Kris Koonar asked:
Coaching can help both corporate clients and individuals achieve their full potential. The coach assists in introducing positive and lasting change by identifying problems and devising long term solutions. In addition, good coaching increases the quality, effectiveness and productivity of the group. This makes the job of a manager easier and helps to build employee skills and independence. Using tools to enhance and encourage employee performance, good coaching techniques can help the organization perform at its potential.
Performance Coaching
Performance coaching is not about leadership coaching or executive coaching. It is about improving the performance of an organization. It has the potential to deliver tangible benefits to both the organization and its individuals. Coaches focusing on performance formulate models to highlight problems, and to structure solutions.
A feedback report from the coachees (people who are being coached) is also a part of performance improvement coaching. This helps the team members to evaluate the skills of their manager, and assists in building their individual capabilities.
Managers acting as coach to team members, help in delivering positive results. Hence, if they lack leadership skills, it adversely affects the overall performance.
By engaging in performance improvement for the industry, managers identify factors like interpersonal issues, skills, knowledge, attitudes, skills, etc., causing failure.
The coach uses certain parameters to gauge performance, based on some key qualities of the coachees. The three main principles essential for performance to excel are the interest, dedication and aptitude displayed by the performers. In addition, their commitment is assessed for the improvement of their ability.
Lastly, it is found, that people do benefit from working with the coach.
Job of the Performance Coach
When compared to present day performance coaching, traditional coaching has many limitations. In the traditional method, the coach is passive and does not have the necessary techniques to tackle certain situations. The performance coach, however, uses more innovative methods, which have had a demonstrable record, and are in use even after 10-20 years of their inception.
The job of the business performance coach also includes assisting in recruiting and retaining of employees. This helps building a rewarding and profitable business. After developing some important human resource systems, the coach refers to it for the day-to-day management of the company.
To avoid unpleasantness while working together, it is better to maintain a healthy relationship between the coach and the members. Both need to keep their cool and avoid situations leading to disagreements. Coaches cannot afford to quit, or ignore the situation, if unpleasantness does occur. They need to assume a proactive role to resolve the situation so that business performance is not hindered, resulting in the company incurring losses.
Uses of Performance Coaching in Business
When working with a performance coach one can expect immediate and long lasting changes in the performance of the team. They get to the root of problems and devise strategies to correct them. If two or more companies have been merged, the managers strive to create a cohesive working strategy, to simplify operations.
Other than managerial functions, the performance coach tries to keep down company overheads by hiring and retaining the best employees. The main goal of any company being profit, performance coaches work with the company to increase overall profitability.
One size does not fit all. Different companies have different needs and prospects for improvement. Performance coaches keep this in mind and formulate improvement plans accordingly. In conclusion, the underlying principles of business expansion and prosperity are common to all companies. Performance coaches identify and implement these principles scientifically and effectively.