How to Set Coaches Up for Success

Coaching can make a big difference. Bersin & Associates’ “High-Impact Performance Management: Maximizing Performance Coaching” study, published in November, shows that organizations with strong coaching cultures delivered 13 percent stronger business results than those with weak coaching cultures. Yet that same research found managers’ inability to coach is the most severe performance management challenge.

There are conditions that can make coaching work or fail. Organizations effective at creating a high-impact performance coaching culture know that for coaching to work, senior leaders, managers and HR all must have unique, yet reinforcing, roles (Figure 1).

Bersin & Associates research found that organizations with senior leaders who “very frequently” coach employees had 21 percent better business results than those who never coach. Senior leaders set the tone for coaching with their words, actions and instructions for direct reports. These three elements — talking about the value of coaching, modeling coaching and holding others accountable for coaching — are essential for a strong coaching organization.

Perhaps the most crucial element of coaching is managers’ active participation. In organizations with superior performance, managers consistently used three skills in their coaching engagements: listening actively, reinforcing positive behavior and asking open-ended questions.

Learning leaders have a critical role in teaching managers to do these things well. One highly effective organization at teaching these skills is Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM). ADM developed an eight-week Coaching to Win learning experience. In the first few weeks, leaders complete a combination of e-learning, self-assessment and a one-day workshop. After the workshop, coaches complete weekly assignments that include focused learning activities, a coaching session and a cohort meeting.

Learning leaders’ role in coaching is to provide coaches with relevant resources. For example, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) developed an internal coaching and mentoring performance support website to extend classroom learning to the job and to accelerate employee performance. The site includes information about the IRS’ coaching model, explains coaching skills and provides tools and resources for employees to learn more about coaching. The site also offers coaching videos to enhance leaders’ skills as they prepare for their own conversations.