Most managers know that Coaching employees is a very effective tool to boost performance. But coaching has another benefit. When employees are doing a good job at work, morale is a lot higher.

Coaching employees works best when managers demonstrate a genuine or sincere interest in helping the employee, while at the same time empowering them to solve job-related problems and challenges. Coaches must be able to diagnose factors contributing to performance related problems and help employees identify strategies for dealing with them. Below are 8 steps to successfully coach employees to better results.

• Determine your goal. Before the discussion, clearly define what you hope to accomplish. This will help you stay on track and avoid any distractions that the employee may introduce. Remember that you are having this discussion to talk about a performance problem, not the employee’s attitude or personality.

• Describe your factual observations. In neutral, factual terms, describe the problem that must be addressed or the skill that must be learned. Remember, this is a discussion to uncover causes for the performance problem and work toward solutions, not to place blame. When coaching employees, it’s important to focus attention on the performance problem, not the employee.  Example: Instead of saying “Lately you have been careless at reviewing your work”, describe your observations: “Your last three reports contained inaccuracies in the data.“

• Discuss behaviors or results, not personality traits. Your objective is to change what the employee does, not who they are. You will never change someone’s personality, but you can alter their behavior.  Example: Instead of saying “You have no initiative”, describe what they need to do: “Whenever you see a parent come in to sign up their child, you should immediately ask if you can help them.”  It is also important to remember that employees with problems also have strengths. If the person feels that you have also recognized their good points in the past, they will be more open to hearing your concerns as well.

• Explain why it’s important. People often truly do not understand the effect of their behavior on others or on the work. So if there are performance issues, describe how they are adversely affecting business results, customers, co-workers, yourself, the employee’s career, etc.  Example: “When your financial records are inaccurate, that throws off all the market projections for next quarter” or  “When you arrive late each morning, other people have to greet people at the front desk”.

• Ask for the employee’s help in solving the problem.  Coaching discussions should be two-way conversations.  To make it two-way, you must ask questions to understand the employee’s point of view and engage them in solving the problem. The best way to get the employee’s commitment is to ask for his/her help in deciding what to do about the performance problem. This will boost the employee’s self-esteem because it signals that you value his/her ideas. And when the employee realizes that you want to hear what he/she has to say, you are more likely to get cooperation and commitment. If you do all the talking, the employee is likely to tune you out.  You should ask an open ended question (starting with “How”, “What”, “Who” or “When”) right after you’ve described the problem.  Example: “What do you think caused the inaccuracies in the financial reports?” or “What situations keep you from assisting a customer right away?”

• Get input on possible solutions.  Instead of dictating a solution, explore the employee’s ideas. Employees will be more committed to their own proposals, and they often have good suggestions. If not, you can always propose a different approach. This last piece is very important- Often, you as the manager may also need to make some changes to support the employee.

• Agree on specific action steps taken by each of you. At this point you are ready to pinpoint exactly what must be done, by whom and by when, to correct the performance problem. Assign responsibilities for specific actions and write them down. If you do not end with specific action steps, nothing will change. Example: “So we agree that as soon as you see a customer waiting at the front desk, you will immediately go to the counter. We do not want customers waiting more than 20 seconds.  If you are helping another customer, tell the other customer that you will call someone else to help them right away.  I’ll evaluate progress based on my own observations and complaints/praise from customers. Let’s meet again in two weeks to see how things are going.”

• End on a positive note and schedule a follow-up discussion to assess progress. Thank the employee for participating in the discussion and for their willingness to resolve the problem. Express your confidence in their ability to make changes and your desire for them to succeed.  Offer to help in any way that is reasonable. Then schedule a follow-up meeting to discuss any progress or problems and plan further action.  So – if no change occurs, then you must begin to discuss possible consequences.  Example: “For the past two weeks, I have still continued to observe customers waiting at the counter.   If we can’t resolve this problem, then I may need to move you off the sales floor” or “You have continued to make mistakes in at least half off your reports this past month. If this continues, it will be reflected in your performance review.” But – if the employee does change, express your appreciation!! Example: “Your past three financial reports were 100% accurate. I really appreciate your making the effort to improve in this area.”

Good luck in coaching employees in your workplace. I would love to hear how your conversations go!  If you need help in how to have the conversation, feel free to contact me.