Where do you begin? "Formalize the relationship," says
Lugerner. Coaching doesn't happen on the fly; it's a
methodical approach to employee development. "Tell the
employee `I want to meet with you regularly to help develop you and
your career path.'"
How often you meet depends on the employee. For some employees,
a weekly session is a must; for others, once a month is adequate.
The time required varies, too. With some workers, a 15-minute
session is plenty, while others will require half an hour, maybe
longer.
Which employees should receive coaching? "All your people
need it," says Lugerner. "Coaching is how we all get
better." In a very small business, that means it's your
job to make regular time for every worker. In bigger companies,
other managers can take on some of the coaching (with you coaching
the managers). If it sounds like a lot of time, remember: Your
benefit in this is an ever-improving work force--which translates
into mounting productivity and profitability. So the payoffs are
real.
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The next step in effective coaching is to set an agenda.
"You need to establish a checklist of to-dos and benchmarks
for progress," says Lugerner. That doesn't mean you do all
the work, but, by working with the employee in the initial coaching
session, the two of you establish goals as well as criteria for
measuring progress toward those goals and a timetable for reaching
them.
When you set goals and benchmarks, "suggest, don't
tell," Lugerner advises. "Telling [your employees what to
do is] coaching in a hurry. It doesn't get results."
If you limit your role to making suggestions, you'll put
more of the work in your employee's hands--hands that may
actually be more suited for the particular task than yours. Say you
want the employee who handles shipping to reduce errors by 25
percent. You may not have many concrete ideas about how to
accomplish that goal, but the employee who does the work will have
dozens of ideas. So use the first coaching session to consider all
the options available, and, still working with the employee, pick
out the best ideas of the lot and find a place for them on that
worker's to-do list.
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