Why Coaching is Such an Important Talent Development Tool! Part 1
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Recent studies from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development covering coaching at work found that coaching is one of the top 5 talent management activities organisations use and that, mostly, managers are expected to deliver that coaching. It is likely that this expectation has been given to you! So, what is coaching? When should you coach your team? And what skills do you need to be a good coach?
What is coaching and what can it achieve? Coaching conversations are non-directive which is an opportunity to help them think issues through to come to their own conclusions and solutions. This:
- Enables your team to fulfil their full potential
- Focuses on their strengths and skills development
- Improves their performance by focusing on the ‘here and now’
- Enables your team to find the best ways to develop their own performance getting them to reflect on their experiences and explore and evaluate their options going forward.
- Achieve their career goals
- Improve their performance level
- Develop their communication and interpersonal skills
- Build their confidence and self-belief
- Navigate their way through change that initially appears threatening
- Handle conflict more effectively
What skills does a manager need to coach others?
- Observation – How well do you read other people’s body language? Do you notice how confident or not your team are in different situations? A good coach knows when to begin a coaching conversation and when to hold back and watches the reaction their team member shows throughout the conversation
- Active listening – are you a good listener? Do you hear what’s behind the words and any silence? Do you seek to understand the person first or just put your views forward straight away? Good coaches listen carefully to ensure they understand another’s perspective and build on this to develop rapport
- Questioning – asking good questions will help people explore their situation thoroughly. Open questions (our old friends who, what, where, how and why) really help to get a person talking about their development and helps managers understand what their team members want to achieve, what their ambitions are for the future. In contrast, closed questions are good for clarifying information, whereas hypothetical questions help people explore their options.
- Summarising – helps us play back what we’ve heard to ensure we’ve really understood another’s perspective and helps us move the conversation forward
- An open mind – coaching at work is about helping someone find ways to develop their skills and performance and different things will work for different people. A controlling manager who simply tells a team member what to do won’t get the same buy-in nor such great results as a manager who supports a team member to build their own development plan
- Encouragement – good coaches look for the positives to build on and help their team focus on what is possible
- Do you ask for feedback? Your team are more likely to respond well to your coaching efforts if they see you actively engaging in your own development – whatever form that takes
If you agree that coaching should be part of your manager’s toolkit, and think you have the right skills to become a good coach and support others development, then we’ll guide you through a coaching structure to improve performance and career development in parts 2 and 3!
TAKE AWAY
Managers are increasingly expected to coach their teams to improve organisational and individual performance. Understanding what coaching is, what it can achieve, when and how to use it and the skills required is an important first step in becoming an effective coach.