Coaching is a method of training, counseling or instructing an employee how to develop skills to enhance their productivity or overcome performance problems.
You, the manager, are the “Coach” and your employee is the “Coachee”.
Ok, so should you just coach your low performers? NO! Coaching is a valuable tool that should be used:
- Every time you discover a human error
- Whenever you identify a professional vulnerability in an employee
- When dealing with employees who ask you to help them up their game (Career advancement)
See it like this: Coaching is a manager’s responsibility and every employee’s right. Every employee, be it a new-hire, tenured employee, low performer or top performer, deserves at least a bit of your time and your full attention.
Remember that you can’t build the Dream by yourself! And remember that nobody’s perfect, so do your best to build the people who will build your business.
Also, the reason behind coaching is not to punish, but to offer help. And make sure that this is clear to your team! Teach them to see coaching as a great opportunity for their professional development and as a sign of your commitment to them. If your employees become anxious when notified of an upcoming coaching session, then you, the manager, did something wrong.
Two of the most frequent questions we get asked by our clients are:
- “Is there such a thing as excessive coaching?”
- “How do I know whether I’m doing it?”
And the answer is:
- YES, excessive coaching is an issue that can impact your team’s performance long term.
- Here’s what you can check to ensure you are not doing it:
- Notice how much time of your day is dedicated to coaching.
If this task takes more than half of your day, every day, you’re doing it wrong.
Avoid coaching just for the sake of coaching! Don’t disrupt your employee’s workflow unless your intervention is justified from a business perspective.
- Check whether you have the tendency to only meet with specific team members.
Stay away from targeting specific employees, don’t become the “The bullseye manager” – that’s a form of harassment. Instead, offer help to those who need help and then give them a chance to practice what they learned. If all you do is breathe down their neck, you’ll break them! There’s no need to put additional pressure on an employee who is already under pressure!
- Notice whether the current amount of coaching sessions positively impact the employee’s performance.
Stop investing time in an employee who just doesn’t care to change!
Ok, now that we cleared that up, let’s see what’s the recommended amount of coaching sessions for each situation.
a. Human error
A minimum of 2 sessions will do the job. The first one as soon as you discover the issue, and the 2nd one as a follow-up discussion. If the issue recurred since your last meeting, schedule another session.
Typically, it’s recommended to give your employee some time to exercise the new behavior they learned in session #1. Usually, a week is sufficient, but in some cases, you might have to give them more time. Meet with your employee as many times as necessary until the issue is fixed.
Caveat: Regularly check with the employee to make sure they are still onboard with the plan. If they jump ship, stop the coaching and jump to taking corrective measures. Don’t waste your time!
b. Professional vulnerability
A professional vulnerability is a knowledge gap that might act as a catalyst for an unwanted performance outcome. For example, you discover that an employee was exposed to the same type of work for a long time, and that resulted in them getting rusty and ill-equipped to handle a different type of challenge that they will have to face.
You need to hold at least 1 coaching session to eliminate professional vulnerability. The bigger the knowledge gap, the more coaching sessions required.
In some cases you might have to team up with a trainer or a subject matter expert to take the employee through the topic at hand exhaustively.
Also, if needed, schedule some shadowing sessions so that the employee learns how to apply the knowledge they just acquired.
c. Career Advancement
This 3rd scenario is not very common, so if you find yourself in this situation you are either very lucky or have amazing hiring skills. Congratulations!
Some employees will come up to you and tell you that they are ready for the next step, so they need a bit of extra guidance from you. You are now transitioning from a “boss” to a “mentor” status. What a privilege!
If you agree to this proposal, which you should, remember that this will be a long-term commitment. You’ll need to schedule a meeting once a week for multiple weeks or even months.
And just as before, check whether your time and energy put into these sessions result in an increase in performance. If the employee starts using these coaching sessions as breaks from work, put a stop to it!