Coaching and Getting the Best out of Others-1

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1 20-20 MDS Coaching and Getting the Best out of Others-1 1 WELCOME the group. You may choose to use a short icebreaker or mixer exercise to get the session started, but don t let it go too long. Rather than have people introduce themselves around the room, encourage them to do this during exercises and breaks. ACTIVITY As a suggested activity you might want to engage the group in an introductory exercise along the following lines: As a suggested activity you might want to engage the group in an introductory exercise along the following lines: Ask participants to spend about 2/3 minutes thinking about a situation in the past when they were coached well by someone. This may have been when they were young or at school, in a sporting situation, in developing a skill or talent, like singing or water skiing or even just being coached in how to do a particular task. Ask them to write a few notes on what the coach did to make them enjoy the experience. Then ask individuals to form into teams of 3-4 people and share the experiences, looking for common valuable coaching behaviours they experienced (noting these on a flip-chart). After 6-7 minutes, re-group and ask a spokesperson from each group to present their findings. After your introductory activity, briefly discuss the importance of this session as an introduction to the whole realm of coaching other people a key skill in a leader's armoury. 1

2 -1 Why we are all coaches 2 Coaching is very much a part of our workplaces today. It s something that is expected of every person in a supervisory or management role, because our roles are very much about working with people. And a key part of that is getting the best out of those people. There s a profound reality about the way people work we know it of ourselves but can forget that others are just like us: We all have a capacity to do our jobs it includes our skills, our experience, our networks, our energy, our initiative, etc. Now the reality is that we don t operate at 100% of that capacity all the time we can t or we d burn out. Over time, we learn what level of effort we have to put in to either stay out of trouble, feel satisfied, or move ahead. Beyond that necessary effort lies discretionary efforts what we can choose to give or withhold. In some ways this is the secret ingredient of organisational success it s not something we can demand, it can only be given, but what a difference it makes when people give us that extra effort and we know we can count on it. Research [by the Yankelovich group, Putting the Work Ethic to Work: A Public Report on Restoring America s Competitive Vitality, showed that 44% of the members of an organization merely put in the effort that is required to do their job. 60% said they could put more into their job if they chose to. That s a huge untapped resource! Another study [Towers-Perrin, Working Today: Understanding What Drives Employee Engagement, the Talent Report, completed in April 2003, drawing responses from more than 35,000 employees in the US] identified a list of workplace elements that are critical in building engagement among employees: includes strong leadership, personal accountability, autonomy, a sense of control over one s environment, a sense of shared destiny, and opportunities for development and advancement. This study also found that the process of engaging people and getting the best from them is one that never ends. Engaging people, helping them develop and encouraging that discretionary effort from them, is at the heart of effective workplace coaching. ACTIVITY Ask the group what words come to mind when we talk about coaching - write them on a flip chart 2

3 Any instruction that lasts longer than ten seconds is coaching 3 The Mars (confectionery) company came up with this saying: any instruction that lasts for longer than ten seconds is coaching. By this they meant that unless we are issuing orders or commands to people, we are in the process of trying to change people s behaviour through coaching-and should therefore seek to do this well. This suggests a couple of things: 1.When we engage with other people about their work, the communication that takes place can have a far greater impact than we might anticipate 2.Coaching isn t a specialist activity reserved for experts or those whose job title includes coach it s something we all have the capacity and responsibility to do One way to think about this is to reflect on what it was like learning to drive a car. If you drive a car now and have done so for a few years it s really not a big deal. You don t have to think a lot about the mechanics of steering, braking, accelerating, indicating, parking, etc., you just do it out of the skills built through practice and familiarity. Contrast your current experience with what it was like when you first learned: every move was a totally focused experience, you were hyper-aware of what was going on, planning the next turn, anticipating the traffic light, correcting for over and under acceleration And how well you learned probably had a lot to do with your coach or instructor. They may not have understood that they were in fact a coach maybe their own familiarity with the driving task meant they only gave you the most scant advice, maybe they expressed frustration that you weren t picking it up quickly enough or maybe they were patient, encouraging you to ask questions, reassuring you, explaining carefully. [You might invite a war story or two to make the point.] In our workplaces, we are constantly engaging with others regarding their performance of new and familiar tasks. Often, a few quick words are all that is needed; but sometimes we do have to engage for longer exchanges. As a result, it s worth thinking carefully about those interactions and about our role as a coach. 3

4 What are your personal learning goals for this entire module? 4 Activity As a first step to developing your own coaching skills, take a moment to reflect on what you would like to take away from this session. Write down your expectations / plans / hopes in your workbook. Ask participants to form groups of three (different groups to the introductory activity) to share some of (they don t have to disclose any points they don t wish to) their expectations. Ask groups to then share any common expectations and flipchart these. You may identify some common expectations including: how to intervene appropriately, how to confront someone with a problem that needs addressing, how to motivate, how to give advice 4

5 Coaching has been a part of business for decades because it produces results: Attitude Performance Retention Customer satisfaction Profits Coaching is most typically associated with sports, but while coaching may be seen as a fairly recent innovation in business and personal life, the reality is that it goes back to at least the 1930s. Older employees were trained to coach new employees and supervisors were taught to coach their staff. Sales coaching was an area of interest and the manager-as-coach idea was around in the 1950s and 60s. Throughout the 70s and 80s coaching as a part of a manager s responsibility was developing. 5 Coaching in business typically looks at a couple of areas: Cultural change where an external audit identifies areas for improvement and change and then introduces a strategy whereby organisational members are coached in the new culture. Coaching for directors and boards top-down change processes for senior leaders, coaching them through problem-solving, strategy and communication planning Management and leadership coaching providing feedback, assessment and goal-setting support for leaders so that they can maximise their own performance Our approach is to focus on the manager and supervisor as a coach. This is because one of the key needs in the workplace today is for a sense of ongoing development people want to learn and improve be improving and the best placed people to support them in that journey are their managers and supervisors. Coaching is our responsibility and it makes a difference. As we invest in others development their attitudes and performance improves, and customer satisfaction and profits do too (A Harvard Business Review article looked at a Sears case study showing exactly this process.) So our coaching efforts are an important investment in other people and the organisation s success. 5

6 Taking a positive approach I've yet to find the man, however exalted his station, who did not do better work and put forth greater effort under a spirit of approval than under the spirit of criticism. -Charles Schwab Catch someone doing something right As the Charles Schwab quote reminds us, people tend to respond much better when they have a clear sense that we are supporting them than if they sense we are simply criticising them for making mistakes. It s much better to catch people doing something right than to simply be a corrector of mistakes. This workshop is titled Coaching and getting the best out of others. We don t coach simply as an exercise or obligation, but to get that discretionary effort that people have to give. This provides a mutual benefit people give because they want to and wanting to give indicates positive engagement, meaning they are likely to be satisfied. We all want to do rewarding work and we tend to feel rewarded when we know we are putting something of ourselves into what we are doing. But we don t always have the opportunity to do that. 6 So, how do we get the best out of others? One of the keys is to provide positive reinforcement as the Charles Schwab quote reminds us. People do what they do because of what happens to them when they do it. Positive reinforcement is a powerful motivator. The mindset of catching people doing things right is an important one to keep in mind as we look at coaching and getting the best from people. We re not talking about dragging out what we want because that s only ever a short-term win. Rather, we re focusing on building a relationship that encourages, challenges and supports. One way to think about it is to see the people we are coaching as customers people we are aiming to serve and satisfy. And that means using different approaches for different people. 6

7 The Coaching Effectiveness Profile 1. Empathising 2. Listening 3. Confronting and challenging 4. Problem solving 5. Giving feedback 6. Empowering others 7. Mentoring 7 In preparation for today s class you completed the Coaching Effectiveness Profile. The CEP explored 7 key skills of coaches: Empathising Listening Confronting and challenging Problem solving Feedback Empowering Mentoring [comment on any that match up with the words used to describe coaching from the earlier activity] There isn t any definitive list of coaching skills and the skills required will change a bit depending on particular circumstances, but these 7 competencies do combine to provide a useful framework for looking at our coaching ability. Although these skills are complementary, they also stand alone, so it s possible to have advanced skills in one, but need development in others. It s a bit like a golfer you may be good around the greens with the putter but struggle off the tee with your woods. The more effective we can be in each of the 7 coaching competencies the more effective we will be overall. By first identifying our current level of competence in each area and then by developing our skills we can become more effective coaches. The 7 competencies tend to be used in a rough sequence (although there will be times when only one or two are called for in isolation). Today we ll focus mainly on the first three competencies (the others will be address in the level B coaching module). 7