Coaching for Improved Work Performance

Transcription

1 Coaching for Improved Work Performance How to Get Better Results from Your Employees! by Ferdinand F. Fournies 2000 McGraw-Hill 242 pages Focus Leadership & Mgt. Strategy Sales & Marketing Corporate Finance Human Resources Technology & Production Small Business Economics & Politics Industries & Regions Career Development Personal Finance Concepts & Trends Take-Aways Coaching is a learned skill. Most managers are never taught precisely how to manage people the way they would manage any other departmental resource. Managers harbor false beliefs about employees that are self-destructive, dooming the employee to fail rather than succeed. When an employee fails, the manager fails. Your job is to help employees succeed. Many managers blame employees for failure to perform when they have never been told precisely how, when and where to do their job or what fi nished looks like. Rather than play psychologist, a manager should focus on behavior modifi cation. To elicit desired behavior, orchestrate appropriate positive or negative consequences. Effective communication is not giving people information; it is getting other people to think what you want them to think of their own accord in their own minds. Frequent, specifi c feedback provides employees with the right tools and motivation. The fi rst step in coaching is to determine: What is infl uencing poor? Face-to-face coaching is a mutual discussion and agreement, not a one-sided lecture. Rating (10 is best) Overall Applicability Innovation Style To purchase individual Abstracts, personal subscriptions or corporate solutions, visit our Web site at or call us at our U.S. office ( ) or Switzerland office ( ). getabstract is an Internet- based knowledge rating service and publisher of book Abstracts. getabstract maintains complete editorial responsibility for all parts of this Abstract. The respective copyrights of authors and publishers are acknowledged. All rights reserved. No part of this abstract may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, or otherwise, without prior written permission of getabstract Ltd (Switzerland). This summary is restricted to the personal use of Susi Astengo (susi@coachmatching.com)

2 Relevance What You Will Learn In this Abstract, you will learn: 1) How to coach employees; 2) Why managers hold false beliefs that cause them to take ineffective action; 3) What specific interventions managers must learn; and 4) How and when managers should use the five-step intervention technique. Recommendation Novice and experienced managers, coaches and teachers, and anyone else who wants to influence other peoples behavior or will benefit from Ferdinand F. Fournies book on coaching. He describes specific intervention tactics and shows how to apply them. Use this manual to eliminate managerial frustration. It can be your stepping stone to creating a successful, high-performing department. Fournies concepts can help even seasoned managers deal with difficult staff, solve problems in their departments and achieve greater results through their employees. If you are a new manager or wish to be one, this essential resource and training tool is required reading. getabstract.com also recommends it as a strong addition to any management curriculum. Abstract When your people are successful, you will be recognized as a successful manager. When your people are failing, you will be recognized as a nonsuccessful manager no matter what you are doing. We spend a great deal of time in business telling newly appointed managers about the things that should be done, but not the way to do them. Managers Must Be Trained Coaching employees to perform doesn t come naturally or automatically to managers. Coaching is a skill a process of providing specific interventions to manage employees behavior. When managers take steps based on natural responses to problems or when they follow common practices, their actions are often self-destructive and counterproductive. Your job as a manager is to develop all of your department s resources especially your human resources to their full potential. Each employee should perform specific tasks to yield desired results. When your employees succeed, you succeed. When they do not perform or force you to fire them, you fail. Since your success is measured by your employees, it is in your best interests to do everything you can to help them succeed. Incorrect Perceptions Cost Money Incorrect perceptions about problem employees cost money. Unproductive employees are expensive. And, when managers fire employees because they can t coach them productively, the cost mounts. The company must advertise the vacancy, review applications, interview candidates, pay severance, underwrite relocation, train a new employee and support a learning curve. While your natural impulse as a manager may be to cut your losses and start over with a new employee, the cost of replacing an employee (which you should compare and calculate just like the cost of replacing a piece of equipment) is substantial. Instead, save money by spending the resources and time to rehabilitate a problem employee. Contrary to some current theories, you don t need a psychology degree to manage people. And, you don t need to know the details about an employee s personal life, because that does not apply to the job. Realize that you are merely renting a person s behavior for a finite period of time; you are responsible only for managing that specific behavior. Rather than playing psychologist, focus on behavior modification by using Coaching for Improved Work Performance Copyright 2004 getabstract 2 of 5

3 People management is a collection of interventions having a cause-effect relationship on employees. The only purpose of the coaching process is to help you improve employees ; to help them stop their self-destructive behavior so you are not forced to administer consequences that are not in their best interest. Because the mind is primarily a reactive instrument it does not think of what you said, it thinks of something else because of what you said. The things you say act as triggers to create other thoughts as a reaction. Managers continue to ignore the motivational infl u- ences of achievement and recognition. specific interventions that elicit desired behaviors. Provide positive reinforcements for good and implement negative consequences for undesirable behaviors. Re-examine what you perceive to be positive or negative consequences through the eyes of your employees. Managers often need to redirect their natural impulses, which can impede effective behavior management. Imagine that you have an employee whose personal problems appear to be causing tardiness. A compassionate manager might sit down and discuss the issue (playing psychologist). Is that a negative or a positive consequence for undesirable behavior? You may see such a meeting as a negative (being called in for a talk or scolding ), while the employee may see it as a positive result (a chance to stop work and talk about personal problems with a concerned boss). Only the employee s perception counts, because that is what shapes behavior. Even if you intend to apply a negative consequence, if the employee gets something positive from your actions, you are actually rewarding the tardiness, thus reinforcing it, which works against your managerial purposes. Managers may unknowingly give negative consequences to employees who are doing great. Giving your fastest, most accurate keyboarder the most difficult, high priority job may seem logical, but what consequence does the worker get? Is more work a negative consequence? Should you also give your best worker a note of appreciation or an afternoon off? Praise and recognition are powerful, positive reinforcements. Yet, managers regularly miss opportunities to reinforce employees behaviors with praise, though it is free and easy. Don t reserve your approval for special occasions. Genuine praise true, timely, specific even for an achievement that is just part of the employee s normal job, can make poor performers into good ones and good performers into great ones. Communication: Getting Others to Think Your Thoughts Communication is not just the transfer of information it s the transfer of thoughts. You can say anything you want, but that doesn t mean people will think as you do. Instead, people think about something else based on your stimuli. When you say black, people think white. They don t think black. To get employees to think like you, provide the stimuli necessary to get them to share your thoughts. Ask a question and wait in silence for a reply. Let your listeners process the question and reach the end result alone. Keep asking questions to lead employees to your conclusion. You can also use storytelling. Instead of saying that your grandfather was a hero, tell the story of how he saved another soldier s life in World War II. Then listeners will conclude for themselves that he was a hero. The communication process isn t complete unless you know that the other people understand. To ensure their comprehension, get them to tell you what they think. The communication is successful only when you hear them echo your thoughts. Employees Need Feedback Employees require specific feedback. They need to know what to do, and when and how to do it, what the job looks like when it is finished, what to do about situations they are not prepared to handle and whether their work meets expectations. Managers fail to provide feedback. They mistakenly assume that employees know what is expected and how they measure up. Often, they do not know. Coaching for Improved Work Performance Copyright 2004 getabstract 3 of 5

4 Feedback is one of the most critical requirements for sustained highlevel Without frequent and specifi c feedback, varies and often fails. One of the major reasons managers fail to improve employees problems is that their solutions are not related to the problems. An incorrect conclusion about the cause of unsatisfactory could lead you to apply the wrong solution. It is important for managers to realize that whether they think a consequence is positive or negative is irrelevant; only the view of the individual receiving the consequence is relevant. You can deliver positive, negative or neutral feedback. Use neutral feedback to help poor performers change. It is neutral to ask an employee, Are you aware that? or Did you know that? This question draws attention to a concern that the employee may not even realize is a problem. In fact, employees often are not aware when their is unacceptable. The first step is to build awareness using neutral feedback. Ask if employees know how their differs from your expectations. Ask, for example, Are you aware that you been 10 minutes late every morning this week? Wait for the employee to acknowledge awareness, and then monitor the subsequent behavior. If does not change, follow up with a second dose of neutral feedback. You can resolve many non issues quickly and easily with one or two neutral feedback statements simply by making the employee aware of the problem. Coach Employees to Perform If neutral feedback does not correct the problem, coach the employee using specific interventions to generate improved. Many managers believe wrongly that inadequate workers choose to perform badly. They surmise that employees could do better if they wished. In reality, the two greatest reasons for non are that employees do not know what they are supposed to do or do not know how to do it. In most other cases, non is related to: Employees don t know that their tasks are important. Employees do not understand that they are not meeting expectations. Employees think they are doing their jobs correctly. Employees think your way won t work and believe they have a better approach. Employees think something else is a higher priority. Employees never receive positive consequences for doing jobs well. Employees receive negative consequences for doing jobs well. Employees receive positive consequences, not negative ones, for doing badly. Employees fear a possible future negative consequence. Employees are just not able physically or mentally to do their jobs. Employees personal issues affect their job. The employees is blocked by other obstacles. The employees jobs are not possible and your expectations are unrealistic. Before You Coach: A Pre-Coaching Analysis A straightforward five-step approach to behavior management is the best way to coach employees. Learn, practice and build this skill. Before you coach, analyze the problem. Determine what is influencing non. Drop any judgments, opinions and assumptions, so you can dig for the reasons that cause problems. Then follow this process: 1. Get employees to agree that a problem exists Meet with problem employees one at a time and ask, Do you know why you re here? This gets the coaching underway. Remember that a coaching session is a discussion, not a lecture. Ask questions to help employees draw their own conclusions that some aspect of their work is a problem. This may take half your coaching time, but it is the basis for any improvements. Until employees acknowledge problems, their behavior won t change. Step one is not complete until you hear employees state their problems aloud. If employees resist, convince them that problems exist by working with them to list the results of non. Ask, What happens when you do this? When employees acknowledge issues aloud, ask, What will I need to do if you keep Coaching for Improved Work Performance Copyright 2004 getabstract 4 of 5

5 The manager s job is not managing people, but managing people s behavior within the restricted parameters of the business environment Each time an employee fails, it is one of your failures. doing this? List all the consequences you can. Remind employees that they can control their behavior, but their decisions limit your alternatives. Take step two when employees understand the impact of non and admit problems. 2. Brainstorm possible solutions with the employee Say, I m glad you agree this is a problem. Now how are we going to solve it? Ask questions to list all the possible solutions. Don t jump in. Make this a two-way process, so employees list as many ideas as possible. Don t analyze solutions yet. Just write them all down. 3. Agree on specific, curative actions After you list these solutions, ask, What are you going to do to resolve the problem? Then be silent. This is critical. Silence can be uncomfortable, so managers often step in to lead employees or to tell them what to do. Do not do that. Let the silence hang until employees respond. Make employees tell you what they will each do to solve their problems. If someone mumbles, I ll do what we talked about, ask, Which idea? Once an employee selects an action, ask, When will you begin? Get a specific commitment. Hear the employee commit to change, identify the change and set a start time. Thank employees for meeting with you and agreeing to act. Schedule a follow up session. 4. Follow up with the employee When employees fix their problematic behaviors, acknowledge their efforts by saying, I see you ve made progress and I appreciate it. Afterward, keep monitoring their improvement at ever widening intervals. If you don t, employees will believe that they never really needed to change. If change does not occur, don t let the matter slide. Ignoring continued bad undermines your authority and reinforces negative behavior. When employees do not keep their commitments, instead of taking them to task for not improving ask if you can help. Remember, The purpose of follow up is not score keeping, but to change the score. Clarify your expectations, remove any obstacles or answer any questions to help your employees succeed. This is your main job. You may need to repeat Step 3 (getting a commitment). If an employee still does not change, then your only recourse may be to fire him or her for willful insubordination. 5. Reinforce progress and achievements This is essential if you want the changed to continue. People repeat behaviors that are positively reinforced. Continued feedback, though perhaps at greater intervals, keeps employees on track. Remember, it s nearly impossible to praise anyone too much. When you see an employee do something positive, offer praise right away. Don t wait. Provide positive, specific praise and reinforcement frequently and sincerely, and you ll see an amazing difference in morale and, and in your department s results. About The Author Ferdinand F. Fournies is a business management speaker and consultant whose work has been translated into several languages. He is the author of Why Employees Don t Do What They re Supposed To Do and What To Do About It. Coaching for Improved Work Performance Copyright 2004 getabstract 5 of 5