“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Aristotle
Ready to be Coached? – 10 Questions
Manager as Coach
Tenets:
- Managers are always looking for good ways to help their employees be more productive, fulfilled and motivated.
- Achieving sustainable positive change in human behavior is extremely challenging, and incredibly rewarding when it happens.
- Learning is a process that takes time, reinforcement and persistence and requires a manager who has a vested interest in the development of direct reports.
- What we say is often less important than how we say it.
- Coaching is way of life, not an event.
Manager as Coach enhances performance through:
Context setting: Managers analyze developmental needs of employees in the organization in which they operate.
Developing Observation Skills: Participants will use the C.L.U.E.S. model from COACHING CLUES: Real Stories, Powerful Solutions, Practical Tools
- Characteristics: Personal traits, preferences and behavioral themes
- Language: the implications of verbal, written and body language
- Underlying motives: Drivers that influence motivation, direction, choices and action
- Energy: Factors that drain, nurture, or enliven
- Stories: What people talk about and what is said about them
Learning and applying: Managers will practice applying the CLUES model to their work, and considering:
- the context in which the employee is operating
- profiles of the individual
- cultural/diversity issues
- observable actions versus hearsay
- balance of business with personal needs
The objectives for Manager as Coach are:
- Apply a model when coaching employees
- Use a systematic approach to sustain performance-enhancing changes
Managers who are coaches become better performers themselves—their attention to improvement is actually an investment in their own growth and development.
SuperCoach
Tenets:
- Almost everyone recalls fondly the coaches in his/her life.
- Performance coaches employ a set of learned skills.
- Coaches, like in any trade, use tools.
- Employees blossom at the hands of a skilled coach.
- Coaching skills transcend the workplace.
SuperCoach enhances performance through:
Learning the fundamentals of good coaching: Coaching is a subject with history, models, theory and frameworks that provide the coach with the basics required to guide others through the stages of professional development.
Experimenting with various coaching tools: The Supercoach needs a toolbox loaded with just the right instrumentation to apply under a wide variety of situations. Coaching is often a problem solving session in which the coach offers a fresh way to examine an issue.
Differentiating between mentoring and coaching: It is common for people to interchange the two terms, and it is important to separate them for role clarity and outcome expectations.
Focusing mainly on strengths rather than on weaknesses: When a coach helps to uncover and institutionalize strengths, the employee will try very hard to maintain those productive behaviors. Consequently, counter-productive habits fade for lack of energy.
Establishing a system to track the progress of the coaching relationship: Everyone wants to follow along as the employee puts into practice agreed upon goals and strategies. The coach and coachee create a contract and a plan to systematize the coaching engagement.
The objectives for SuperCoach are:
- Become an educated coach
- Gain comfort using a variety of coaching tools
- Develop a strength-based manner for working with people
