From the course: Foundations of Performance Management

Using coaching as a development tool

From the course: Foundations of Performance Management

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Using coaching as a development tool

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- I'm sure you're keen to help your team learn and develop but it's time to stop always giving them your advice, opinions, answers, whenever they seek your help. Although this might seem normal and natural to do, your team members risk becoming dependent on you and never developing their own thinking, initiative and self-confidence. The solution is to help your team by coaching them. Not like a sports coach who shouts instructions to their players, but instead as someone who simply asks lots of questions, questions that help them explore and arrive at their own answers to their issues, problems and challenges. I do this kind of coaching all the time and when you start doing it, you'll find that the benefits are enormous. Your team will grow and learn to think for themselves and not feel you are simply telling them what to do every time they have a problem. Start having such coaching conversations with the help of the GROW model, which is a simple and structured way of leading conversations. It takes its four-letter title from a four-part framework of questions. The G stands for the goal of the coaching conversation. Start by exploring what is the problem, issue, question or challenge that your team member is facing. Find this out by asking questions such as, "What exactly is the issue and why are you trying to focus on it today? Why does the issue need a solving and what might a successful resolution look and feel like?" The R stands for the reality which means the context, history and background of the issue. Once you are clear on the goal of the conversation, you can explore the reality through posing questions such as, "For how long has this been an issue and who else is aware of it? Have you tried resolving it before and what happened?" The O stands for options. When you're both much clearer on the issue and its context, impact and background, start exploring the options available for solving the issue by asking questions such as, "If you were alone without my help, what will you do to solve it? Do you have any preferred options or solutions in mind? Or are you stuck without a clue of how to move forward?" And finally, the W is for way forward. Once you've helped your colleague to digest and weigh up any possible options, bring your conversation to a close by asking, "After exploring all possible options, which will you choose to proceed with? What help or support do you need to be confident that you'll be successful with your chosen way forward?" So the next time one of your team comes to you with a concern or problem, try helping them explore it by having a coaching conversation. No need to do it every time, but do it as often as you can, and know that it's also okay to occasionally combine coaching with giving some advice, particularly if your team member is struggling to come up with any of their own viable options. By using this GROW model to coach your team, they'll feel more empowered, confident, and motivated and their performance will skyrocket.

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