Why Coaching your Employees Makes a BIG DIFFERENCE
Cathie Leimbach • July 5, 2021
You may know that coaching your employees on an ongoing basis will increase their performance, reduce the line of people outside your office door, and reinforce training. Here is an interesting statistic – after employees receive training, they only implement about 10% of what is learned without ongoing follow-up and coaching.
Effective coaching of your employees will result in more confident, better trained, and more engaged employees. Coaching, rather than telling, creates future capacity in your employees. Here are some of the benefits:
- Employees are encouraged to succeed in their roles, surpass their goals, and sometimes are surprised at how much more effective they have become.
- It increases engagement – employees feel heard and that their contribution is valued.
- Your employees are coached to find solutions and answers themselves, leading to solid leadership skills and good behaviors.
- Employees become more motivated.
- Morale is increased throughout teams as each employee is equipped with more skills and confidence.
There are challenges for Managers wanting to coach rather than instruct. Ongoing coaching of your team will empower them to be more effective, creative, and confident. This helps your bottom line. Like all skills, developing coaching skills requires training and reinforcement from the organization. The reasons why it is challenging to implement coaching include:
- Managers lack knowledge about how to do it effectively.
- It feels time-consuming.
- Managers are often promoted based on technical skills, and coaching can feel awkward to them.
There is an accessible 12 step format to effective ongoing employee coaching:
- Give employees regular, frequent feedback. Employees crave constructive feedback from their managers. Look at our previous articles on providing positive and corrective feedback.
- Create a culture of feedback within your team. Encourage employees to provide feedback to each other and you.
- Push your employees by motivating them to get out of their comfort zone and perform to their potential. Their abilities and confidence will grow.
- Be open to employee ideas. We have previously talked about asking open-ended questions. When employees feel their opinion is respected and valued, they are more likely to be engaged and push harder.
- Encourage employees to learn from others. Connecting with their peers opens new possibilities and creates a more connected team. Encourage employees to learn from others.
- Ask employees for their opinions. This creates an open dialogue, encourages employee input, and provides an opportunity to coach.
- Build confidence. Confident employees achieve goals. Look for ways to coach each employee to set reasonable goals and recognize them for their strong performance and extra effort.
- Don’t do their work for them. If an assignment is going sideways, it is tempting to take it into your own hands and complete it. Instead, coach them on how to handle the situation by using open-ended questions to help them navigate through possible solutions to come to the best outcome.
- Tolerate and support failure. Do a second look. Make every failure a learning opportunity. Review what went wrong and talk through how to succeed in the next project.
- Recognize employees often. Don’t forget to celebrate success frequently. Little acknowledgments go a long way toward securing buy-in and building a stronger team. Praise much more often than you offer suggestions for improvement.
- Identify goals with the employees. Be clear about your expectations. See our recent goal-setting article for tips on how to do this.
- Ask what you can do to help. Let your team know they can come to you for help, AND use open-ended questions to help them arrive at their solutions after some brainstorming with you.
Coaching your employees is key to increasing output, engagement, and morale. Your job as a manager is to enable the success of each member. Next week we will provide some examples of effective coaching dialogue.
Absenteeism is expensive. Every unexpected absence costs more than a day's wages. Someone else may need to work overtime. Priorities get reshuffled, service slows, projects fall behind, and customers notice. Before long, absenteeism starts taking money right out of your pocket. That's why many organizations turn to attendance policies, incentives, disciplinary action, or tighter oversight. But what if those approaches are addressing the symptom rather than what's really going on? Most people don't wake up one morning and suddenly decide they don't care about their work. Disengagement usually happens gradually. People stop sharing ideas. They stop feeling heard. They begin doing only what's required. Eventually, some stop showing up. By the time absenteeism is brought to your attention, the real issue may have been growing for weeks—or even months. If absenteeism has become a recurring challenge, don't just ask, "How do we reduce call-offs?" Instead, ask "What happened before people stopped wanting to show up?" That question may lead you somewhere an attendance report never will—and may ultimately save far more than overtime costs. Attendance problems. Accountability. Difficult conversations. Team conflict. Every leader faces workplace people challenges, and few have been taught exactly what to do when they arise. Talking through your challenges with others can be helpful. Ask questions of your network. Get some ideas online. Sometimes another perspective is exactly what you need to see the situation differently. You Don't Need to Go It Alone. Bring your workplace people challenges to the FREE Workplace Conversations Clinic on August 17. Gain insights from Cathie Leimbach and other attendees as you explore practical ways to handle the situations you're facing. Register here for the FREE Workplace Conversations Clinic
Most employees know what they are expected to do each day. Far fewer fully understand why their work matters or how it contributes to the organization's success. Yet that understanding is one of the most powerful drivers of engagement, commitment, and performance. Gallup research consistently shows that employees who feel connected to their organization's mission and purpose are significantly more engaged, while highly engaged teams achieve stronger productivity, profitability, customer satisfaction, and retention. When people understand how their individual responsibilities help customers, coworkers, and the organization succeed, their work becomes more than a list of tasks—it has meaning. Supervisors play the key role in creating that understanding. A job description explains what to do. Leadership conversations explain why it matters. They help employees see how quality, safety, customer service, teamwork, and continuous improvement all connect to the organization's goals. As work changes, priorities shift, or new challenges arise, supervisors who communicate openly help employees understand not only what is changing, but why those changes matter. Questions, discussion, and regular feedback replace assumptions with clarity and build trust. Employees who understand the purpose behind their work are more likely to make good decisions, solve problems, take initiative, and remain committed during difficult times. They also appreciate knowing that their organization is willing to invest in their future through learning and career development opportunities, even if promotion is not immediate. When supervisors consistently connect daily work to a larger purpose through meaningful conversations, employees gain direction, confidence, and motivation. They don't simply complete tasks—they understand the difference they make. And that understanding creates a workplace where engagement, performance, and retention naturally grow. Need Help with a Difficult Workplace Conversation? Great leadership doesn't happen by accident—it happens one conversation at a time. You Don't Need to Go It Alone. Bring your workplace people challenges to the FREE Workplace Conversations Clinic on August 17. Gain insights from Cathie Leimbach and other attendees as you explore practical ways to handle the situations you're facing. Register here for the FREE Workplace Conversations Clinic Conversation is where leadership happens.
