If you clicked on this because the title had you thinking there were employees you need to get rid of, you might be disappointed. The intention of coaching isn’t to remove low performers from your team or out of the company. Handing an employee a box to pack their things and escorting them to the door isn’t coaching. Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential. It is helping them learn rather than teaching or telling them. When you successfully coach someone to reach their potential, they are ready to advance their career.
Despite the many benefits of coaching, many leaders fail to coach their team. Maybe they are worried about maintaining retention numbers. Similarly, perhaps they haven’t been developing the whole team, and they only have one strong performer. Moreover, many leaders don’t know how to coach because no one is coaching them. Or worse, maybe they are afraid the team member will replace them. The excuses are endless, but if leaders aren’t coaching people off their team and onto their next step, they have no business in a people manager role.
Six Truths That Confident and Effective Coaches Know:
- Positive attrition is a thing
- Employees are more productive when they feel supported
- Business moves at lightspeed and what is needed from employees change quickly – coaching keeps the employee progressing through those changes
- Coaching is a commitment and requires additional time and effort – you accepted that commitment when you took the job
- A poor performer is a reflection of poor hiring practices, goal and demand misalignment, or workplace culture – regardless of the external influences the employee is your responsibility now and needs your support
- Your success and failure is determined by the words of the people who have been guided by your coaching
The Three Types of Coaching Styles.
Each coaching style serves a different purpose. What stage you and the employee are in determines the coaching method.
Authoritarian Coaching Style – The coach decides what to do and how to do it. The only thing the employee needs to do is understand the directions. Because the employee has little to no input, this style is best for new hires or entry-level employees. This method instills discipline, rallies the team together, and with clear goals, has a strong focus on the outcome.
Democratic Coaching Style – A democratic coaching style gives the employee freedom and accountability, and the coach only engages as needed to keep the progress going. Employees will feel self-empowerment, and in control, so this style is for more experienced employees. A democratic coaching style helps employees improve their decision-making and communication. Plus, the coach gets greater cooperation. However, results may take a little longer, but it is very effective when it comes to performance.
Holistic Coaching Style – This style of coaching leads the way because it focuses on the whole person. Growth in the workplace depends on the overall growth of the person. Employees aren’t two people, meaning they can’t behave one way outside of work and another while at work. A holistic coaching style identifies personal roadblocks that might negatively affect their work. It offers solutions to help them be their best self in and out of the office.
Benefits of Coaching Employees off Your Team:
- Succession planning – you can’t promote or leave if there is no one to take your place
- Retention – when employees see career pathing work they are more engaged and more likely to stay
- Your leadership brand – being known as a people manager who produces other leaders is the ultimate sign of successful leadership
- Performance improves – employees work hard when they feel supported and are working towards something
Demonstrate a Coach-First Mentality
Now that you understand the truths of coaching, different coaching styles, and the many benefits of coaching your team up, you have to commit to a coach-first mindset. Once you make that commitment, you have to let your team know you are ready to support them in their goals regardless of where that may take them. However, you don’t let them know with your words, and instead, let your actions demonstrate that commitment.
- Prioritize coaching by sticking with scheduled sessions, showing up prepared, leaning into the discussions, and being present.
- You can’t coach holistically if you don’t know who they are as a person. Show curiosity for each team member by learning about their interests outside of work. Understand what the path to their current role looked like, and more importantly, where they want to go next.
- Get loud with celebrating when team members advance or transition into new departments or roles.
- Be patient while building trust. Keep the door open and remain approachable. Resist showing frustration or inconvenience when team members seek your help or guidance.
- Share previous examples of your coaching successes. Highlight the opportunities you have helped former team members achieve.
When a team member’s skill set doesn’t match their goals, help them develop a plan to close the gap. If their current output doesn’t allow you to advocate for them confidently, provide that feedback, and agree upon a date to revisit the conversation. Conversely, if a team member’s goals and aspirations don’t match the organization’s opportunities, help them find an organization that would be a better match.
Employees trust you with their dreams and their future. You have to honor, respect, and cherish that trust. The worst abuse of that trust is not being honest about their future options within the company, not developing them to advance, or by blocking them from reaching their potential. If you aren’t coaching them off your team and to the next phase of their career, you are failing them and as a leader.
