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Turn Supervisors into Coaches
It has been demonstrated across
a number of industries that team performance can be enhanced through the
application of external coaching. The members of a team will
collectively ‘lift their game’ and productivity increases are the norm.
However, the degree of improvement will often fade over time and further
coaching is required to bring performance standards up to their previous
levels and keep the process of improvement on track.
Experience has shown that if
coaching is performed as an ongoing process within the organization the
course of improvement can become sustained and the productivity of the
team will steadily continue to increase.
Providing effective ongoing coaching at team member level for an
extended period can be beyond the financial resources of many businesses
if it is externally sourced. The answer lies in giving supervisors
within the organization the responsibility – and skills, to coach their
team members.
Supervisors will not necessarily have all the skills or training
required to make them successful as coaches. Many will have been good
performers at lower levels within the business and received a promotion
to their present position. They are usually able to perform the work of
the people they supervise but may not have the leadership abilities of
outstanding coaches.
To enable a supervisor to become successful in a coaching role requires
a major refocusing of their activities, but because of the supervisor’s
experience in the business and knowledge of the tasks performed by those
they supervise it can usually be done.
There are at least as many
differences between the descriptions of ‘supervisor’ and ‘coach’ as
there are similarities. The supervisor’s main areas of responsibility
are usually seen as control and guidance whereas a coach’s functions
incorporate mentoring and motivation.
Those who have been successful in a supervisory role will be likely to
possess the requisite people skills to achieve targeted outcomes through
coaching. These abilities can be developed through training that is
primarily conducted to develop existing abilities rather than create new
skill sets:
- Supervisor/coaches need to be excellent communicators, able to deliver
information in a way that transmits information and invites feedback;
- Their body language should be non-confrontational and receptive, open
rather than closed;
- They have to be able to ‘read’ the other person, gaining insights into
their feelings through observing their behavior;
- Their attitude must be encouragingly positive - one of ‘working with’
other people instead of ‘commanding’ them to achieve objectives;
- They need to gain people’s commitment to the work they do and to
completing their assignments;
Most importantly they need to learn a coaching process that can be
applied to their particular situation – one that is appropriate to the
organization itself as well as the people they supervise.
The best person to develop a
coaching process that individual supervisors can successfully implement
with their teams will of course be an experienced business coach with
access to a broad range of coaching resources and tools.
An externally-sourced business coach can install a coaching function
into the supervisory level of a business that will actually integrate
coaching into the processes of the organization. Coaching will become as
routine and accepted as all the other activities of the business.
There will be some other adjustments required. Turning a supervisor into
a coach requires a restructuring of their administrative workload. They
will need to spend an estimated two-thirds of their time providing
coaching to their team and will have less time available for routine
clerical work that can be delegated elsewhere.
Coaching becomes an ongoing process between the supervisor and their
team members that leads to targeted and desirable outcomes for the
enterprise. The supervisor’s responsibilities make a positive shift from
control and guidance to mentoring and motivating individual employees.
Supervisors are ideally placed
to handle this role, providing those they supervise with coaching that
leads to these outcomes:
- The performance of individuals improves
- The team’s performance improves
- The organization’s culture is strengthened
- Internal communications improve
- Positive changes are implemented and accepted
Coaching produces a long-term positive change in people’s behavior and
skills that will bring great benefits to an employer. Supervisors can
provide regular coaching on a person-to-person basis that augments
external enterprise-based coaching and becomes a valuable part of the
culture of the firm.
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