Preface
If you’ve ever played on a sports team, you’ve had a coach. A good sports coach gives the team the tools to succeed, guides them, helps them do their best, and cheers them on as they perform. Coaches help you learn from failures, celebrate your successes, and find and use all the resources within you.
In the business world, coaching has caught fire as a method to empower, engage, and develop employees and top talent. Many top executives use coaches and credit the coaching relationship for their success levels. Two studies in 2001 indicated that the return on investment of executive coaching was five to seven times the initial cost, measured through improvements in productivity, quality, communication, relationships, and other areas. Coaching also significantly improves intangible benefits (employee retention, teamwork, job satisfaction). A survey of Fortune 500 companies found that up to 40 percent used executive coaching services. Another survey found that 86 percent of all companies use executive coaches. Clearly, coaching is a powerful and useful technique for growth, and today’s business world recognizes that fact.
In this book, you’ll learn how to apply good coaching methods in the workplace, helping employees achieve high performance by seeking commitment rather than control and results rather than somebody to blame.
As we describe the main functions of the coach in the workplace and examine the structure of an effective coaching session, we stress coaching on the run, where you’ll really do your best work. Two simple principles guide us: KYHO (keep your hands off) and PSA (positive specific action).
We discuss the skills, techniques, and pitfalls to good coaching and help you understand the best ways to avoid them. We cover how to bring a coach approach to your other responsibilities as manager, such as that of trainer, mentor, and corrector. We offer specific tools and techniques you can use right away.
By studying worker motivations beyond the paycheck, you’ll learn to challenge employees to achieve and learn. You’ll also learn to communicate and listen effectively, by giving clear instructions and by asking effective questions and hearing the answers.
You’ll learn to use intrinsic, intangible rewards—ownership, mastery, and growth—to spur peak performance while fostering independence and initiative.
The bonus principles described in Chapter 15 will help your coaching and all other aspects of your life—because coaching will become a vital part of your life and give you skills to apply outside the workplace as well.
Are you ready? Let’s get going.
Special Features
The idea behind the books in the Briefcase series is to give you practical information written in a friendly person-to-person style. The chapters deal with tactical issues and include lots of examples. They also feature numerous sidebars designed to give you different types of specific information. Here’s an overview of the types of sidebars and what they cover.
Every subject has some jargon, including this one, dealing with coaching. These sidebars provide definitions of terms and concepts as they are introduced.
These sidebars do just what their name suggests: give you tips and tactics for using the ideas in this book to intelligently manage through the use of effective coaching principles and practices.
Tricks of the Trade sidebars give you insider how-to hints on techniques astute managers use to execute the tactics described in this book.
It’s always useful to have examples that show how the principles in the book are applied. These sidebars provide descriptions of on-the-job situations where effective coaching improves performance and relationships.
Caution sidebars provide warnings for where things could go wrong when implementing coaching practices and things you should be aware of to help prevent problems.
How can you make sure you won’t make a mistake when you’re trying to implement the techniques the book describes? You can’t, but these sidebars give you practical advice on how to minimize the possibility of things going wrong.
This icon identifies sidebars where you’ll find specific procedures, techniques, or technology you can use to successfully implement the book’s principles and practices.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank John Woods of CWL Publishing Enterprises, who worked to develop the original manuscript and then committed to this thorough update.