The Progress Coaching Blog

Coaching employees is like solving a Rubik's cube. Each Rubik's cube is solved differently, you need to use a different combination of steps, algorithms, and processes to get the end result. However, to start solving the cube, you need to get the base cross. This is the first thing you aim to do when you start solving a Rubik's cube, solve for the base cross, once you have the cross, you can figure out how to solve the rest of the cube. The fundamental attributes are this cross. Once an employee has a good handle on these fundamental attributes, you can coach them in all the skill and performance areas that they need to improve upon. 

Relationships in the workplace are vital to each employees progress and to the company as a whole. An employees relationship to their teammates, their manager, and to the company affect their every day work. One bad relationship can negatively affect the work an employee does with another person, which lowers their progress, motivation, and their attitude. Here are a few coaching methods to help employees build relationships.

Goals are a vital component to any business or company, without them there would be no direction, motivation, or purpose. Goals keep people focused on their work and give them something to work for. They inspire people to believe in themselves and encourage them to try new things and get creative with their work. GOAL based coaching is designed to do exactly that. GOAL is an acronym for Great, Opportunity, Action/Activity, and Love. The purpose of GOAL based coaching is to use this acronym to set goals, make a plan to achieve them, and follow through with that plan. 

When it comes to coaching, most managers usually stick with two coaching types, one-on-one and group coaching. Both of these are highly effective coaching methods and can be used to get great results. They focus on one to two topics, and use structured activities that complement the targeted areas and challenge the employees. However, using the same few coaching methods over and over can be boring and repetitive. By using a variety of coaching methods, your employees will be more engaged and more accepting of the new information. 

Attitudes can impact an employee’s ability to learn and work well with others as well as their customers.  That’s why it’s important for managers to focus on developing the right attitude through employee coaching.  Attitude is a choice.  You cannot change someone’s attitude or instill a positive attitude onto someone who has a negative one, but you can make an impact.  Organizations want to develop a culture of positive attitudes, but it is often the missing piece for many organizations and not addressed until they become negative.

Coaching uses questions all the time. Questions are a great way to learn what your employee is thinking and how they would handle certain situations. As a coach, your goal is to lead the employee towards learning, progress, and solutions, while letting the employee discover these solutions for themselves. Questions are a great way to steer employees in the right directions without giving them answers directly. 

Employee connectivity is generally overlooked when it comes to coaching. A lot managers may not understand the importance connectivity has, or maybe they just assume that employees develop it all on their own. Some employees will be able to form strong connections in all four categories without any coaching, but connections also need to be maintained. Connectivity is fragile, it can be there one day and gone the next. It is important for managers to continually coach to building and maintaining connectivity. Managers need to coach to connect, meaning they should be mindful of their employees connectivity in each level and how it is improving. 

All too often when an employee is called into a managers office, they immediately think to themselves, "What did I do wrong?" and a panic sets in about what's to follow. It is an uncomfortable situation for the employee to be in, which then makes it an uncomfortable situation for the manager. Do you think that any feedback given in this type of situation and environment will be received and utilized? Employees will dread being called into their managers office and instead of thinking about the feedback they were given and how they can apply it to their work, they will be thinking about how to not get called back to the managers office. 

Gallup organization's research shows that less than 30% of employees are truly engaged. However, it also states that 85% of employees who are engaged have said that they are going to stay with their current employer and are not looking for another job. 

Self-development can be a frustrating subject for coaches. Ultimately, the amount of self-development that an employee does is up to them. What employees might not know is that any self-development they do benefits the entire company. Your job as a coach is to inspire employees to pursue self-development. This is where WIFT comes in.

Mary comes into work every day and is motivated, engaged, has a good attitude, and is ready to tackle any project that might come her way.

One question you may ask yourself is, "Why should I coach my employees?" or "Why should my company invest in a coaching culture?"