In sports, coaches develop and motivate players. They work hard to bring out the best in each player and then to unify all their players into a winning team. Coaching in the workplace has basically the same purpose and involves similar techniques. To develop a competent, motivated, and productive workforce, your supervisors must be good coaches. Some of them may be natural coaches or have experience coaching from other jobs. But to make sure all your supervisors are effective coaches, you need to train them and teach them proper coaching techniques.
Legal Overview
There are no laws that require you to train supervisors to coach employees effectively. However, well-trained, knowledgeable, motivated employees help the organization comply with legal and regulatory requirements in general.
Any kind of training that helps supervisors better manage their employees and their department is useful and important. Effective coaching not only makes employees more competent and cooperative but also generally increases job satisfaction, which can reduce grievances, complaints, and the possibility of employee lawsuits.
You know your managers could do a better job if they were trained—and now BLR® offers you an easy and affordable way to get that done—with our TrainingToday® 24/7 online Leadership Library. Get more information.
Training Objectives
Training on effective coaching skills requires specific objectives. When the training is complete, supervisors will be able to:
- Recognize the benefits of coaching.
- Identify the role of the coach.
- Understand the techniques involved in successful coaching.
- Use coaching effectively to improve employee performance and help employees grow and develop.
Training Requirements
Your coaching for a superior employee performance training program should contain, at a minimum, the following elements:
- Purposes of coaching
- Benefits of coaching
- Qualities of a good coach
- Elements of effective coaching
- Supervisor’s role as a coach
- Coaching sessions
- Coaching strategies for all employees
- Coaching employees through times of change
Training Exercise
This exercise is intended for all supervisors. Its objective is to review basic information about coaching.
Instruct trainees to complete the work sheet below. Then discuss the results as a group and answer any questions. (We’ll provide guidance for the work sheet in tomorrow’s Advisor.)
1. Briefly define “coaching.”
________________________________________
________________________________________
2. Identify three purposes of coaching.
________________________________________
________________________________________
3. Name two benefits of coaching.
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
4. List three qualities of a good coach.
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
Worried about ever getting your managers and supervisors trained to be effective leaders? It isn’t easy to fit it in—schedulewise or budgetwise—but now there’s BLR’s Leadership Library for Managers and Supervisors. Train all your people, at their convenience, 24/7, for one standard fee. Get more information.
The material in today’s Advisor is adapted from BLR’s PowerPoint® session, “Coaching for Superior Employee Performance—Techniques for Supervisors,” which is available in TrainingToday’s Leadership for Managers and Supervisors Library.
In tomorrow’s Advisor, we’ll give you guidance on the coaching exercise in today’s issue, and we’ll showcase an essential leadership training resource of interactive online courses available now.