June Seroka

HR is About Serving People

Coaching ‘Builds a Fire’ within Underperforming Employees

 Coaching involves energizing and empowering employees.

Are you or your managers responsible for employees who are not adequately performing?  Most managers are accountable for their employees’ performances. So it is in the manager’s best interests to learn techniques for coaching underperforming employees in ways that inspire them to improve.  

HR and Performance Specialists advocate using a fair and firm approach when coaching underperforming employees. One of a manager’s goals is to shift job responsibilities and job ownership to the employees. Everyone benefits — employers, managers and employees — when managers skillfully coach their underperforming employees.

Employee coaching is based on the premise that if employees do not get feedback, they do not know where they stand or they may be confused about what is expected. Whether you have new hires or employees engaged in their first few months of employment, it is better to initiate positive feedback starting with their first day of employment.

Coaching is not a “quick fix.”

Coaching is an ongoing process, not a one-time event. Let’s get started with some employee-coaching criteria and considerations:

• Effective coaching starts with a specific skill-set that includes excellent communication and listening abilities, and a keen awareness of nonverbal communication cues.
• Coaching includes educating, orienting, encouraging, confronting and counseling techniques.  
• Coaching encompasses internal-organizational areas such as standards’ definitions, departmental policies and procedures, company policies, quality control, compliance and regulatory standards. When coaching employees, you need to rely on data and information that supports or documents your coaching objectives.
• Coaching involves leading by example. The coach should focus on employee behaviors and helping them learn new habits. Coaching focuses on developing the employee so they will perform better on the job.

Employee coaching can be accomplished in a number of ways or situations. If you want to develop a coaching-techniques training program for your business, here are some situational examples:

• An organization has a department responsible for developing or maintaining a computer program. To streamline the training process for all the employees, a “train the trainer” approach is used. This coaching technique enlists one individual who, after participating in a training class, returns and trains all the others in the department. So rather than send everyone in the department, only one person is assigned to attend an offsite training class.
• An organization has a new hire. This person may be a newcomer to the company or they may be a transfer within the company. This newcomer is assigned to work along side a more-experienced employee within the department. This assignment is usually viewed as a mentoring type of arrangement. It is also known as a “buddy” system and it doesn’t always have to be a manager-to-employee relationship.

If coaching involves the managers, supervisors and the employees, it is important to have feedback going both ways. This relationship involves shifting responsibilities back and forth:

1. It is the employee’s responsibility to tell the manager or supervisor if they need assistance or if they are not catching on.
2. It is the manager's responsibility to ensure that the employee is on track with what they should be learning, whether it involves acquiring a new skill or learning a new job task.

Remember, it’s never too late to start coaching your employees. To maximize successful coaching experiences, it is better to start coaching your employees on their first day of employment — before they reach the “underperforming-employee” stage.

The information contained in this document is for general, informational purposes only and is not intended to be legal advice. This information is not a substitute for the guidance of a professional and should not be relied upon in reference to any specific situation without first seeking the advice of a qualified HR professional and/or legal counsel regarding applicable federal, state or local laws. HRTools, Insperity and their respective employees make no warranties, express or implied, and make no judgments regarding the accuracy of this content and/or its applicability to a specific situation. A reference or link to another website is not an endorsement of that site or service.