Lesson 8

Coaching

Introduction

“Without a coach, people will never reach their maximum capabilities.” – Bob Nardelli.

As you progress throughout your career and begin to transition into leadership roles,
one thing becomes abundantly clear, it’s not about you. It’s about the performance of your
team, and the organization.
In today’s business environment, coaching plays a vital role due to a greater
appreciation of the value of an organization’s knowledge and human capital. To achieve
critical results and remain competitive, organizations see coaching not only as a means to
shape individual performance but also, increasingly, as a means to build broader
organizational capacity.
Because of this, coaching needs to be seen as a type of investment in the knowledge
capital of the organization, and that employees are like a portfolio of talent in which the
manager needs to invest time and energy. Through coaching, managers help each employee
focus on developing those capabilities that will contribute most to both individual and
organizational success.

Learning Objective

After studying the module, you should be able to:

1. learn the purpose and benefits of coaching.

Discussion

What is Coaching?
 Coaching is a term that’s widely used, with the meaning always depending slightly on the
situation it’s being used. In the Oxford Dictionary, the verb ‘to coach’ is provided with the following
definitions:

⚫ Train or instruct (a team or player)

⚫ Give (someone) extra teaching

⚫ Teach (a subject or sport) as a coach

⚫ Give (someone) instructions as to what to do or say in a particular situation

⚫ Give (someone) professional advice on how to attain their goals

The process is about one person helping another to improve, develop, achieve, and learn
something. It can be about obtaining a new skill or enhancing existing qualities. The focus is
generally on attitudes, behaviors and knowledge, but coaching could also be used for physical
and spiritual development.

Coaching can happen in a variety of situations, from official organizations to private

institutions; in public and in private life. You could even encounter coaching when you are being
taught to cook a new meal by your grandparents. Therefore, coaching can be informal or formal,
with different structures at play in the way you are being coached. The techniques and methods
used can vary depending on by whom, where and what you are trying to develop or improve.

• The process of equipping people with the tools, knowledge, and opportunities they need to fully
develop themselves to be effective in their commitment to themselves, the company, and their work.
• A “designed alliance” focused on developing an individual to become their “best self” and to contribute
their “best fit” and talents.
• An ego-less process in which coachable moments are created to draw out distinctions and promote
shifts in thinking and behavior.”

Many organizations, researchers and leaders have identified coaching as a critical leadership and
management competency. In addition, employees are asking more and more for coaching. True coaching
improves employee and organizational resiliency and effectiveness in change.

We define coaching as the skills, processes and knowledge through which people involve themselves
in making the maximum impact and constantly renewing themselves and their organizations as they
experience continuous change.

Coaching is not management skills re-packaged, although coaching draws on certain management
skills and competencies. Coaching deals with employee growth, development, and achievement by removing
roadblocks to performance and enhancing creativity. Management deals with supervision, evaluation and
meeting objectives.

Coaching is not therapy or counseling, although coaching uses some of the same communication
processes. Coaching is about creativity, performance and action, while therapy deals with resolution and
healing of the past.
 Coaching is not mentoring or consulting, although coaches will use their experience, diagnose
situations and give opinions or advice at times. Coaching uses all of one’s knowledge and experience to enable
the person being coached to create and develop their own best practices, connections and resources.

Finally, coaching is not training. Coaches give information, but they support those they coach in
developing their own skills and knowledge.

QUALITIES OF A GOOD COACH

Positive and
Good Listener
Enthusiastic

Good
Knowledgeable
communicator

Observant
 Supportive Empowering

Patient Respectful

Tactful

Effective Coaching Is Immediate

⚫ Coaching is often spontaneous

⚫ Coaching is most effective when it closely follows events or behavior

Effective Coaching Is Specific

⚫ What is done well and what needs improvement

⚫ Required skills and knowledge
⚫ Standards of good performance
⚫ Significance of the job
⚫ Corrective action

Effective Coaching Is Interactive

⚫ Discuss rather than lecture or give orders

⚫ Ask questions
⚫ Listen to what the employee has to say
⚫ Pay attention to body language
Purposes of Coaching

⚫ Inform
⚫ Teach
⚫ Guide
⚫ Recognize
⚫ Motivate
⚫ Assist
⚫ Develop
⚫ Empower

Benefits of Coaching

⚫ Improves quality and productivity

⚫ Boosts enthusiasm and morale
⚫ Strengthens relationships and communication
⚫ Increases job satisfaction
⚫ Improves teamwork
⚫ Builds trust and enhances loyalty
⚫ Helps you to keep in touch with workers
⚫ Lets you get closer to employees
⚫ Allows you to work with employees
⚫ Uses everyday situations to improve performance

Why Coaching in the Workplace and Why Now?

Coaching promotes creativity, breakthrough performance and resilience, giving organizations a
competitive edge and an effective way to flow and operate within an environment of continuous change.
Successful organizations like Hewlett Packard, IBM, MCI and others have recognized that managers must be
able to coach their employees and each other, and have included coaching in their management/leadership
development.

Coaching has been identified by these organizations as a critical leadership and management
competency.

Organizations are discovering that the traditional “command and control” style of management is no
longer effective in today’s environment, which requires rapid response, leveraged creativity, resilience, and
individual effort and performance in order to remain competitive.

Retention is critical, and coaching supports employee career/professional development and

satisfaction, which keeps valued employees.

Employees who are coached to performance rather than managed to performance are more
committed to and invested in the outcomes of their work and achievement of organizational goals.

Successful organizations have also discovered that on-going training of the workforce is necessary to
remain competitive. However, without coaching, training loses its effectiveness rapidly, and often fails to achieve
the lasting behavioral changes needed. While training is an “event”, coaching is a process, which is a valuable
next step to training to insure that the new knowledge imparted, actually becomes learned behavior.
Coaching has never been more necessary than now and into the future.
Moving forwards change will be the norm and individual resilience and performance will be crucial to
team and organizational success. Coaching leverages individual strengths and abilities for maximum
performance.

Coaching also provides for direct on-the-job learning as well as just-in-time learning tailored to the
particular situation. By enabling behavioral shifts, coaching allows projects and people to move forward
immediately and with less effort. Change in business today is often not linear, and requires quick shifts into
entirely new models. True coaching supports people in quick shifts needed to meet changing business
demands.

Today’s employees are experiencing the new employment “covenant” which developed in the ‘80’s
and is now a part of corporate life. Career self-reliance is a critical employee competency under the new
covenant, in which employees trade skills and contribution for development and opportunity. Managers and
leaders must coach their employees, as they become career self-reliant and engage in continuous career
development.

In today’s marketplace, adding value is key to business success.

Successful coaching adds value to employees, who then add value to their organizations by giving
their best. Employees want to be happy, productive and innovative, and coaching creates the environment
where this can happen. Coaching also supports diversity by recognizing every employee’s uniqueness.

Research and experience shows that employees perform better when positively coached, rather than
being constantly evaluated. Researchers have also seen that people with more positive attitudes are more
likely to succeed in their jobs and careers. Coaching fosters more positive employee attitude as a key
component of development, and enhances positive attitude through positive support.

Finally, coaching skills build and enhance team and work group performance, motivates sales
production, improve management and leadership, and promote diversity awareness and leveraging. Human
resource professionals have identified that in order to work well in the future, companies will need to hire
employees for their fit with the organization, rather than to fill job descriptions. Employee fit is assessed and
developed through coaching.

Managers also coach employees to become more career self-reliant and to develop their careers more
effectively.

Who Coaches in the Workplace?

Successful managers and leaders today are developing their coaching skills, in order to support and
enhance employee performance and development. Managers with coaching skills also “peer coach” each
other, as a key way to provide each other with support and guidance in challenging environments. Finally,
managers in a 360º feedback situation may “coach up” by coaching their superiors to enhance their own ability
to lead and manage.

Coaching provides not only a context for feedback, but also a process to support changed behavior.
The best workplace coaches are those who understand and develop their own coaching style, rather than
following a cookie cutter approach, who know how to “flex” their style to coach others, and who can use the
coaching process and concepts effectively through understanding and skill development.
How do Managers and Leaders Develop Effective Coaching Skills and Competencies?
Managers and leaders develop their competency in coaching by:

• Increasing their awareness of coaching and its benefits, and “buying in” to the concept and process;
• Educating themselves on coaching concepts and tools;
• Identifying their own coaching style and skill level, and learning to identify others’ preferences for being
coached;
• Practicing coaching using the best coaching tools and their own strengths; and continuously improving
and installing their coaching competency through feedback and on-going coaching.

While some managers may “take to” coaching more naturally than others at first, we find that the
managers, leaders and clients we work with all enjoy and become effective coaches once they are supported
by a model in finding and using their own unique coaching strengths. Coaching truly provides a win-win for both
coach and employee.

Coaching employees is a very important part of your job.

Coaching helps employees improve performance and grow professionally.

Coaching helps you develop closer, more effective working relationships with
employees.

You already possess the qualities that will make you a good coach.
 Entrepreneurial leadership is one of the factors that are critical for companies in enabling the
success of reaching their business objectives. Therefore, entrepreneurial leadership characteristics
of people in the leading position affect performance, continuity, effectiveness and productivity of the
companies. These people should have entrepreneurial leadership characteristics in order to gain
competitiveness advantages, grow and develop their companies and survive in this competitive
environment. In addition to leadership qualities, having an entrepreneurial spirit shows that the
person in the leading position is an entrepreneurial leader.

Entrepreneurial leaders ensure the development of existing jobs, can create new jobs in
business, can be spent on new ideas and innovations. Therefore, entrepreneurial leaders bring
capabilities complement each other, they build the right team and they should work with their team
towards common goals.

Entrepreneurial leaders know themselves and their environment very well and find new
opportunities creating value for businesses, stakeholders and society. The main motivation of
leaders is their desire to create social, environmental and economic opportunities. The lack of
resources or uncertainties don’t discourage them, instead these problems motivate them and lead
them to search for new solutions to overcome these problems. Entrepreneurial leaders don’t sink
into skepticism and they don’t remain under pressure of problems. They direct people to fight against
problems that seem impossible to solve by making analyses and finding solutions with their
productive thinking skills.

The main objective of many entrepreneurs in today are a quick way to make money and while
the aim of the investment for entrepreneurs provide their investment as possible soon, the main goal
of the entrepreneurial leaders create value. Because entrepreneurial leaders know that “Money does
not create value, but value creates money.”

Entrepreneurial leadership is considered as referring to entrepreneurship. It is one of the new

and modern leadership types. Entrepreneurship is about establishing a new business. On the other
hand, entrepreneurial leadership is creating new products, processes and expansion opportunities
in the companies, working in social institutions and stepping into participating in neglected social
problems, social and political movements, contributing to the transformation of existing services
and policies of non-governmental organizations and governments.

As a result, the need for entrepreneurial leaders in today’s companies is increasing day by
day. Therefore, applied trainings, seminars, conferences can be organized and projects can be
implemented in companies in order to increase the number of entrepreneurial leaders.