These days we hear a lot about coaching in the workplace. There seems to be a coach for any type of need or challenge. There are life coaches, presentation coaches, sales coaches, and yes, I include myself in the mix as a performance coach. It’s safe to say that coaching isn’t going away anytime soon, and that is a good thing. With the rapid pace and the amount of change we currently find ourselves dealing with, coaching within organizations is now a necessity.
The global marketplace demands that people consistently perform at their best in order for their organizations to thrive. Managers need to be effective coaches to achieve their objectives, and to allow people to perform at their best. The days of the coach being a “teller” of what to do, and how to do it are over. This approach doesn’t produce great results in the area of sports or within organizations.
Here are a few coaching strategies you can use that will help you build a human performance culture.
Encourage reflective thinking
Yes, as basic as that sounds, reflective thinking is one of the best strategies people and athletes use with their coaches to improve performance. Helping people assess their own performance, good and bad, and develop possible performance solutions, gives them ownership of their performance development. This allows the manager/coach to act as a guide rather than a teller of what to do.
Celebrate the setbacks
We often hear organizations need to be more creative and innovative than ever before. To do this, people need to be in an environment that allows risk taking, without the fear of punishment for a failure or setback. Instead, what effective coaches do in human performance organizations is celebrate and learn from failures. This ensures everyone in the organization learns from failures and helps to create a culture of prudent risk taking and innovation.
Wear multiple coaching hats
There are many coaching models and certifications, which at times can seem overwhelming. All of them have unique offerings and specialties, and share some basic fundamentals. So it’s essential managers are able to wear different coaching hats depending on the performance situation. Some days there will be a need for performance coaching and other days there could be a need for a life coaching approach to situations in order for people and teams to accomplish their objectives.
Coaching for performance is a mindset, and if you manage, or aspire to manage a team, spend some time developing your coaching skills.
All the best in achieving your highest performance.
Paul
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