Whether your job training program uses on-the-job training
or group training, or both, the most important component of your program is not
the actual training, but what happens after the training is completed. Through
coaching your employees and setting the right example, you can make their
training stick.
So what is coaching? Coaching is a two-part process
involving observation of employee performance and conversation between the
manager and employee that focuses on job performance. The overall goals of the
conversation are to evaluate work performance, and then encourage optimum work
performance by either reinforcing good performance or confronting and
redirecting poor performance. Coaching therefore provides employees with
regular feedback and support about their job performance, and lets managers
know exactly what their employees need to know.
If coaching employees is so beneficial, why do managers
often avoid it? Following are some possible reasons:
- Lack
of time
- Fear
of confronting an employee with a performance concern
- Assumption
that the employee already knows he or she is doing a good job
- Little
experience either doing or observing coaching
- Assumption
that the employee will ask questions when appropriate and does not need
feedback
The first step of coaching is to observe employees doing
their jobs. If the employee is doing the job well, don’t hesitate to tell the
employee. Everyone likes to be told that they are doing a good job, so praise
employees as often as you can. Work on catching your employees doing things
right, and then use these steps:
Describe
the specific action you are praising.
- Explain
the results or effects of the actions.
- State
your appreciation.
- Ask
the employees how they feel about doing a good job.
- Say
thank-you.
- Write
a letter of thanks and make sure a copy goes into the employee’s personnel
file.
If there appears to be a problem with some aspect of the
employee’s performance, answer the following questions before talking with the
employee:
What
is the difference between the employee’s performance level and the
performance standard? Is it significant?
- Is the
performance standard realistic?
- Does
the employee know what is supposed to be done?
- Does
the employee understand why it is supposed to be done?
- Does
the employee know how it is supposed to be done?
- Are
there any hindrances to the employee’s performance that the employee can’t
control, such as inadequate equipment?
- Has
the employee received feedback on this before or has this problem been
ignored?
The next step is to confront, not criticize, the employee’s
poor performance. Confronting is a positive process used to correct performance
problems, gain the employee’s commitment to improvement, and maintain a
constructive supervisor-employee relationship. Criticism, on the other hand, is
a negative process that, instead of concentrating on performance, blames the
employee personally for not doing a job properly. It tends to be general,
rather than specific, in nature, and generates excuses, blaming of others, and
guilt on the employee’s part. Managers who confront employees are more
interested in helping them feel confident about improving future performance,
rather than making them feel inadequate and guilty about past performance.
When confronting an employee with what is perceived to be a
performance problem, follow these steps:
- Speak
in private with the employee without any interruptions or distractions.
Make the atmosphere as relaxed and friendly as possible.
- Explain
the reason for the meeting and express in a calm manner your concern about
the specific aspect of job performance you feel needs to be improved.
Describe the job performance concern in behavioral terms and explain its
effect. Also, explain that you have not made up your mind yet as to the
cause of the performance problem.
- Ask
the employee for his or her thoughts and opinions, using the seven
questions just listed as a starting point to get employee feedback.
- If the
employee is the cause of the performance problem, work on getting his or her
agreement that the problem exists. Next, ask the employee for some
solutions to the problem. Discuss together some possible solutions and
mutually agree on a course of action and time frame. Ask the employee to
restate what has been agreed upon to check on understanding. State your
confidence in the employee’s ability to turn the situation around.
- Lastly,
schedule a follow-up meeting to check on progress.