Tweet

Coaching Staff is easy when you know what to say

Guest post by: Juliette Robertson

Article Overview: Knowing what to say to staff in difficult moments is challenging but with a little guidance, almost any new manager can learn the simple coaching techniques that will set them up for success throughout their careers. Here is an example of how one coaching script, can turn things around.

Coaching Staff is easy when you know what to say

Sue is a new manager with a team of 8 aged 20 - 30something white collar staff. Her boss is a very time poor middle manager who gives her very little direction or support. Yes he's very busy too and holds a responsible position in the finance industry.

A few months ago he sent Sue to a one day introduction to management training event to help her master some of the basics. She called me afterwards as she was trying to absorb all the information.By the end of the training she'd gained an overview about time sheets and scheduling and project delivery and the basics on setting key performance indicators with staff and budgeting, planning, delegation and reporting.

Interesting - yes. Useful - yes. She returned to the office feeling charged up and ready.

It didn't take long however for her euphoria to wear off when she encountered staff who came to her desk one by one with a list of their own problems and challenges, infighting and complaints and requests. And she realized how very little she knew about managing PEOPLE.

Honestly I felt just a little sorry for her. THAT is an overwhelming place to be.

But there's an even worse problem than that. If new managers are not trained, guided, and shown how to manage the day to day staff challenges that are inevitable, they adopt an ad-hoc approach to people leadership through a nonstop series of trial and error.

It's a big zigzag path to people management and many new managers give up along the way and simply begin to copy what are often poor leadership styles from others around them.

Some time ago I took a survey of my customers and the #1 thing that came from that survey was precisely that: Endless confusion about how to handle staff issues. The feeling of not knowing the right things to say or the correct approach to take.

So I decided to take action.

I used my own coaching expertise and I asked my younger clients and coaching colleagues what they KNOW are the most challenging staff scenarios that new managers face and then we set about writing a series of coaching scripts to address the top 30 scenarios.

These are literally simple scripts that we as coaches use with our clients when they face their most challenging staff scenarios such as:

What to say to a staff members who are: Constantly late, insecure about their jobs, overly emotional at work, are producing poor results, have bad attitudes, are reluctant to delegate, can't seem to learn from their mistakes, and many more.

Let's take the first one and see what a coaching script might look like:

Coach Talk to overcome the Blame Game

What do you say when staff blame others? First, realise that it's your job as coach to set the team up for success by encouraging standards and ground rules for behaviour. Invite the team to set their ground rules for working together to create a positive and collaborative unit. If you've done this and staff still play the Blame Game, this approach may help.

Case Study: Greg has been leading a task that is running behind schedule and it appears quite a few people may be impacted. Greg has started blaming everyone else for the delays. His manager wants to address this behaviour and encourage Greg to take responsibility. A coaching discussion will help.

Coach: Greg, thanks for meeting with me. We both know that your ABC task has fallen behind schedule and quite a few people will be impacted. What concerns me more however is to hear that you have been blaming others on the team. Can you fill me in on what's driving that? State what you both know to be true and give him time to explain anything that might be rumor.

Coach: I hear what you are saying Greg. I know this is a complicated situation. We can never change what others do but it's true that when we point a finger at others there are usually three fingers pointing back at ourselves. What could you personally have done differently to get a better outcome? Encourage Greg to start looking at his own behaviour.

Coach: Great. Can you think of anything else that you could have done to ensure the tasks stayed on track?

Coach: OK good insights. Blaming others may temporarily deflect the attention onto others Greg but ultimately the responsibility rests with the task leader to set the project up for success and ensure everyone has what they need. Do you recall the ground rules the team set for working effectively together? What do they include? Listen and nod in acknowledgement as he recalls the ground rules.

Coach: Do you still agree with them?

Coach: So what do you think you might need to watch in yourself so you adhere to those ground rules?

Coach: Are you prepared to try that next time?

Coach: Excellent. You've got the ability to be great leader, Greg. Go for it. END

When companies invest in teaching their budding leaders simple coaching approaches early in their career, they are setting them up for success for a lifetime. The question is: How long will you wait before you give them the tools?

Related Articles
  UK Sales Coaching For Sales Managers - A 60 second tool
  When is Business or Executive Coaching NOT appropriate?
  Increase Employee Productivity with Coaching
  So what differentiates a Life Coach from a Business Coach from an Executive Coach?
  Leadership
  Training vs. Coaching
  Team Building Benefits When Team Members Coach Each Other
  4 Key Coaching Questions to Help Staff Step Up and Seize Opportunities
  Coaching Employees vs Mentoring, Counseling or Training. Distinctions New Managers Need to Know
  Performance coaching in the workplace
  8 Things that can lead you to start a Coaching Business
  Support for Businesses and Their Staff in Times of Redundancy
  Is Coaching About Getting Things Done?
  What is a Business Coach
  Coaching Skills inspire new managers to be better leaders
  Feedforward or Feedback? Communication for Moving People to Action
  Difference Between Mentoring and Coaching
  Secrets to Filling your Coaching Practice
  Ten Strategic Actions To Improve Sales Staff Productivity
  Are You Paying Attention To Your People?

Article Tags: coaching, coaching scripts, coaching skills, leadership, managing people, managing staff, people management, staff challenges, staff issues



Related Forum Posts
Social media - which is more effective social media networking; Facebook or twitter? follow me at My Secret Staff cathy secretstaff05
Re: Trade Show Success Strategies - As a frequent attendee and participant in trade shows, I've found the following tips to be useful: 1) Staff in the booth must be trained to listen to the needs of the visitor, record those interests and if appropriate, commit to getting back to that person within a short time frame. Capture those leads and act on them! 2) The booth needs to be 'busy' - hustle is eye catching and generates interest 3) Homogeneity (common dress) facilitates the visitor to find someone to speak to 4) 'Freebees' need to be selectively handed out and when they are, there must be a personal conection to them (e.g. "You'd like one of our 'whatevers' - we're running a little short right now but here, please take mine")
Cafe Expenses - Hi Michele I used to work in a place that had a cafe that broke even every month. This is due to the fact that we couldn't get enough people through buying food and drinks to make a profit and the expenses consisted of: - Staff wages - Not selling all food so it would go to waste - Rent for occupying the premises - Selling products that had a low turn over - Customers would never come back a 2nd time due to the location I would imagine a restaurant would be the same with the hardest part attracting people every night to make a profit while setting your prices at the right price to keep people coming back.
Re: need pricing help please - here's my opinion that was derived from the person I heard it from (Russell Brunson) I view internet Marketing products as a Ladder. At the bottom of the Ladder is ebooks and at the top is One on One Coaching. so the ladder would look like this starting from the Top ($$$) to Bottom($) One-to-One Coaching ($$$$$$) Workshops ($$$$$) Teleseminars ($$$$) Video($$$) Audio ($$) ebooks ($) I agree with this methodology mainly because of the convenience factor and value from the customers point of view.
Re: Joomla Now Has A GetResponse Module - [quote="Josip Barbaric":1x8lbfkt]Hi Alan, I still think that Wordpress is the best option, but Joomla can be extremely easy and reliable providing that you choose a suitable template for your needs. About the getresponse module, with Joomla it can be very easy to make that kind of a module on your own. Unfortunately, I am not very familiar with other content management systems. Josip[/quote:1x8lbfkt] I agree that Wordpress is a good option. Also, you're right that incorporating GetResponse into Joomla would be easy as well, as it's easy to add into any web page. I'm still up in the air, so to speak. I still have plenty of time to weigh my options, though. Alan


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Five Ways to Show Honest Appreciation

Word of Mouth Marketing Tips Fuel Success

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.