FROM JIM SIRBASKU’S DESK Coach Early And Often In our office, we like to encourage a variation on the electoral theme "Vote early and often." We substitute the word "coach" for "vote," and as opposed to the humor in the voting phrase, we are dead serious. We believe coaching is imperative to improved performance, and that the act of coaching offers a more robust work experience to both employees and managers.

Research bolsters our belief in the value of coaching. Talent management analysts Bersin & Associates discovered the important role coaching plays in a survey of 750 organizations and 55 executives. Bersin wanted to get a feel for the top business problems today, challenges related to talent in our companies, and processes we use to recruit, retain and develop employees.  

Their research reveals that performance management is one of the most important things organizations can do for employees, and when we are managing performance, the most effective thing we can do is coach. Among the organizations surveyed, coaching ranks at the top of 22 processes which consistently drive the highest business impact. The results of continuous coaching? Higher levels of engagement, leadership, flexibility and performance.

Companies seeing the biggest value use formal coaching programs and have discovered that the most effective coaching is tailored to the individual. The right kind of coaching determines whether each person fits his/her job; how employees are motivated and how they respond to stress; how a manager can optimize the relationship with the employee; the best role of the employee in a team; and how best to develop the employee's leadership abilities.

Many of our employees already get this. One of the top reasons employees give for leaving a particular workplace is lack of coaching. Don't we owe them a management style that proactively prevents problems (coaching) instead of fixing issues after they occur (performance evaluations)?

Adding coaching to the repertoire of management processes should spark creativity throughout our organizations. Imagine a manager's toolbox labeled "Performance Management." Inside the toolbox is a set of tools you can use continuously to recruit, hire, train and develop workers. Your mission is to help employees grow in all areas on the job. Further, you are to do that in advance of an employee failing. Thus, this toolbox pretty much does away with annual performance evaluations, which everyone dreads and which provide questionable results. Let's put them in the "obsolete" pile.

Inside this—bundled with the coaching tool—are two tools labeled "Why Coach" and "How to Coach." The "Why" tool shows us that daily coaching elicits teamwork and creativity. Just like coaches of sports teams practice to develop players so they can go to the next level of play, managers in an office setting can adopt the same strategy.

This kind of coaching, or the "How to Coach" tool, involves:

• examining the employee's thinking style, behavioral attributes and occupational interests to see if he can be successful in the job, based on the characteristics of top performers. If there are gaps between the person and the best profile for the job, these specific areas invite coaching.
• watching how the person responds to the stress and challenges of the job.
• observing how the employee interacts with his or her manager (you); how you relate to each other; whether your styles mesh; how you can best communicate.
• watching how the employee interacts with other team members and what  conflicts may occur based on the dynamics of the team; seeing how the employee can best be coached to produce in that environment. If the employee is also a manager, you need to use her management style as a coaching tool. This means you must understand her strengths and weaknesses in the leadership role.

Jim Sirbasku, CEO
Profiles International

10 Steps to Effective Coaching

1. Recognize the important differences between coaching and performance reviews.

2. Teach all that coaching is a standard part of development, not a punitive action.

3. Listen well, ask questions and speak clearly, using language that everyone understands.

4. Always focus on the behavior, never on the person.

5. Know where the manager wants/needs to go. This will help you develop a road map.

6. Remember that you do not control the process or the manager's behavior.

7. Be a trustworthy partner and confidante. Do not gossip.

8. Act as a sounding board when necessary.  

9. Support your partner's self-esteem. Never laugh at fears or worries.

10. Coaching is a process. Commit your time and patience for the best results.

ProfileXT^® Helps Healthcare Firm
Gain Footing in Selecting Workers

Yet both employees and employers often flounder in this area. Dazzled by salary or benefits or something else, potential employees cannot always discern if a job is a good match for them. Employers sometimes hire using their best instincts – and make decisions that turn out to be their worst.  

A healthcare organization faced just such decision-making uncertainty when it sought to improve the low productivity of its enrollment specialists. Seeking a way to increase the frequency of hiring workers that excelled on the job, the organization turned to the ProfileXT^®.

Participants
The study included 60 enrollment specialists. Leaders administered ProfileXT and evaluated each employee's performance using a five-point scale, with a five being the best rating. The results:

• 13 employees exceeded expectations, rating a four or five.
• Six employees failed to meet expectations, rating a one or two.
• 41 employees met performance expectations, rating a three.

Job Match Pattern
Using a concurrent study format, experts then developed a Job Match Pattern for the position of enrollment specialist. The 13 employees who exceeded expectations helped formulate the pattern.

Leaders then put the Job Match Pattern side-by-side with the 60 enrollment specialists. They reviewed the sample’s ProfileXT percent matches, and decided that an overall Job Match Percent of 78 or higher best identified top performing employees. They selected 78 percent as the score to represent a good pairing of employee to the Job Match Pattern.

Results
The study determined that 34 met or exceeded the 78 percent benchmark. Of those:

• Nine of 13 top performers were correctly identified as top performers by the pattern (69 percent).
• Two of six bottom performers were incorrectly identified as top performers by the pattern (33 percent).

The pattern thus differentiated top and bottom performers as delineated by the company’s own performance evaluations.

Summary
Using the ProfileXT has allowed the organization to screen enrollment specialist candidates with success. Of the 34 people who either met or exceeded the Job Match Pattern benchmark, only two, or 5.8 percent, were bottom performers. Additionally, approximately 70 percent of the top performers (nine of 13) were included in this group.

The simplest thing you can do in a small company is develop goals. Write them all down. Share them. – Josh Bersin, president, Bersin and Associates

To learn anything fast and effectively you have to see it, hear it, feel it. – Tony Holloway, professor

We remember 20 percent of what is said; 30 percent of what we hear; 40 percent of what we see; 50 percent of what we say; 60 percent of what we do; 90 percent of what we see, hear, say and do. – University of the First Age (a national educational charity) Brain Friendly Revision

You get the best effort from others not by lighting a fire beneath them, but by building a fire within. – Bob Nelson, author, motivational speaker

Coaching is a conversation, a dialogue, whereby the coach and the individual interact in a dynamic exchange to achieve goals, enhance performance and move the individual forward to greater success. – Zeus and Skiffington, authors, trainers
 
Selecting the right person for the right job is the largest part of coaching. – Philip Crosby, businessman, author