Companies always want to employ only those employees who are the best of the best so that they do not have to waste any precious time training the employees from the basics, however no matter how good or experience an employee is, it is the job of the manager to train and coach employees to success so that they are always able to deliver great work.
As a manager, if you need some tips and techniques about how you ought to go about the training and development of all your employees, then here are some simple ways in which you can go about achieving this without much trouble.
How to Coach Employees?
The following mentioned are few tips to coach employees and mentoring programs.
1. Mentor and coach employees:
Professional coaching techniques and mentoring your employees may seem like a tough task, especially if your employees are a tough bunch, but if you show that you are someone who will not willing to stand for any nonsense at any point in time then they will force to sit up and give their level best.
Given the present economic condition and state of the job market, no one will be willing to lose their job.
2. The 8 step coaching model:
To coach employees and help them achieve success, you must follow this more or less foolproof coaching model which requires you to be first and foremost supportive and attentive to the needs of the employees. When setting them a task, you need to define the topic and its needs to them in clear terms.
Once you have established an impact and even initiated a plan of action you should get a commitment from one and all. You should confront anyone who is making any excuses and also clarify consequences rather than punishing the employee. Finally, do not give up or lose hope no matter what.
3. Performance coaching skills:
Performance coaching is understood as one of the chief functions of any manager or supervisor, yet unfortunately, it is a function which not many new managers can perform properly.
Employee performance coaching is something that can be applied to some different fields as well as disciplines and it is used to facilitate development and even learning to improve the performance of someone who is entrusted with the task of fulfilling a task.
So as a manager you must try your level best to improve your performance coaching skills so that you can constantly encourage your employees to rise from strength to strength and become better with each passing day.
4. Supervisor coaching techniques:
As a manager or a supervisor, you must be well aware of some tried as well as tested techniques that could help you bring out the best in all your employees and encourage them to attain success in whatever task they try their hand at.
As a coach, it is up to you to set up a foolproof, transparent as well as accountable structure. In addition to the tried and tested supervisor coaching techniques, you can try and do some things your way as well, without following a distinct set of rules.
5. You must be a perfect blend of some different things:
As a manager or a supervisor of a company, you must be versatile in the manner in which you behave. You have to be the perfect blend of many different things; you have to be responsible, sensitive, dedicated, hard-working and diligent.
Being able to adapt yourself according to the demands of the situation will help take you very far indeed and also make you very popular among the people with who you work. Being mindful about how you behave is expected of someone who is at such a high position and it will help you to coach employees to success without any trouble at all.
6. Understand that everyone has their traits and personality:
It is the duty and responsibility of a manager to understand that everyone has their way of functioning and one of the best things to do is give everyone the freedom to work in their way. It is only when you see that something is going wrong, that you should intervene.
7. Be constant in your behavior at all points in time:
As a manager, naturally, you would have set some special guidelines and rules which your employees have to abide by, but in addition to making rules for them, you must have some rules for yourself as well so that you do not end up doing something unbecoming of someone who is in your position.
If you are not constant in the way in which you behave then you will be doing nothing but confusing your employees.
8. Do not make someone feel small when you are coaching them:
As a coach or professional mentor to the employees, you must try your level best to ensure that your words and suggestions are not making anyone feel small and inadequate. If people lose their confidence in themselves then helping them to succeed is going to be a near-impossible task.
Your chief aim, as a coach should be, to build them up mentally not break them down. Rather than shouting at your employees and making them feel like small children you should speak to them privately and maturely explain to them what it is that you expect of them and what it is that they are doing wrong.
9. It is important for you to constantly lead by your example:
In addition to simply talking the talk, it is important that you walk the walk as well and constantly try to lead by example. Rather than telling your employees to do this and do that you should show them through your actions how things are to be done and then only will your way of doing things stick in their mind.
The best teachers and the coaches are the ones who never speak very much at all, rather they are very mindful of how they behave as well as the example which they are setting for their subordinates.
10. Do not focus your attention on a few people alone:
When you are at a high position in a company one of the worst mistakes you can make is merely focusing your attention on a few people rather than making everyone feel like a truly integral part of the company.
If you wish to coach employees to success, then you must encourage them to come together as a unit as there is some truth in the common saying that ‘united we stand and divided we fall’. Besides, you must ensure that you take notice of even the quietest person and do not go chasing after those who make a production of themselves.
11. Brushing up on your communication skills is important:
To coach employees and help them attain success, you must begin by brushing up on your communication skills so that you can speak your mind as well as put forth your thoughts in a proper manner. If you do not speak as well as express yourself in a proper manner, then no one is going to take you seriously in the long run.
If this is a skill, which you have not been born with, then what you can do is get some help and even join some speech and drama classes so that you can learn to speak well and inspire your employees with your words of wisdom and encouragement.
12. Get feedback from them and have creative discussions with them:
The best way to get closer to your employees and to understand which employees are bright and which are not is by actually sitting down with them and having some animated discussions as well.
When you sit down to talk to them, not only are you encouraging them to come out of their shell but you are also helping them to become comprehensive and coherent speakers.
In the business world, being a good speaker is something that can take you very far indeed, so try and encourage your employees to be well-read and up to date with advancements in their respective fields so that at no point in time are they lagging.
13. Do not actively involve in their petty problems:
As a manager, if you wish to coach employees to success, then rather than trying to stoop to their level it is important that you make them rise above their petty disputes. This having been said, it is important that you never get involved in their petty disputes or even go so far as to try to fix their problems for them.
Once you start doing this then they will keep worrying you with matters like this, rather you should tell them that things like this can wait and no matter what problem they have with each other, in the office everyone has to put their differences aside and come together as a team in order to be successful in their endeavors.
14. Encourage them to speak up for what they believe in:
As a manager in a company, it is important that you always have an open mind and never allow yourself to think in a closed as well as a narrow way. Even if you do not believe in what someone else is saying you must be patient enough to listen to their point of view.
In addition to listening to what they have to say you must also encourage them to speak up for what they believe in. Just because someone is superior to them in the office hierarchy of things, it does not mean that the employee does not have a right to have his or her own opinion as well as the right to air that opinion in the open.
15. Encouraging them to come up with new ideas and novel thoughts:
As we all know, failure is most certainly the stepping stone towards success and as a manager in a company, you should keep telling your employees that no matter what, they should never be afraid of coming up with novel and new ideas.
They must learn to dream big as well as think out of the box as it is these thinkers that will be able to take the company to the next level.
In addition to this when they come to you to seek some council or share some new idea which has come to their mind, then you must take some time out of your busy schedule and even give them some valuable effective coaching tips to help them along the way.
Conclusion:
After you have carefully gone through the list you will find that these are some things which you can do without much trouble at all. It is of paramount example that you as a supervisor or manager of the office, have your head on your shoulders at all times and also it is your responsibility to always lead right from the front.
The moment you start shirking your responsibilities or not taking things seriously then matters bound to go out of your control entirely. Setting a good example for your employees is something that will most certainly lead very rich dividends in time to come and keep the company banner flying high.
