COACHING

Good managers and leaders have a coaching role. Their job is to develop strong teams and to help people reach their full work potential.

          By developing replacement staff and leaders it permits managers to move on to new higher paid jobs.

          To carry out this role it is essential for managers to develop and improve their own questioning and listening skills.

Five of the best coaching tips

* First establish a rapport

          Good coaches establish an early trust and a rapport with the people being instructed.

          It is essential to take time when chatting to staff. To be able to do this it is necessary to have a good personal assistant to carry out some of your time-consuming more mundane activities. If not, try to delegate some of your work to others.

* Arrange for systematic coaching

          This can often be done by challenging people to carry out special assignments or by moving them around the organisation to gain wider experience.

          Challenge people you are coaching with graduated step by step experience to build their confidence. Try to make coaching enjoyable.

A sense of achievement is a satisfying experience, especially achievements in learning.

* Feedback is the key to improvement

          Give regular feedback and helpful constructive reports on their progress.

          Try to get regular feedback from the people you are coaching. You must build a strong relationship with them to be an effective coach.

* Reward effort and achievements

          Praise good work and encourage people to improve. Small rewards when each step has been completed satisfactorily can be an incentive.

          The ultimate returns from learning should be more earnings.

* New skills must be practised

          As soon as possible make use of the new skills learned. People become frustrated if the new skills are not used to the advantage of the organisation or the worker.  

          Encourage with praise, build confidence with graduated experiences.  Give honest and constructive feedback.

          Increased business profits are the rewards of sound coaching.

–Geoffrey Moss (mossassociates.co.nz)

“The greater the coaching the more people learn and earn.”

SOURCE: “Training Secrets. Helping adults learn” 190p., Moss Associates. Ltd, New Zealand and Cengage Learning Asia, Singapore. Also available as an e-book from Amazon.com. Learn 49 ways to train and how to assess and improve your own training skills.