According to a study by Bersin by Deloitte, organizations with senior leadership who frequently coach their employees improve their business results by 21% compared to those with managers who do not. Coaching is a skill that involves helping people reach their full potential by improving their performance.
Employees who lack guidance and coaching will often stumble when attempting to accomplish individual or group goals in the workplace. When employees know what their goals are, what’s expected of them and how to add to the company’s success, they help contribute to the advancement of the business. Individuals who are coached also benefit by boosting confidence, building communication skills and improving work performance.
What Are the Benefits of Coaching?
There are many benefits of daily coaching between a manager and an employee. It provides positive feedback, a clear direction for the employee and the opportunity to correct performance issues before they become bigger problems. The goal of coaching is to present a way to improve employee performance and to communicate how they can excel at their career. It can positively define career goals by encouraging employees to receive encouragement and feedback.
This type of engagement can also increase productivity, retain employees, avoid turnover and help individuals relate to each other. By mindfully coaching employees, managers can equip individuals with the knowledge, tools and opportunities they need to succeed in their commitment to their work and themselves.
Helpful Coaching Techniques
Successfully coaching employees takes time and practice. PositivePsychology.com says that one-on-one communication works much better than group motivational speeches, and every employee needs to know that they’re valuable. Healthy stress and motivation build confidence and expertise, while unhealthy pressure causes distress and anxiety. Leaders who recognize that failure and mistakes are part of success can coach their employees through times of hardship. Creating a positive space for all employees can help them improve their strengths, create a close-knit work environment, work through adversity and handle stressful situations.
Active listening is a quality of effective leaders. Supporting employees by carefully listening to understand, making eye contact, clarifying, repeating back what was said, talking less and asking questions will help employees feel heard. A successful leader can maintain business goals with a connected and motivated team by being compassionate and understanding. Managers should avoid constant evaluation of their employees and instead focus on positive coaching for the best outcomes.
How to Effectively Coach
To emphasize employee potential and support their talent, managers should position their employees to succeed and grow. Here are a few tools for effective coaching.
- Give regular feedback. Employees want to know how they’re doing at their job. Let them know.
- Solve problems. Don’t just give an employee advice on how you would do it when they come to you with a problem. Encourage creative problem solving with active listening and probing questions.
- Set goals. Meet with employees to set goals that can propel their careers forward.
- Be supportive. This means being supportive during success and failure. Accepting failure with positivity will help employees move on and be solution oriented.
- Keep an open mind. Asking employees for their opinion or feedback can move a business forward and keep fresh ideas flowing.
An advanced degree in business prepares students for real-world applications. It will help them develop the skills required to work as business operations manager, logistics manager, project manager and more.
Learn more about Fitchburg State University’s online Master of Business Administration program.
Sources:
Bersin by Deloitte: High Impact Leadership: The New Leadership Maturity Model
PositivePsychology.com: Must-Have Coaching Skills for Managers and Leaders
