Performance Coaching: Farewell to the soft approach - The rediscovery of performance We have experienced the most dramatic process of change in the training area today for 50 years. The recognition more and more gains acceptance that a traditional training doesn't bring the value for enterprises expected by the globalization and the competitive pressure.
Dana and James Robinson notice in their book "Moving From Training to Performance" that almost 60 billion dollars direct cost for the education of the employees are distributed in the U.S.A. every year.
If we include the indirect cost (e.g. the time which is used for this education) the sum increases to 200 - 300 billion dollars. Employees, however, don't even use 30 % of the acquired knowledge and skills generally at their work. Many education departments nevertheless report about their activities (e.g. number of participant days, judgment of a seminar etc.) instead of about the scored results furthermore. No wonder that more and more enterprises have serious doubts about the value of these kind of seminars.
Employees need, however, more and more technical knowledge and behaviours whose requirements in addition permanently change. Studying lifelongly is one must and enterprises are forced to provide the infrastructure required for it today.
Dictionaries translate the concept "performance" by "appearance" (in connection with a show) for "fulfilment" and "balance sheets" (in connection with the development of a financial stock). In my opinion performance only then can be measured if she walks along measurands of the output, this means a new added value provided by the employee to the enterprise.
Performance and performance development have to be measured in the consequences or the value to be expected alone. Value means, however, more than performance. Value is rather the result of the operational activity, added value for it so.
For the personal policy this means that learning objectives are defined with respect to the expected performance. Therefore there are the following questions to be cleared before every personal improvement activity:
- What concretely shall the coachee do?
- Under which circumstances shall the performance be produced?
- When becomes the performance quality or the performance standard looks reached?
If we compare this with the above mentioned "traditional training approach" the word "paradigm change" is certainly not an exaggeration.
An intervention (mostly a seminar) is still carried out due to a faulty performance in the output. At the following check of the output a success of the intervention will be able to be only seldom recognized.
Since the performance main emphasis must, however, be on the outputs therefore not on which what they do to what the employees produce it is necessary to form performance models when output defines a quite concrete business goal.
The development of performance models always takes place in four steps:
1. Determination of the decisive output 2. Composition of data to these outputs 3. Preparation oft a list with the "Best Practices" for these outputs 4. Inquiry of data to the "Best Practices".
In difference to the "classic coaching", where the person with all his strengths and weaknesses occupied the centre the main focus at performance coaching is the matter alone - the output!
If this target is defined once, it is all about the coachee (the performer) to support with corresponding measures, to accomplish this quite concrete goal:
1. Instruction: The primary objective consists in helping the performer to understand and to keep useful information or knowledge.
2. Consulting: The primary objective consists in helping the performer to recognize and to develop useful adjusting and convictions.
3. Coaching: The primary objective consists in helping the performer to develop the skills, behaviour and practices which give his performance goals a better understanding of him.
The performer can be a single person or a group. The once defined concrete target (output) always is however, in the centre differently than at traditional training measures. If this goal isn't accomplished, the performance measure can be regarded as failed.
So performance coaching also means an absolute identification for the coach with the defined target whose attainment only measuring criterion is for him like for the performer.
Performance Coaching - To learn more about this author, visit Hans-Peter Holzwarth's Website.
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