hr discussion

Slide #

Topic

Narration

1

Introduction

Welcome to Performance Management. In this lesson, we will discuss coaching and performance management and the role of on-the-job and informal development in performance management.

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2

Objectives

Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able to:

Analyze organizational approaches to performance coaching and other informal development approaches to performance management.

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3

Topics

Specifically, we will discuss the following topics:

The role of internal and external coaches;

Four stages of organizational approaches to coaching;

Seven elements of a coaching framework;

The GAPS grid;

Managerial coaching mistakes;

The manager’s role in coaching;

Performance management versus developmental coaching;

The role of HR personnel coaches; and,

Culture’s role in organizational coaching;

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4

The Role of Coaching

Often when you hear the word “coach” you think of someone associated with an athletic coach. In the workplace, coaches play similar roles as athletic coaches, but are concerned about performance in the workplace, not on a court, track, or field.

Some organizations are developing sophisticated talent development coaching programs as a competitive advantage. While other organizations are using coaching on an as-needed basis to improve worker performance.

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Four Stages of Coaching

Coaching has always been an informal part of an organization. However, formal programs around coaching started to become mainstream in organizations in the mid-1

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90s. Let us explore coaching’s worth to an organization by describing the role coaching takes for managers, human resource professionals and executive coaches.

There are four distinct, but building, phases of coaching in an organization.

The first stage is referred to as Ad Hoc Coaching. Individuals realize they have a need for coaching and seek it inside the organization.

The second stage is Managed Coaching. This stage is based either on the need to formalize an informal coaching program in order to rein in costs, or a champion inside the organization sees the value of coaching and helps to formalize a coaching program in the organization.

The third stage is Proactive Coaching. This is a formalized program that is driven by a specific need, such as onboarding new executives or driving a culture change.

Lastly, the fourth stage is Strategic Coaching. It is a formalized part of reaching a strategic goal, such as developing talent.

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Seven Elements of a Coaching Framework

Before an organization would formalize a coaching program, it would need a framework as a basis to start to build a program. There are seven elements of a coaching framework. They are:

One, coaching relationship;

Two, insight;

Three, motivation;

Four, capabilities;

Five, real-world practice;

Six, accountability; and

Seven, organizational context

The next few slides will describe each framework closer.

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Coaching Relationship

The coaching relationship is the chemistry between the coach and the client. It is often developed through trust, acceptance, understanding, as well as other relationship factors.

If a coach judges a client for her feelings, the coaching relationship will be soured. A good coach never judges an individual’s feelings. A good coach accepts that the client has those feelings and tries to help her make positive changes towards those feelings.

A poor coaching relationship will not likely yield positive results because the client will start withholding information in fear of being judged by the coach.

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Insight

Dictionary dot com defines insight as “an instance of apprehending the true nature of a thing, especially through intuitive understanding.” A coach cannot guess everything about a client, nor is there time to wait for certain things to be revealed. There are several important keys that should be revealed early in the relationship in order to reach a successful conclusion to coaching. This information could come from the client, a manager, the HR department, and current and past colleagues.

The first is knowledge of the client’s goals, values, and motivations. This will likely be established in the first meeting or through pre-work leading to the first meeting. This information is the foundation in which the coaching work builds upon.

Next is how the person perceives his or her own abilities and style. Most developmental coaching is around building a new skill or making a change. If the person is not aware of her own abilities and style, the coaching will stall. Worksheets and activities help bring this awareness to the client.

Getting feedback, or perceptions from others is important in helping the client make changes by helping the client see her own blind spots. Organizations commonly do this through three-hundred-sixty degree feedback activities.

Lastly, the success factors in a given role need to be identified so that the client and coach can discuss and work through obstacles. The HR department likely knows these and would give them to the coach early in the process.

Peterson, in

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06, summarized these four elements into the GAPS Grid. It stands for Goals and Values, Abilities, Perceptions, and Success Factors.

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Motivation

A client needs some motivation in order to start the coaching relationship. However, a coach can help the client build motivation though having a clear vision and strategy, translating those into clear goals and measures, and building acceptance or passion for the vision, strategy and goals identified.

The coaching process can be motivating for clients for other reasons. The first is that coaches listen well. Sometimes a client just needs someone to provide focused listening in order to feel less isolated with her issue or issues. Second, coaches willingly give praise and recognition. Some clients find their coaching sessions highly motivating because of the positive feedback they receive from their coach. Sadly, our culture is one in which praise and recognition are not regularly given.

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Capabilities

Much of the coaching that takes place in an organization is helping someone develop new capabilities, also known as developmental coaching. This will often be in response to an issue that is plaguing an employee that HR feels needs to be corrected or in response to a future promotion opportunity.

A coach can be valuable in providing a neutral perspective of a client’s current capabilities. Additionally, a coach can help a client develop capabilities by:

First, sharing new ideas and best practices;

Second, helping find appropriate resources;

Third, helping find learning opportunities;

Fourth, exploring alternatives to an obstacle, and

Lastly, practicing new skills and behavior with the client and providing useful feedback as the client practices.

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Real-World Experience

Coaching will work best when the coach and client use real-world experiences, rather than theoretical assumptions, such as “I think that would work at the office.” A coach does not have to physically step into the client’s work world. This merely means that the conversations between the client and coach can have a “real-world” perspective or approach, or can be tested in the real-world and reported back to the coach.

Stepping into this real-world approach helps clients in three ways.

First, it identifies specific situations for change.

Second, it helps clients put small changes into place.

And third, it can create personal strategies based on what is working and not working.

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Accountability

For any coaching activity to be successful there must be a foundation of holding the client accountable for change. This is a key role of the coach.

For any client, there will be varying degrees of resistance to change. This is where the coach’s bag of tools comes in handy. The coach is well trained to handle such resistance.

Coaches can enhance accountability by being encouraging, following up on commitments, and encouraging clients to seek more feedback from others.

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Organizational Context

There needs to be organizational buy-in for a formal coaching program to be successful because coaching takes time and money. In some organizations, a culture shift may be necessary in order for a coaching program to reach its goals. For example, if the organizational culture is to blame others, coaching will not be well received because coaching is about holding the client accountable for change.

Coaches can improve the buy-in or culture by:

Teaching the client to anticipate and address barriers;

Enlisting others in the process; and

Consulting with leaders to cultivate a receptive culture.

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Managerial Coaching Mistakes

Managers who step into the coaching role are not always meeting their client’s, or direct report’s, needs. Research finds that managers tow-the-line of organization’s goals and provide coaching that is directive towards those goals. Whereas, the same research finds this to be a disconnect with the direct reports. The direct reports indicated they wanted coaching from their managers that is facilitative and supportive in nature.

This means that a typical manager who coaches an employee might use language such as “Just use the tracking software to do the task.” This is directive in the manner of telling the employee how to do his job.

Instead, the research is saying that the employee wants the manager to be facilitative and supportive. Perhaps the issue is not about the software, but the computer the employee is using is too slow for the tracking software to function efficiently. In this case, the manager could be both facilitative and supportive by saying to the employee, “It sounds like you need a new computer. Fill out the necessary paperwork and I will sign it.”

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Manager’s Coaching Role

The manager’s coaching role is divided into two categories. First, let’s discuss what the manager in the coaching role focuses on while in each stage.

The Ad Hoc stage is typical of informal coaching. Coaches are typically focused on conversations with their clients that are about being insightful and holding the client accountable to actions and behaviors.

The second stage is an evolutionary step behind an informal ad hoc basis into a formalized coaching program referred to as managed coaching. Managers who become coaches are likely to receive formalized training on the coaching process. This training results in a manager having conversations that are not only insightful and accountable, but also add language about capabilities and application to the real-world.

The proactive coaching stage turns from the reactive nature of the first two stages into setting the organization’s intention to formalize and stabilize a coaching program to benefit the organization in the long-run. In addition to a manager having a conversation with a client about insight and accountability, the manager is adding motivation and the organizational context to the conversations.

There are few organizations that have reached the fourth stage of using coaching as a strategic tool. Managers operating in this stage have the responsibility to continuously coach their direct reports. This is an expectation and coaching is often supported by the organization’s culture. There is a clear focus on who, when, and why coaching is used in the organization. Managers, then, focus their efforts on meeting the priorities established by the organization.

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Manager’s Tools

One tool used by managers, often in the ad hoc stage, is the DESC model. The DESC model is an accountability tool. It stands for:

Describe the behavior;

Express your feelings about it;

Specify the desired change; and

Create consequences for non compliance.

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Manager’s Tools, continued

Coaching takes time and a busy manager needs tools that streamline the coaching process. The GROW model is such a tool. It stands for:

Goal setting for the session including long and short-term;

Reality checking to explore the situation;

Options and alternative strategies, or courses of actions; and

What is to be done, when, by whom, and the will to do it.

By using this model for each coaching session, a manager can cut to the issues, find solutions, and create accountability efficiently and effectively.

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Behaviors of a Good Manager Coach

A survey of managers in a focus-group setting asked the managers what they valued in a manager-coach and then compiled the answers into a list of ten behaviors. Here is the list of those responses.

Number one, is to clarify results or the performance desired;

Number two, is to provide honest, ongoing, and balanced feedback;

Number three, is to base feedback on accurate assessments;

Number four, is to know the client’s strengths and weaknesses; and

Number five, is to offer expert advice on performance improvement.

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Behaviors of a Good Manager Coach, continued

The list continues with identifying the bottom five behaviors.

Number six, is to develop a working relationship based on mutual benefit and trust;

Number seven, is to understand the context, pressure and demands of the client;

Number eight, is to give support in solving client’s problems;

Number nine, is to help the client prioritize and stay focused; and

Lastly is number ten, which is to create accountability for performance improvement.

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Performance Coaching vs. Developmental Coaching

While the process of performance management and developmental coaching is the same, the types of conversations are different between the two.

The primary purpose of performance management conversations is to drive immediate change in current behavior to meet expectations. These conversations have a sense of urgency.

Developmental coaching conversations have a wider range of purposes and it is generally most appropriate to start conversations about goals and values.

The performance coach helps understand why the behavior is not being conducted and helps the worker make changes. The developmental coach asks the worker about individual goals and helps the worker develop a plan to reach it and may even be present during practice of the new skill. Another way of looking at this is that a performance coach helps figure out why a target is not being hit, while a developmental coach helps teach how to hit the target.

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Best Practices for Manager-Coaches

In many organizations managers are responsible for providing coaching to their staff members. Often times, this is an objective or item in which the manager’s performance is evaluated. To help managers step into their role as manager-coach, here are some best practices around the seven elements of a coaching framework.

First, to build a coach and coachee relationship the coach must take time to explore what is important to the coachee. Without this knowledge, the coaching sessions will likely be unproductive.

Second, a manager can build insight by clearly communicating expectations and success factors to the coachee.

Third, motivation can be built by indentifying specific personal and organizational benefits for development.

Fourth, a manager can increase capabilities by encouraging the coachee to prepare development plans.

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Best Practices for Manager-Coaches, continued

Fifth, helping the coachee find or create opportunities that stretch her capabilities will help build the coachee’s real-world practice.

Sixth, accountability can be strengthened when the manager holds regular conversations with the coachee to gauge progress against developmental objectives.

Seventh, the organizational context for coaching can be achieved by asking the coachee what organizational barriers are getting in his way and then brainstorm ways to work around them.

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The HR Role in Coaching

Coaching often falls under the umbrella of the HR department because the department is often associated with supporting managers and dealing with people issues.

Specifically, the HR department plays a wide range of roles including the following:

First, provide counsel and perspective to key leaders as a trusted adviser.

Second, coach and advise managers on their people issues.

Third, facilitate broad-based feedback to employees.

Forth, support development planning efforts.

Fifth, provide career coaching, planning, and exploration assistance.

Sixth, handle sensitive and challenging people issues.

And, seventh, fill in as a coach for people when managers lack the time, skills, or courage.

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Pros and Cons

The question of whether or not to use HR professionals as coaches versus contracting with external coaches is often a dilemma organizations have to work through. Here is a partial list of the pros and cons of keeping the coaching function in the HR department.

The pros include:

One, it is less expensive to use HR professionals in the coaching role than it is to contract with external consultants. This not only helps the organization manage costs, it also builds internal capabilities for the organization.

Second on the list is that an internal coach will have existing knowledge of the organization, including the business model, customers, operations, and culture.

Third, someone inside the organization will have more opportunities to observe behaviors in the natural environment.

This leads to the fourth benefit, which is providing immediate feedback based on the observed behaviors.

Now for the cons.

First, rarely are coaches designated only as coaches in the organization. They often have other roles and responsibilities that need to be conducted.

Second, being an internal employee helping another employee may present conflicts of interest that will not likely occur for an external coach.

Third, confidentiality may take longer to build or may even be compromised when the coachee wonders how the information shared in the coaching session will be used.

And fourth, establishing credibility as a coach may take time or never occur as the HR department does not have a strong reputation for helping people.

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Utilizing External Coaches

When organizations move past the ad hoc stage of coaching and are ready to create a systematic approach to coaching, there are several steps involved with utilizing external coaches. The next three slides discuss this process.

The first step is about selection. Organizations must determine the need and then hire a coach that is best suited to fill that need. This may take some time to develop and screen potential coaches, and there are many coaching specialties.

The second step is to build a team that will support the coachee and the coach. Developing talent in the organization involves the employee’s manager, among others in the organization, who will be called upon to give support to the coachee.

Third, create a process to manage the pool of coaches used in the organization. This includes screening, hiring, orienting, and evaluating external coaches.

Fourth, to build consistency in the coaching results, all coaches and coachees should follow a process. This aids in making the evaluation step easier.

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Utilizing External Coaches, continued

Fifth is to promote coaching inside the organization by letting employees know the program and how to get involved.

The sixth step is to measure the impact the coaching process is having in terms of results. This will help justify the time and money spent, as well as let the organization know if changes need to be made.

The next step is to tailor the coaching to fit the organizational culture. Because cultures vary from organization to organization, a process that best fits the culture will realize the best results.

Then, differentiate between internal and external coaches. Design a screening method that helps identify the person best suited to help the employee. Whether it is an internal or external coach, the organization must determine who is best to serve that coachee in terms of time, skills, and availability.

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The ninth step is to align coaching to a business need, goal or rationale.

The tenth step is to integrate coaching by identifying where coaching does and does not fit in the organization’s talent management system. Organizations that truly get the greatest value from coaching are those that know as much about when not to use coaching as they do about when to use it.

And lastly, the eleventh step is to measure impact again; however, this measurement is geared towards a bigger picture in how coaching is building talent that contributes directly to organizational outcomes.

While these steps were presented in a logical sequence, they can be completed in any order.

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Culture’s Role

The culture of the organization is important in determining the organization’s success in driving alignment and ultimately the success of reaching the organization’s vision, strategy and goals.

An organization’s who culture is to blame someone else when things go wrong will have a difficult time aligning to goals that require a new form of accountability. Another example of a culture not aligning to goals and strategy comes from the auto industry. General Motors had a culture of over looking quality for speed in production on the assembly line. No matter how many pockets of quality-minded workers existed in GM, the culture was so entrenched, that it took many failed attempts, and ultimately a bankruptcy to start a change in the culture.

The organization’s leaders are equally responsible for setting the right culture in order to align the organization to meet its vision, strategy and goals.

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Check Your Understanding

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Summary

We have now reached the end of this lesson. Let’s take a look at what we’ve covered.

We first looked at the role of formal and informal coaching in an organization. We discussed the four stages of coaching. They are:

Ad hoc;

Managed coaching;

Proactive coaching; and

Strategic coaching.

This followed with a discussion of each of the seven elements of a coaching framework. These are:

Coaching relationship;

Insight;

Motivation;

Capabilities;

Real-world practice;

Accountability; and

Organizational context.

Next, we discussed the manager’s role in coaching. Managerial coaching has been recognized as a powerful tool for developing employees, enhancing job satisfaction, and improving job performance. The DESC and GROW models are two tools managers as coaches can use to aid in the coaching process. They help the coach and coachee save time by getting to the issues to be addressed quickly.

Then we discussed the difference between performance management and developmental coaching. The goal of performance management is to help improve behaviors by making the expectations clear and helping employees overcome the obstacles getting in their way. This is a reactive mode of coaching. Developmental coaching is a proactive type of coaching. It is less urgent than performance coaching. It is about developing new skills and behaviors in preparation for something new.

We then identified the pros and cons of using internal coaches, who often work in the HR department. The pros and cons helps identify when to use an external coach and when to utilize an internal coach.

We concluded by discussing how the organization’s culture can impede or facilitate the success of the organization’s coaching efforts.

This completes this lesson.