“I don’t know how”: Leaders don’t feel enabled to coach effectively
Leaders may hesitate to engage in coaching due to a lack of confidence or unclear expectations. This stems from an organisational culture that doesn’t prioritise coaching or define responsibilities like frequency, duration, and desired outcomes.
The biggest obstacle to effective coaching is a lack of training, with 66% of managers reporting never receiving any formal training for their roles. Integrating coaching into daily interactions is essential to foster a culture that values coaching. Offering training on how to set specific goals and emphasising the benefits of coaching is a significant first step.
Training can also show leaders how to incorporate coaching into routine activities and highlight its positive impact on employee performance, team dynamics, and business outcomes (e.g., retention and performance), motivating them to embrace coaching.
Steps in behavioural coaching
The key message for leaders is that behavioural coaching isn’t complex—it’s simply a more effective way to have the conversations they’re already having. Leaders can apply behavioural coaching anytime during on-the-job conversations. While it can also occur in scheduled meetings, it’s not required. In both cases, there are key steps to follow when engaging in behavioural coaching.
The steps outlined below are an accessible guide for new and experienced coaches:
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Assessment: Crucial at the start of coaching, the assessment phase involves using tools like 360-degree feedback, interviews, and behavioural inventories, followed by sharing the results with the employee. Assessments should establish a baseline for the employee’s behavioural preferences, and coaches should understand the results well enough to explain them effectively.
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Goal setting: Using insights from the assessment, coaches and employees should set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Bound) goals to keep coaching efforts focused and on track.
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Developing a relationship: Building trust early is essential. Coaches should understand the employee’s view of coaching, address misconceptions, and ask questions to show concern, build trust, and gain insights.
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Intervention: During the intervention stage, coaches help employees practice successful job behaviours. This may involve asking questions, reflecting on behavioural preferences, revisiting past challenges, or preparing for upcoming tasks. The goal is to build on assessment results and reinforce effective behaviours.
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Evaluation: Continuous evaluation and feedback are critical to assess progress toward goals. It allows for mid-course adjustments, which can enhance outcomes. Standard methods include questionnaires about employee reactions and ongoing assessments that measure how job behaviours change and ultimately lead to stronger performance.
A culture of coaching
Coaches must build trust, actively listen, and provide constructive feedback to be effective. A trusting relationship is the foundation of effective coaching, even if a prior relationship exists. Active listening involves:
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Understanding the full context and underlying emotions
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Empowering employees to solve problems independently
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Fostering growth
Feedback should focus on actions and behaviours to encourage continuous development. By addressing these barriers and adopting these strategies, leaders can create a coaching culture that benefits individual employees and drives organisational success.
Organisations can foster a coaching culture that promotes continuous improvement by tackling common challenges leaders face, such as a lack of confidence and insufficient training. Challenge-focused coaching is a good starting point, helping leaders guide employees through pressing challenges, while growth-focused coaching can modify behaviours needed to achieve long-term goals.
About the author
Terry Smagh is Senior Vice President & General Manager, Asia Pacific and Japan at Infor. In his role, Terry is passionate about driving SaaS adoption and growth across the fastest-growing region for Infor, and helping customers derive quick value from their business transformation and technology investments. Terry is a seasoned sales executive and revenue growth leader with more than 20 years of extensive Asia Pacific experience across enterprise software sales in the digital transformation space, spanning industries such as retail, finance, and insurance.
