Coaching helps employees achieve their goals

QOne of my managers is alienating his team with his harsh approach and is in jeopardy of being moved out of his role. To bring his style in line with expectations, is making coaching mandatory the best option?

AExecutive coaching is an excellent method for developing valued high-potential employees and high performers — to grow their leadership skills, create constructive behavioural change and enhance performance. It focuses on leveraging capabilities and inspiring the coachee to maximize their professional and personal potential.

Frame the coaching as a value-add to support the manager’s success in their current role, rather than a punitive process. When an under-performing employee is sent to coaching to ‘fix’ them, they often resent and resist the intervention.

The employee must perceive a positive benefit for them to fully engage in the process. Ensure the employee knows that even though they and their supervisor create leadership goals linked to the employee’s performance plan, the coaching is confidential. Coaching is never a replacement for a supervisor’s responsibility to set clear, specific and descriptive performance expectations, provide detailed ongoing feedback and conduct regular quality appraisals.

It is the supervisor’s role to identify and reinforce strong performance and redirect where improvement is needed so the employee has the framework to achieve their goals.

Augmenting the supervisor’s role with professional coaching increases the employee’s ownership of their performance, improves their capabilities, meets their current goals and develops them for the future.