The Achiles Heel of COACHING

Transcription

1 The Achiles Heel of COACHING The most critical step in the coaching process - getting an employee to agree there s a need for improvement - is usually not well understood or well executed. Without that, there s litle likelihood of any permanent change. By Kenneth R. Phillips While the heading home at day s end you begin reflecting on a coaching meeting you had earlier that day with an employee, Chris. You hope that this time, you finally succeeded in getting him to understand the importance of spending less time socialising in the office. If not, you feel that your only remaining alternatives are to give him a poor performance evaluation or demotion or maybe even fire him. You re reluctant to do either of the first two things because you know they would disrupt the positive work relationship you ve had with Chris, and you don t realy want to fire him. On the other hand, you re running out of patience; this is the fourth time you ve said something to Chris about the situation. Admittedly, the first few times your comments may have missed the mark because you gave him only some casual feedback. But about a month ago, you held a formal coaching meeting with Chris, in which you discussed the situation in depth and came away thinking that he understood the need to change his behaviour. In fact, he did change. But after a week or so, he was back to his old behaviour. Sound familiar? Coaching is viewed as a way to provide ongoing feedback to employees about their performance. Coaching is just as applicable in traditionally managed organisations as it is in those structured around teams. People at all organisational levels as well as team leaders can use coaching. But unless you can get an employee to recognise and agree that he or she needs to improve and change, coaching is likely to fail. Not a chewing out As the use of coaching rises, so does the confusion over what it is and isn t. I define coaching as an interpersonal process between a manager and an employee in which the manager helps the employee redirect his or her performance while maintaining mutual trust. Coaching differs from feedback, although feedback is part of the coaching process. A manger or supervisor in response to a specific event or situation gives feedback; coaching focuses on a pattern of behaviour. Examples include missing several deadlines in a short period despite being reminded that meeting deadlines is important, continuing to arrive late for work after being told tardiness is not acceptable, and continuing to interupt others in spite of receiving feedback that such behaviour isn t appropriate. Coaching is not chewing out, taking to task, or threatening employees to try to improve their performance. Those tactics can work but the results may be worse than the original problem. Such approaches tend to make employees passive-aggressive. They will walk the lineand do nothing more or les than what s asked. In general, a coaching meeting should take place only after an employee understands clearly what s expected and has received feedback at least once that his or her performance is not what it could or should be. However, in some cases, certain significant events may be the focus of a coaching meeting, before they develop into a pattern of behaviour. For example, a manufacturer decided that any safety violation - no 1

2 matter how minor - would be addressed in a coaching discussion and, if significant, could lead to formal discipline. Coaching involves these elements: a two-way dialogue a series of interdependent steps or objectives specific coaching skills mutual satisfaction The coaching process has two primary areas of focus : helping an employee recognise the need to improve his or her performance and developing an employee s commitment to taking steps to improve performance permanently. Here are the main steps in the coaching process : 1. build mutual trust 2. open the meeting 3. get agreement on the performance problem 4. explore solutions 5. get a commitment from the employee to take action 6. handle excuses 7. close the meeting All of the steps are important, but the most critical one is often not understood or carried out effectively - geting an employee to recognise and agree that there s a need to improve his or her performance. That step is equally important whether an employee has a specific performance problem or an employee is an average performer who could do beter. Without agreement, there s litle likelihood that any improvement wil occur or that it will be permanent. In my experience, I ve found that there are several reasons managers fail to get employees to agree that they have a problem. They Assume. Many managers bypass the step of getting agreement because they assume that an employee views the problem in the same way that they do. However, that is often not the case, especially when the performance problem is a pattern of behaviour rather than a single event. People generally do things that they perceive to be in their own best interest. So employees who realise that their work behaviour isn t in their best interest are more likely to change. In a typical coaching situation - especially one involving a behaviour pattern - an employee is likely to perceive mostly positive reasons for continuing his or her behaviour. Take an employee whose pattern is being late for work. Let s asume that the employee knows what the work hours and has received feedback from his or her boss about being late. So why does the employee continue to be tardy? He or she probably sees fewer negative consequences for being late than positive ones - such as, avoiding rush-hour traffic, having a leisurely breakfast, sleeping late, or feeling autonomous. 2

3 They Avoid. Another reason managers fail to get agreement is that they avoid coaching situations because they feel uncomfortable confronting employees. They hope that employees will discover the eror of their ways. But that s not likely because employees tend to see mostly positive reasons for continuing their behaviour. They Generalise. Many managers talk only generally about an employee s performance problem instead of citing specifics. In such cases, an employee isn t likely to see that his or her performance is diferent from what s expected or from others behaviour - particularly regarding such issues as turning in late reports, taking extra time for lunch, leaving work early, and socialising too much. Unless a manager can point specifically to what an employee has done over what length of time and how that compares to an agreed-to expectation or other employees performance during the same period, the employee isn t likely to think his or her behaviour is a problem. Right string, Wrong yo-yo. Many managers seek agreement on the wrong issue. They strive to get an employee to agree on the events leading up to a coaching meeting but miss the larger, more important issue - that a performance problem occurs each time the event happens. For example, a manager might try to get an employee to agree that he submitted two late reports rather than agree that turning in late reports is a problem. The key is what a manager actually says to an employee. Not this : Jim, twice this past month you turned in late reports. You know that my expectation is that all reports will be completed by deadline. Do you agree that you turned in two late reports?. This : Jim, twice this past month you turned in late reports. You know that my expectation is that all reports will be completed by deadline. Do you agree that there s a problem here that needs atention?. To get an employee to agree that a problem exists, a manager must do two things. One - he or she has to paint a mental picture for an employee that there is a difference between what is expected and what the employee is doing. To paint that picture clearly, a manager must juxtapose two pieces of information for an employee to visualise. a description of what the employee has done, using whatever numbers or facts can be gathered about the employee s performance a clarification of the manager s expectations of the employee in the performance area under discussion Positioning those two pieces of information together, using specifics, enables an employee to see the difference between his or her performance and what s expected or what others are doing. For example, imagine a situation in which someone on your staff has been turning in late reports for several months. Each time it happened you reminded that employee that you expected the reports to be in on time. Now, you might say something like : I m not sure you are aware, but over the past two months, three out of your last four reports have been late, from one to three days. I thought I had made it clear that my expectation is that al reports wil be on time.. 3

4 Another thing a manager must do to get agreement is help an employee understand the negative consequences asociated with his or her behaviour. Imagine that the employee s performance problem is a balance scale. Before a coaching meeting, the scale is tilted towards the side stacked with all of the reasons an employee might see for continuing his or her behaviour. A manager s task is to tilt the scale in the other direction sot hat an employee can see more negatives than positives associated with the behaviour. Then a manager will be able to get an employee to agree that a problem exists. Pseudo Questions: Getting agreement depends on the same process used to help an employee recognise and understand the negative consequences of his or her behaviour. But many managers do one of two things: They tell an employee what the negative consequences that they have already identified. Examples of pseudo questions include Isn t it true that.? Wouldn t you agree that.? Don t you think that.? A manager who asks pseudo questions isn t realy seeking answers. Instead, he or she is trying to get an employee to respond in a certain way, while making is appear that the employee came up with the idea. The problem with a manager dictating the negative consequences is that it usually causes an employee to withdraw from the conversation. Because a manager does most or all the talking in that approach, employees tend to tune out and think. This too shal pas. To truly recognise and understand the negative consequences associated with their behaviour, employees have to be involved in the discussion. Lecturing them pretty much guarantees that getting their sincere agreement will be impossible. The problem with pseudo questions is that employees see them as manipulative. Such questions make employees feel defensive. When that happens, they stop listening and focus on coming up with responses to defend themselves. For an employee to agree on the need to improve, a manager must engage in a dialogue with the employee to identify the negative consequences. Tilting the scale away from an employee s positive reasons for continuing his or her behaviour towards the negative consequences has to happen in direct, open and honest two-way communication. That starts with a manager asking an employee to identify any consequences that he or she is aware of. Typically, employees know of several negative consequences, especially if the performance problem is a pattern of behaviour and they have received feedback about it. As an employee identifies each negative consequence, a manager should make a supportive remarks - such as, That does happen I agree or That s true. Verbal support reinforces that the negative consequence is actual and it encourages employees to think of additional ones. A manager can elaborate or piggy back on a negative consequence. For example, let s say that an employee identifies that a negative consequence of talking on the phone too much is that it might be difficult for people outside of the department to contact her. After supporting the employee s statement, the manager can add that is also might be difficult for people in the department to contact her. When an employee runs out of negative consequences, a manager should point out the consequences that the employee hasn t identified Stil, managers shouldn t try to manipulate employees into coming up with those consequences. Instead they should be direct, open and honest. Managers shouldn t give employees a laundry list, just one or two items. Then, they should redirect the discussion to see whether an employee has thought of any more. Studies show that the most effective managers at coaching talk no more than 65% of the time. 4

5 Natural and imposed: Managers should keep in mind that there are two types of negative consequences : natural reoccurring and imposed. Natural reoccurring consequences happen automatically each time an employee engages in the behaviour a manager is trying to change. For example, a natural reoccurring consequence associated with socialising too much is that it can keep other people from completing their work. Imposed consequences are actions a manager will initiate if an employee doesn t agree to change his or her behaviour. An example of an imposed consequence is not being recommended for promotion. First, managers should identify natural reoccuring consequences. If they re unable to get an employee s agreement on the problem, they should discus the potential imposed consequences - but only as a last resort because employees tend to see them as threats. The imposed consequences must be realistic and managers have to be willing to initiate them. In other words, don t threaten termination unles you re prepared to do it. It is not always obvious whether the scale has tilted. Consequently, managers should test regularly to see whether an employee agrees that there is a performance problem. To do that, a manager can ask: Do you now agree that there is a problem? Tilting the scale can take a long time or happen quickly, depending on whether an employee sees more positive reasons or negative ones for continuing his or her behaviour. Keep in mind that tilting the scale isn t just a matter of identifying more negatives than positives. In a given situation, employees will see negatives and positives as having different degrees of importance. Generally, employees think negative consequences that are imminent are very important. What s important is to have coaching meetings that improve performance permanently, while enabling managers and employees to maintain a positive relationship. A Coaching Dialogue: The following dialogue shows how to get an employee to agree on a performance problem. The scenario involves an employee who has been turning in status reports late. Painting a mental picture: Manger: As I said in my message, Alan, I wanted to meet with you this morning to talk about your weekly project status reports. I know I ve been a litle late a few times, but I think I have everything under control now. I m glad to hear that, but I wonder if you re aware of exactly how many reports have been late the past two months? I suppose two or three. I remember you talking to me about this before. You re right. I have mentioned it to you three times before. But are you aware that during the past two months, six out of the eight reports have been late? I thought that during our previous conversations, I d made it clear that my expectation is that status reports will be turned in on time. 5

6 I gues I didn t realise it was that often. So, do you think this is an area in which there s room for improvement? I gues so, but I think it s also important to keep in mind that the primary focus of my job is installing and debugging computer systems, not filling out reports. I agree. But I m curious, Alan. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 representing the most important aspects of your job, how do you rate completing reports? About 3 or 4. importance. So, you are aware that completing reports on time has a measure of Sure, but the installation and debugging are more important - a 9 or 10. Tilting the scale: I agree. But I wonder whether you re aware of some consequences when you don t turn in reports on time. You get on my back. You re right. What else? Well, a couple of people have joked that they thought I was getting special treatment because I don t have to turn in my reports when everyone else does. But I don t think that s the case. I hope not because that s not my intention. Can you think of any other consequences? Not really. Manger: I already agreed that s the main focus of your job, but I think we also agreed that completing the reports on time was also part of your job. Yes, but not nearly as important as the other parts. True. What else do you think happens when your reports are late? I m not sure. Let me share a couple of things with you. One is that on Mondays, I get calls from department managers wanting an update. If I don t have your status report. I can t answer their questions. I can see how that could be embarrassing. 6

7 Manger: Right. But it s not just my embarasment that I m concerned about. It also gives our department a bad reputation. I can see that, too. In addition, when your reports are late, that puts me in a bind to get my summary reports to my boss on time. flexibility. I m sory if I ve caused you problems. I guess I assumed you had more I accept your apology. I know you weren t trying to create problems for me. But can you now see how this is something that has to be addressed? I can see that it causes more problems that I was aware of, but I still don t see that it s such a big deal. I feel like we re losing sight of the main focus of my job. I think we agree on the primary focus of your job. The dificulty we re having is agreeing on the importance of getting reports in on time. What do you think I m going to be forced to do if you don t start turning in reports on time? I suppose you l include it on my performance appraisal? Yes. What else? I suppose you could stop giving me projects and stick me with less interesting jobs. That s also true, but I don t want to do that if I don t have to. Can you think of anything else? Not really. Well, there is one more thing. There are opportunities to be a group leader, but unless you demonstrate some administrative capabilities, like doing your reports on time, I d be reluctant to give you one of those asignments. I don t want that to happen. Can you now see how this is something that needs to be corrected? 7

8 Scale is tilted: If I m going to mis out on opportunities to be a group leader, as wel as the other things we talked about, I agree that I had better do something to start getting the reports in on time. Good. I m glad that we both see this as something that needs improvement. Now, what do you think you can do to get reports in promptly? The manager is now ready to shift the focus of the meeting to mutual problem solving. That is achieved by working with the employee to identify possible solutions. Had the manager changed the focus at any earlier point, she wouldn t have had the employee s agreement that there was a performance issue. CFM Consulting Limited is a bespoke consultancy specialising in coaching, personal learning and corporate development. We provide the following services: Executive coaching Personal development 20 Bruce Avenue, Personal generic benchmarking Dunblane, Leadership coaching FK15 9JB. Risk assessments Phone/fax: Health & Safety Workshops peter.hill2@btinternet.com NLP training Facilitation training CFM and the Chinese device is the trademark of CFM Consulting Limited. CFM Consulting Limited