Definition of Coaching

Coaching is all about driving performance through developing employees. Each employee will progress in different ways. Not every employee is going to need development in the same areas. Coaching is fundamentally based in discovering each employee’s area(s) in need of improvement and developing each targeted area. The fact is every person, including coaches, can always be better at something.

If you think of a high performing company as a car then each part in the car will represent an employee. When all parts in the car are functioning at optimal levels the car performs at its highest level. However if the breaks in the car struggle to engage in a timely manner, the rear shocks fail absorb all rough terrain and the left windshield wiper fails to motion in sync with the right windshield wiper then you can say that the car is not performing at its highest level. In fact, if these imperfections are left unaddressed their ability to function will continue to decrease and/or bring down the functioning levels of adjacent parts. Each employee within a company performs a function that drives the overall performance over the company itself. A sales person struggling with price objections, a customer service person in need of problem solving skills and a manager with leadership issues prevents the company from perform at it optimal level. When each of these employees focuses on developing their area of weakness, they will function at a higher level, thus driving the overall performance of the company.  

A coach is a leader (manager), who creates a coaching culture that encourages employees to be comfortable with addressing weaknesses, guides and supports employees through their development, as well as provides the necessary tools and avenues needed to improve. However coaching is not one sided with all of the heavy lifting on the manager’s end, employees must also be willing to participate and work their coach to improve and drive performance. 

To learn more about being a coach click below to download the whitepaper: "Coaching and Motivating Employees to Perform Better"