List and explain the tools available to support the role of Coach Create a plan and support your efforts to being an effective Coach

The Role of Coach

Effective Coaching:Which part of your mission statement relies solely on the application and management of resources and technology? Can your mission statement or guiding principles be pursued with the exclusion of people? Without the “people part” of the equation, you will realize no results. In your role, you guide and develop the talents of your associates. Your role not only focuses on managing resources, but also on managing talent.

You guide and direct your direct reports as individuals and as a cohesive team. Through this, you demonstrate your commitment to helping them succeed.

Effective Coaching defined:

Effective Coaching involves: Decision-making Partnering Gathering the facts Observing behaviors Performance referencing Follow-up Commitment

The benefits of Effective Coaching include:

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It increases…. It decreases….

In the PAST, Coaching included: Today Manage – oversaw schedules and

tasks, finding the best us of people’s time

Lead – acting as a role model; guides people to reach the organization’s goals and mission

Control – used position and authority to reach desired outcomes

Influence - using negotiations and influencing strategies to reach acceptable outcomes for all

Direct – instructed others on actions to take

Facilitate – gathering input and ideas from others involved with solution

Risk Avoidance – was afraid of consequences for making decisions or taking actions outside of the norm

Risk Management – weighing consequences with benefits and making information decision

Individual – claimed individual credit and glory

Team – encouraging all members to work toward the same goal

Information Owned – believed knowledge is power; information may be more hierarchical

Information Sharing – believing the more others know, the more they are set up for success in providing positive results for the organization

Administrator – assigned duties and checking off completed tasks

Empower – fostering an environment where people make decisions and take accountability

Coaching Self Assessment

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Use this survey to assess your coaching practices. It will help you to identify what areas of coaching you consider are your strengths and what areas of coaching you think need to develop or improve. There are no right or wrong answers. This is based on your perceptions about your skills.

Directions:1. The following is a list of different Coaching responsibilities. As you review each example, rate

yourself on that ability.2. When you finish, consider the responsibilities for which you rated yourself as a 4 or 5. Think

about how this impacts your team in a positive way. Then consider how you are developing your direct reports by coaching them to success.

3. Next, consider the responsibilities for which you rated yourself less than a 3. Ask yourself what you can do to develop those areas.

Coaching Responsibilities My AbilityLow High

1. Communicate verbally with your direct reports about their lacking/poor performance issues

1 2 3 4 5

2. Communicate verbally with your direct reports about their GOOD performance issues

1 2 3 4 5

3. Clearly state the work performance expectations you have for each person and share this information with them.

1 2 3 4 5

4. Listen without interrupting. 1 2 3 4 55. Document the performance of each direct report. 1 2 3 4 56. Use job review/appraisal feedback to improve your direct report’s performance. 1 2 3 4 57. Develop the performance objectives of your staff, using their input that you

obtained through two-way conversations.1 2 3 4 5

8. Discuss and create an individual development plan (IDP) with each person. 1 2 3 4 59. Explain the mission/vision and goals of your area, and ask direct reports for

input as to how to best serve your end users.1 2 3 4 5

10. Conduct a verbal coaching session about performance issues that need improvement.

1 2 3 4 5

11. Create a written coaching about performance issues that need improvement. 1 2 3 4 512. Conduct a positive coaching session about performance issues; may include

performance that has improved.1 2 3 4 5

13. Conduct a corrective action session about performance/behavior issues that need improvement.

1 2 3 4 5

14. Confirm your understanding of what the other person is saying by paraphrasing or asking follow-up questions.

1 2 3 4 5

15. Assess the work performance of each direct report. 1 2 3 4 516. Assess the progress your direct reports have made toward achieving their goals. 1 2 3 4 517. Monitor the development of each direct report. 1 2 3 4 518. Build and maintain positive relationships with each direct report. 1 2 3 4 519. Discuss when you have observed (or received feedback about) one of your staff

members helping a peer, coworker, or customer resolve a problem.1 2 3 4 5

20. Serve as a role model for your direct reports; lead by example. 1 2 3 4 521. Modify guiding and feedback approaches based on the needs of the individual. 1 2 3 4 522. Recognize and reward the performance of an individual that exceeds

expectations or standards.1 2 3 4 5

23. Encourage associates to generate innovative and creative solutions to work-related challenges.

1 2 3 4 5

24. Model observable behaviors you expect from your staff members that include the treatment of internal and external customers/clients.

1 2 3 4 5

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Coaching Strategy

Coaching is the process of equipping people with the tools, knowledge, and opportunities they need to develop themselves and become more effective. You can be effective and efficient if you focus 5% of your energy and attention on coaching.

Strategy:1) Set the standard2) Communicate the standard (verbal and written)3) Monitor and document the performance4) Provide current feedback

You get what you reward.Common practices of Coaches:Clarity They are clear about the purpose of the work or project. In order to

produce the best work, the coach inquires about the full spectrum of human concerns, issues, and possibilities.

Ethics Coaches are ethical. The respect rules and procedures. They do not limit their thinking to what is allowed by the rules and procedures. Although rules and procedures govern all processes, those rules and procedures evolve over time.

Commitment They are committed not just to the work, but to their employees and maintain a personal stake in the cusses and well being of each worker. They are also committed to preparation and practice.

Accept No Limitations

The do not recognize that there are limits to the performance of an individual, team, or an organization.

Continuous Communications

They are in continuous communication with their associates and other constituents – volunteers, contributors, the public, the competition, owners.

Accept Responsibility

They are personally responsible for the outcome of their activity, without robbing their staff or team members of their responsibility.

Honesty They are honest, direct, and model the qualities they demand of their workers.

Big Picture Awareness

They are aware of the overall team picture and what is occurring in all aspects of the activity that has an impact on the team.

Uncompromising They are uncompromising in their attention to detail.Learners and Teachers

They are learners as well as teachers and coaches. Coaches recognize that they can learn from their players.

Optimistic and Dependable

They do what they say they will do and do not dwell on past failures. Failures are turned into discoveries.

Positive Coaching

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When managing direct reports, it is easy to recognize only the bad or unsuccessful performances. Think about managers to whom you have reported over the years. Which managers were influential in your professional development? Did they tell you when performed well or what you exceeded expectations?

Poor examples of coaching:“…I’ll tell you if you mess up – otherwise you’re doing fine.”“…No news means you’re doing a good job.”“…I thought you knew I was dissatisfied with your performance.”“…Huh??? I’m sorry I was multitasking and wasn’t listening.”

Since the role of Coach is a major element of Performance Management, how you coach your direct reports has direct influence on decreasing turnover and meeting organizational goals. Poor coaching – or the “I gottcha!” method – can frustrate people and contribute to attrition.

People often quite their bosses,not their organizations.

Years of research indicates a repeating trend: employment surveys indicate that “positive feedback” is one of the top 5 issues relating to job satisfaction.

Positive coaching The goal of positive coaching is to encourage people to be productive and successful. You are pointing out what their success looks like. When doing this, timing is important.

What more complex issues might result from delaying the recognition of success?For the employee?

For you, their supervisor/manager?

For your team?

Three Roles of the Coach

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Tour Guide to Success

You guide people to learn for themselves; you help them determine where they are in their current performances, where they want to be, and how to get there

Change Agent Orchestrating resources and learning opportunities; be an influencing power; help them to identify how they may contribute in new ways; act as an advocate or intermediary

Daily Role Model

Working one-on-one; live out what you expect; demonstrate the competencies by way of your observable behavior

Define Observable Behavior:

Define Coaching Moment:

What is wrong with using the word, “Attitude,” to describe a behavior?

A key skill to have as a Coach is to know when to have the specific conversation. Continue to grow the skill of identifying the signs indicating it is a coaching moment.

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Your Coaching Tools: SMART Goals Individual Development Plan (IDP) One-on-One Meetings or Status Meetings Team Meetings Annual Review or Performance Evaluation Formal Coaching Documentation (per your organization or HR) Time: daily interaction and conversations with your direct reports

When to Use Your Coaching Tools: To develop the person’s performance To ensure the person’s improvement, after becoming aware of the issue(s) To coach the person when he/she is slowing down or disrupting productivity To manage the person away from a repeated, unacceptable performance To coach the person’s behavior which is impacting team morale To address an obvious breach of policy that has occurred

Coaching Question to Ponder: Have I coached this person on this issue before? Is this performance or behavior unsatisfactory? Does the person know the

performance standards or expectations? Is the person aware that this performance is not satisfactory or acceptable? Am I accidentally blending two separate problems into one, or addressing them as

two different situations? Does the person know how the performance is measured or what exactly is expected? Does the person know how to do the task/assignment/project? How have I provided direction for this? What resources have I provided and/or

offered? What obstacles are in the way that are out of this person’s control or span of

influence? Could this person to the standard if he/she wanted to, or is it out of reach/ability? Do negative consequences follow the performance – is the reward actually punishing? Have I offered them the tools needed to do this job? Have I been a role model for this behavior?

The Emotional Bank Account:

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The Seven Habits of Highly Effective PeopleStephen Covey

Building trust is similar to maintaining a savings account. Imagine someone saving money for the future. The person takes available money and deposits it into the account. The act of saving consists of a series of deposits. Emotionally, the person commits to depositing funds into the account on a regular basis. The person’s plan is to deposit funds into the account with the intention of having the account earn interest. The person does not deposit money with the intention of withdrawing the saved amount and closing out the account.

Relationships are similar to this analogy, especially the relationship a Coach has with the team or staff. The Coach seeks to build trust (the savings account for the future) by making “emotional deposits.” These deposits are actually a series of consistent behavior patterns that model trust, responsibility, respect, and integrity. The Coach makes deposits with the intention of fostering individual relationships built on TRUST. The return on investment is the quality and depth of the relationship.

Making Deposits = Building Trust

The trust may be reduced through a series of events or actions that act as “withdrawals.” Withdrawals can occur through breaking promises, being disrespectful, violating expectations, manipulation, ignoring, or arrogance. Trust may be destroyed through a series of small withdrawals, or just one major withdrawal. Sometimes, as a result, the account may be closed permanently.

A long-term commitment to building TRUST

with people will contribute totheir buy-in of being coached.

Ways to establish TRUST: Make sure people know what to expect from you – consistently. Make sure people believe you will do what you say.

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Make sure people believe you pay attention to their interests. Make sure people believe you are competent to carry out what you say.

Ways to withdraw from the Emotional Bank Account: Communicate with your direct reports to primarily get YOUR point across. Break promises. Manipulate people. Be disrespectful, sarcastic, unkind, or discourteous. Neglect to recognize contributions. Take the credit for yourself. Do not share the true details of your expectations. Come across as prideful, conceited, or arrogant. Always tell instead of ask.

How do you correct a withdrawal from an individual’s Emotional Bank Account?

What contributes to decreased employee morale?www.thesocialworkplace.com

April 1, 2015

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Managers that treat employees poorly. Poor management is often cited as a cause of morale issues, and it can take many forms. One example is a manager who acts as though an employee is lucky to even have a job, rather than respecting the employee and his or her work.

Moving the goalpost. Employees will be understandably frustrated if their goals are continually changing - especially if this happens before the first goal can be accomplished or if the new goals contradict the old ones, making the previous work obsolete.

Unclear expectations. Similar to the item above, it’s discouraging to not know what you’re working toward. If the goals are not clear and employees don’t know what role they’re meant to play, they will get frustrated. This is especially true if they’re being judged by a set of criteria; yet don’t know what those criteria are. Employees should be given frequent feedback to know where they stand and what is expected of them.

Lack of communication. When employees feel like they’re kept in the dark, it creates resentment and presents opportunities for rumors to run wild. Communication is important all the time, and is critical at times of extreme change. The ability to communicate up the chain of command is also crucial for employees to feel heard, and feeling like their opinions matter is highly important to employees’ sense of engagement.

Not feeling recognized for hard work. While not every employee will respond to the same types of recognition, most do desire to have their efforts recognized in some capacity. Not only does it confirm that the employee is meeting and exceeding expectations but it also gives a sense of accomplishment and pride in the work.

No clear employee development plan. When an employee is hired, often he or she has a long-term vision for what roles they will take on next. When the company and an employee are on the same page, clear employee development plans will be in place and the employee will likely take on new roles over time. But when there is no development plan, there’s a high risk that employees will feel dissatisfied and unable to work to their full potential in the role they’re in. They’re likely to start looking for another organization to get new opportunities. Employees need to see a clear line of how they will progress their career and achieve their goals.Lack of trust to complete the work. This often manifests as micromanagement or an environment in which an employee does not feel he or she has any leeway. Many employees would prefer to do their job to the best of their abilities and make appropriate judgment calls without having their actions called into question at every turn. On the other side of the coin, employees also need to feel free to ask questions without having negative repercussions. They should be able to ask for help and receive it without being perceived as unable to complete the work.

An unreasonable workload. While most employees understand that workloads can fluctuate, requiring an employee to keep up with an unreasonable workload for too long is a recipe for burnout and resentment. This is an especially common problem for employers that downsized during the recession and simply expected employees to take on more work—especially if that didn’t come with any recognition, as noted above.

Inappropriate compensation levels. Surprisingly, compensation does not factor as high as some may guess when it comes to morale levels, but it needs to be reasonable and it needs to reflect the quality of work and responsibility level of the employee. When low wages are coupled with any other item on this list, they will be much more of an issue to contend with, as inadequate compensation tends to compound other frustrations.

High turnover rates. When an employer has high turnover, it puts undue stress on the entire organization - remaining employees have to pick up the slack. Additionally, if the turnover comes from employees being let go frequently, remaining employees can lose confidence in their job security.

The 10 Commandments of Feedback

1. Offer feedback on observable behaviors, not on any perceived attitudes.

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2. Offer a description of what you saw, thought, or felt rather than making judgment statements.

3. Focus on behaviors that can be changed.4. Choose aspects of job performance that are most important and limit your comments

to those.5. Ask questions rather than only making statements.6. Set the ground rules and expectations in advance.7. Comment on the things that an individual did well, along with areas needing

improvements.8. Relate all of your feedback to specific items of behavior; do not make statements

about general feelings or impressions.9. Observe personal limits; do not give too much feedback at once.10. Before offering feedback, consider its value to the individual.

What is wrong with these statements? You have a negative attitude.

You are too disorganized and I don’t like that sort of thing.

You are a clock-watcher and there’s nothing you can do to change my opinion on that.

By the way, I’ve gotten positive feedback on you lately. Keep up the good work!

There’s a lot wrong with this work. I don’t know where to start. You need to do a better job.

Here are several situations. What would you say and do as a coach?1. Pat has missed three

deadlines this quarter. Fortunately, all three things

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were of minor importance.

2. You overheard Ryan talking about his crumbling marriage and how it is affecting his sleep. He stated that he may be slipping into a depression.

3. Neal has expressed an interest in a newly posted position. He is a good performer and meets most of the job requirements, but he is a poor planner and has been late on a few deadlines. You do not think he is qualified to post at his point.

4. Dee’s car has been giving him a lot of trouble lately. He has been late 4 times this month. On each occasion he stayed late to make up time.

5. Cameron has come to you to complain about the negative attitude of another staff member, stating, “…You know that everyone feels this way about him.”

6. Dupree is an outstanding performer on your team. He expressed an interest in learning more about one of the organization’s systems, even though your team does not really use it.

Your Coaching Role

Tour Guide for Success

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Change Agent Daily Role Model

On whom do you spend the MOST amount of time and effort?

On whom do you spend the LEAST amount of time and effort?

Why? Why?

What are you currently focusing on when you coach this person?

What are you currently focusing on when you coach this person?

Person’s strengths: Person’s strengths:

Person’s development areas: Person’s development areas:

Result(s) you would like to observe: Result(s) you would like to observe:

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What have you already done that has been successful?

…That has NOT been successful?

What have you already done that has been successful?

Next steps: Next steps:

Coaching Outline

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Preparation: o Clearly define the recurring performance issueo Review any documentation you have for this

What: o State the situation and patterno Indicate the skill(s) that are lacking

When:o Correctly indicate when this has happened (date/time/situation)

Where:o Correctly indicate where this has happened

Who:o State who was impacted by this performance issueo This may include other staff members, other departments, clients,

contributors, volunteers How:

o How were others impacted by this?o How was the project/work impacted by this?o How was the organization impacted by this?o How is this individual being impacted by his/her own actions?

Next Steps:o Ask the individual what specific steps are going to be taken to improve thiso Assign times/dates to the actionso Schedule a follow-up conversation (may want to allow for 30 or 45 days)

Express confidence:o State the support you will provide

Skill Application – Coaching for Skill Development or ImprovementPreparation

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What

When

Where

Who

How

Open Questions to Ask

Next Steps

Express ConfidenceSkill Application – Positive CoachingPreparation

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What

When

Where

Who

How

Open Questions to Ask

Next Steps

Express Confidence

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Coach’sToolkit

Coaching Checklist

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1. Try to get agreement that a situation exists and on defining the situation.2. Discuss solutions; let the person identify solutions before you state what you think.3. Agree to a plan of action; let the person create as much of the plan as possible so that

the individual takes ownership and learns from this experience.4. Follow-up on the implementation of the plan; schedule check-in dates.5. Recognize (even praise) improvements or schedule more coaching; express

confidence in the person’s development and growth.

Use this checklist to prompt and guide you through coaching situations.Identify the situation. Good coaching begins with separating the behavior from the person, and that means identifying the cause rather than the impact. In some cases, it means listening to the individual discover what obstacles stand in the way to optimum performance.Does the person know that the problem exists? Sometimes performance problems exist because the person thinks that performance is acceptable. Another possibility is that although the person knows the performance is not up to expectations, the deficiency itself is considered acceptable. Such a perception may result from too little feedback.Does the person know the expectations? Maybe this person is not performing to expectations (or standards) is that he/she does not know what those expectations are and, consequently, does not realize a problem exists.Does the person know how to meet expectations? Even when a worker knows the manager’s expectations, he/she may not know what he/she is supposed to do and when to do it. How was this person trained?Are there obstacles outside the person’s control that are impacting the performance? Outside factors may have a direct effect on a person’s performance. Examples of such factors include system/equipment failure, late or incorrect reports or data, conflicting instructions, too many bosses, lack of materials or supplies.Do negative consequences follow good performance? Unsatisfactory performance may occur because good performance is punished. The manager may be blind to this. Example: A strong performer is given part of a poor performer’s workload in order to keep productivity at the needed level.Do positive consequences follow poor performance? Similar to above, the person who is having part of the work load removed (without consequences) is actually being rewarded for not performing well.Can the associate perform to standards if he/she wanted to? If YES, then perhaps a formal coaching with documentation is needed. If NO, then review the standards to determine if they are reasonable, if the person has been properly trained, or needs to be developed to meet the standards.

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Using Questions:You Learn More by ASKING Instead of TELLING

Main objective when having conversations: “Keep the Get Ahead of the Give”

We are too good at telling; you will learn my by first ASKING!

Talking with questions: CLOSED PROBES OPEN PROBES

YES or NO question Gets a number or detailed answer (How

many years have you lived in your home?)

Use with someone who is rambling

Typically begin with: Can you… Do you… Is this what…. Have you… Could you… Would you… Are you… Will you… Did you…

Getting detailed answers: How many…. What is the address… What number of… What is the amount that you…

Gets person to describe or share ideas; open up

Puts the customer as the “star of the show”

Typically begin with: Tell me about… Describe… What do you think about… What questions… What do you already…. What are you hoping to… How do you feel about… How did you… List the things that concern you…

CAUTION: “Why” probes may make the customer defensive.

EXAMPLE – Why do you want to wait to do this?

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