Performance coaching handbook

1 Performance Coaching E-learning

Performance Coaching E-learning



CONTENTS WELCOME TO PERFORMANCE COACHING…………………………………….4

WHAT IS COACHING/PERFORMANCE COACHING……………………………5

PERFORMANCE COACHING……………………………………………………...6

HOW COACHING DIFFERS FROM OTHER APPROACHES……………………...7

THE MANAGER AS COACH……………………………………………………….8

BENEFITS OF COACHING………………………………………………………....9

HOW COACHING WORKS………………………………………………………10

THE ELEMENTS OF PERFORMANCE COACHING……………………………...11

SILENCE……………………………………………………………………………12

LISTENING………………………………………………………………………....13

QUESTIONING……………………………………………………………………14

THE PRECISION MODEL…………………………………………………………15

THE GROW MODEL……………………………………………………………....16

NOTE SHEETS:

WHEN CAN I USE COACHING………………………………………………….17

EXAMPLES OF COACHING………………………………………………………18

POTENTIAL PITFALLS AND HOW TO AVOID THEM…………………………....19

PRACTICE WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNT…………………………………………..20

NEXT STEPS………………………………………………………………………..21


What is Coaching? What is Performance Coaching?

Performance coaching focuses on improving performance at work. It enables the coachee to perform a task, reach a decision, or make changes. It is:

A practical approach – developing skills and behaviour through actions Solution focused- looking at what will work rather than dwelling on any problems Focussed on outcomes – the purpose is always to move forward from the starting point.

Coaching suits all levels of performance, because there is always a requirement for further improvement as demands and responsibilities at work change. The next page gives a picture of performance coaching

Dialogue Change = Actions New Understanding = +

(Setting clear goals, removing barriers)

Coaching gets its name from a town where carriages were made – a coach became a faster way to get to a destination. Modern coaching is about moving forward through learning and change, and getting to a destination (a goal). Coaching is a dialogue between coach and coachee (the person receiving coaching), followed by practical actions. It is led by the coachee- the coach facilitates (helps the coachee come to conclusions), rather than directing.


Performance Coaching

Coachee Coach

Coachee sets the destination and has the map. (has a clear goal and the means to get there)

Coach drives the process (structures sessions) Coach has confidence that the coachee can get there. Coach asks questions to check that the goal is clear. Coach sets tasks and gives feedback on how the coachee is doing

Coachee Coach

Barriers Lack of knowledge or skill Limited Thinking Behaviours

Coach asks questions to discover barriers and helps coachee plan to overcome these. Coach notices barriers in the coachee’s thinking and challenges these. Tasks enable coachee to learn and make real changes


Coachee Coach

Goal Coaching is the means of getting here

The outcomes Improved performance Observable behaviours Business / service outcomes


How Coaching Differs From Other Approaches

Coach

Helps coachee improve. Aids with goal setting. Asks questions to increase coachee’s understanding. Lets coachee find own solutions- asks more than tells. Focuses on developing skills and attitude for a specific task or role.

Mentor Counsellor

Helps client become well. Looks to the past to understand problems. Advises and supports to solve problems.

Is the expert. Offers advice and examples from own experience. Mixture of ask and tell. Takes individual ‘under their wing’. Helps individual develop broad potential.


Trainer

Input of knowledge to advise on processes and approaches. Provides solutions.

Consultant

Input of knowledge to advise on processes and approaches. Provides solutions.


The Manager as Coach

As a manager, coaching your member of staff is slightly different to coaching someone you don’t line manage. So what are the realities of coaching your staff? What is expected of you as a manager?

Traditional style of Management

Direction of travel

New style of Management – manager

as coach

Manager

Coaching skills give you more choice in the way you manage

There are still times when you will need to direct or ‘tell’ – coaching is another tool you can use, when appropriate

Typically, you will manage a larger number of diverse people – one approach will not fit all.

You are not expected to have all the answers all the time.

Manager asks questions so individuals can understand the situation and solve it for themselves

Emphasis on appraising staff and also developing them – Managers need a broader ‘toolkit’ of skills. Staff expect to be developed in their roles, and the organisation needs to deliver more through developing staff and retaining talent

You don’t need to be an expert to use a coaching approach with staff. As a minimum, you need to have completed this e-learning and visited the coaching and mentoring website.

Manager asks questions to understand the situation or problem – in order to give the answer, instruction or hint about how to move forward

Manager’s team smaller in past, emphasis on technical skills of manager, narrower responsibilities

Emphasis on appraising staff and telling them what to do

Staff not empowered, manager unable to delegate, even as demands of role increase


Benefits of Coaching

Benefits for Managers

Cost effective, just in time and individualised staff development

Improve your team’s performance

Develop own people management skills

Able to delegate more Enhance working

relationships Free up time for other

priorities Identify and retain talent

Staff are:

More self-reliant More motivated More productive More responsive to

feedback Better able to cope with

change Involved in decisions

Benefits for the organisation

Development of staff

to higher roles (succession planning)

Retention of staff (talent management)

Increased productivity Quality outcomes Staff identify more

with organisational goals

Develops culture of learning and continuous improvement

Reduced costs of poor performance

Staff feel valued by the organisation

Enhances relationships Develops skilled

managers Facilitates

organisational and cultural change

Cost-effective and targeted form of development – enhances other forms of development; e.g. training

Benefits for Coachees

Cost effective, just in time and individualised staff development

Increased confidence

Achieve your goals at work

Enhanced personal performance

Improved communication skills

Better team working Better people

management skills Improved work/life

balance Improved job

motivation Better able to deal

with change Comfortable in role

– less stress


How Coaching Works

The 2 key elements of coaching are the relationship and the actions:

Relationship

Coach

Supports the coachee – actively listens to them

Is interested in the coachee – asks questions

Has confidence in the coachee – demonstrated through letting the coachee find their own solutions instead of telling them what to do.

Suspends judgement of the coachee - listens

Helps the coachee gain insight – by listening, questioning and challenging them

Actions

Coachee

Is clear about what they want to achieve

Is open to change Is open to feedback Is open to being challenged about

their habits, thinking and behaviours

Is accountable – owns their own goals

Asks for help where needed

Coach

Helps the coachee to set goals through questions

Uses experiences to help coachee learn rather than blame

Suggests tasks and activities to help the coachee develop

Follows up on tasks - asking what was learnt

Incorporates development planning into the IPP process

Observes the coachee and gives them feedback

Coachee

Is accountable – owns their own goals

Is open to trying things out Reflects on what they have

learned Is persistent in trying to make

changes


The Elements of Performance Coaching

Coaching is Supportive

Coaching dialogue is structured


Learning and change takes

place

Coa

chin

g di

alog

ue is st

ruct

ured




Coa

chin

g is S

uppo

rtiv

e Coaching is Supportive

It is essential that coaching is supportive. It helps individuals achieve their goals, and applies to all levels of performance. High support together with high challenge are ideal for creating the most change- this is the coaching relationship you should aim to develop.

Coaching is tightly structured to ensure it is focused and an effective use of time (it’s not a chat!). Whether you are having a short ad-hoc coaching dialogue in a corridor, or a longer coaching session, we recommend using the GROW model to structure sessions. This will be covered later in this e-learning module.

These key tools of coaching will be covered in detail in the next section of this e-learning module.

Learning and change is at the heart of the coaching process – to achieve these is the purpose of coaching.

Key Coaching Tools: ★ Silence ★ Questioning ★ Challenge


Silence Silence is a key tool for a coach. It is very simple to do, but often we feel a need to fill silence. The real progress in coaching comes from changes in the coachee’s perception, as they think something through - just because a coachee isn’t talking doesn’t mean they aren’t thinking! If they are constantly being bombarded with questions, they miss out on time to think. “The art of the coach is not to know when to be silent, but when to break the silence.” – Dr Angus McLeod Hand in Hand with silence goes the key skill of Listening…


Listening

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2

3

4

5

Level 1 Waiting for our turn to speak Coachee I’m not sure what to do about this Coach You won’t believe the meeting I’ve just been to How often have you experienced this level of ‘listening’? How valued did it make you feel? How motivating is it? How often have you given someone else this experience?

Level 2 Giving our own experience Coachee I’m going on a course next week Coach The last course I went on was really interesting. What happened was…. There are times and places for Levels 2 and 3 – giving advice and sharing your own experience can be valuable in managing your staff but these levels do not qualify as active listening, or coaching.


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2

3

4

5

Level 3 Giving advice Coachee I’m having trouble writing this report Coach What you need to do is use a template There are times and places for Levels 2 and 3 – giving advice and sharing your own experience can be valuable in managing your staff but these levels do not qualify as active listening, or coaching.

Level 4 Listening and asking for more Coachee I’ve got so much work, I don’t know where to start Coach Tell me more about that As a coach, you should be operating mostly at levels 4 and 5. At level 5, the coach is reading between the lines by observing the coachee and drawing on their knowledge of them. Although this level of listening is rare, and you can develop it with practice. At level 4, the coach has the coachee’s agenda at heart and is interested in finding out more


1

2

3

4

5

Level 5 Intuitive listening Coachee I know I couldn’t get a promotion and I’m not that interested really Coach Are you really not that interested or is there something else going on here? As a coach, you should be operating mostly at levels 4 and 5. At level 5, the coach is reading between the lines by observing the coachee and drawing on their knowledge of them. Although this level of listening is rare, and you can develop it with practice. At level 4, the coach has the coachee’s agenda at heart and is interested in finding out more


Questioning Coaching works by giving individuals new insights into barriers for improvement. Questioning is a key tool to promote insight. To be able to answer your questions, the coachee needs to access, organise and articulate their thoughts. They are instantly involved because a question requires a response and causes them to think. Through questioning, the coachee discovers more choices for making a change. Because the coach hasn’t told them the answer, the coachee has gone through a thought process, so that they own the outcome. Key points about coaching questions:

1. As a coach, your questions do not have to be elaborate, elegant or deeply profound – they just need to get the coachee to think.

2. If you are catch yourself thinking about the next question you are going to ask, focus instead on listening to the coachee – this is the best way to ensure that your questions are relevant

3. Remember the importance of silence, you don’t have to interrogate the coachee with constant questions

4. Open questions tend to work best in coaching (e.g. ones that start with ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘when’, ‘where’)

5. The coachee should be thinking about and answering the question for their own insight, not to please you and not to give you the ’right’ answer

6. Avoid leading questions ‘don’t you think you should?’ If you want to offer advice, it is much better to just do so rather than manipulate the situation

7. Questioning is a skill you can develop like any other 8. You can download lots more information about questioning from the ‘downloadable

documents’ section of this website


Challenge Challenge involves noticing imprecise language and questioning it. The benefits of challenge are:

To establish clear goals and to ensure the goals are right for the coachee To cause the coachee to think about where they might be limiting their own performance

through their thoughts and or behaviours The model below shows some examples of what to look out for, and brief examples of how the coach can challenge.

Precision Model

Verb Coachee: I’m progressing on this project Coach: What does ‘progressing’ mean for you exactly? – you and the coach might have different ideas about this and you need to check what they mean

Comparison Coachee: I’m not as good at this as some other people Coach: Not as good as who exactly? And who says?

Generalisation Coachee: Things never go right for me Coach: Is that true? Never? What are you basing that on? Can you tell me about a time when things did go right for you?

Self-Limitation Coachee: I couldn’t do that Coach: What would happen if you did? What needs to be in place for you to be able to do it?

Noun e.g. ‘communication’/pronoun; e.g. ‘they’ Coachee: I need to improve my communication skills Coach: what exactly do you mean by ‘communication’? What will you be able to do if you improve your skills? Coachee: They won’t support me Coach: Who do you mean exactly? Who are ‘they’


The GROW Model - How to Structure Coaching

W= Will What are the actions required? Key questions: What will you do first? Will that get you what you want? What might get in the way? How committed to this action are you on a scale of 1-10? The coach needs to follow up on actions through observing and feedback or through discussing the coachee’s progress.

G= Goal Start by establishing the coachee’s overall goals Key questions: What would you like to achieve? What specifically do you want? Then establish the goals for this coaching conversation. Key questions: What would you like to focus on now? How can I support you right now? Ensure that the coachee is motivated by the goal.

R= Reality What is the current situation? Key questions: What is the situation right now? What have you done so far? This stage is key in helping the coachee gain new insights – challenge is important here. Key questions: What are you basing that on? What’s stopping you? You may need to go back and adjust the goal in the light of this discussion.

O = Options What are the options for change? Key questions: What could you do? And what else? What support do you need? The coach can offer ideas here, but only after the coachee has finished.

G

R

O

W


When can I use coaching? As coaching is about learning, the coach should ensure that the coachee follows each stage of the learning cycle. For more information, see the downloadable documents on learning styles on the website. Some examples of where you can start to use coaching are shown below.

IPP development Planning When delegating tasks

New to role New skills needed

As a result of change To develop high performers

To improve current performance

Plan to meet targets Share best practice/ new skills

Plan

Do Make Links

Reflect

Delegate tasks and follow up New tasks

More complex / strategic /

challenging tasks Develop

confidence by trying tasks out

Develop skills by trying tasks out

After a mistake After a success

After training/ learning At IPP review

At regular intervals, e.g. in supervision or one to ones

Improve on high performance

Repeat success in other situations

Raise awareness of impact of behaviour

Challenge poor behaviour


Examples of Coaching

Using the grow model to discuss critical feedback: Your member of staff has received some critical feedback and you want to support them to ensure they can improve.

G

R

Goal: Obviously the goal is to learn from the feedback or mistake and not repeat it. It is best to get the coachee to interpret what this actually means for them: example questions: What do you see as the key issue here? What do you need to be able to do differently? What’s the outcome you want?

Reality: What caused the issue and how likely is it to happen again? What are the current positives and negatives? Example questions: What resources do you currently have that will help here? What do you need to develop? What might get in the way?

Options: The more the coachee comes up with options themselves, the more likely they are to actually go away and make them work. Example questions: What are your options? What else could you do? What will get the best result? Which is most practical?

O

Will: This is all about planning actions. Find out what they will do and check their motivation to do it. Some follow up with you needs to be planned here. Example questions: What will you do first? And then? What support do you need? When shall we meet to review how it’s going?

W


Lack of time Coaching is an investment in time and will eventually pay off when you have developed confident and motivated staff. Sometimes things do come up, but not finding time for something in the long run shows that it’s not a priority for you and you don’t value it – think about the message you are sending your staff by always being too busy for them. Plan to coach and protect the time. Share responsibility for organising and following up with the coachee.

Potential Pitfalls and how to avoid them It has been said that it is much easier to understand coaching than it is to do – so what are the pitfalls and how can you avoid them?

Judging You should never use ‘weaknesses’ revealed by the coachee to form a judgement, or you will quickly lose their trust. Coaching is about openly discussing positive and negative performance and moving forward, not being judgemental. Part of your role is to appraise the performance of your staff, and this will be more formal than a coaching approach.

8


Telling “It may be harder to give up instructing than it is to learn to coach” - Sir John Whitmore. A major pitfall! Sometimes telling is appropriate, but remember that a solution is far more effective and embedded if the coachee has come up with it themselves. It is also far more likely to work. Get in the habit of not telling when you have your coaching ‘hat’ on.

Coachee agrees actions then does nothing Check coachee is actually motivated by the actions (they might have agreed to them because you are their line manager!). Check coachee is able to carry out actions – more coaching or other forms of support might be needed. Bring patterns you spot out into the open, e.g. if the coachee says they never have time to complete their actions, challenge them “I’ve noticed that you say you want to progress, but you don’t seem to be making time to actually do what we’ve agreed” What do you think about that?”


Next Steps

Visit the Performance Coaching and Mentoring Website – for more on coaching and mentoring, including downloadable documents to support you and recommended reading. Book on Performance Coaching for Managers – one day course – beginner/intermediate level www3.hants.gov.uk/learningzone