Employee Development Coaching
The focus of employee development coaching is the development and implementation of strategies to reach both the company and client-identified goals of enhanced workplace performance. Coaching may address specific personal projects, life balance, job performance and satisfaction, communication or general conditions in the client’s life, business, or profession that impact the workplace performance. Coaching utilizes personal strategic planning, values clarification, brainstorming, motivational skills, and problem identification/ solving techniques. Employee Development Coaching is not a substitute for mental health counseling, psychotherapy, medical intervention, substance abuse counseling, employee assistance counseling or crisis management care. With coaching, the client sets the agenda and the success of the enterprise depends on the client’s willingness to identify target areas to improve, set action plans and implement new approaches and skills. The client is expected actively participate, complete goals and to evaluate progress.
What is the benefit of Employee Development Coaching?
The benefit of coaching for the organization is to retain and improve performance of valued employees. When an employee has an area to address that is affecting work performance, HR or the manager may not have the time, be equipped nor want to extend their personal boundary to “coach” the employee in these issues. An outside Coach can bring in new insight, tools and accountability with focus to address and overcome these obstacles. Whether it is the effect on the team, lower productivity, the time and headaches of the manager/HR, the value of coaching and employee vs. using company discipline or firing/re-hiring can save the company in a relatively short time.
How does it work?
. With coaching, the client sets the agenda and the success of the sessions dependson the client’s willingness to identify target areas to improve, set action plans and implement new approaches and skills. The client is expected actively participate and to evaluate progress ongoing. At the beginning, a discovery meeting is held with both the company representative (HR, manager, business owner) to identify the issues to be addressed and to assess if Employee Development Coaching is the best solution for the issues. If it is, then the following will occur:
-A Coaching Agreement Form is signed by both the organizational representative and the employee, agreeing to the terms and commitment to coaching.
-Company and Employee Goals are completed separately, which includes specific behavioral issues to be addressed and the desired outcome of the Coaching sessions.
-An Action Plan is developed between Coach and employee based on identified Employee and Company goals; targeted issues to address within the session are developed to keep the sessions on track and progressing towards identified goals.
-A weekly Coaching Session Update may be completed by employee, identifying what insights were gained, what tools have worked, how the employee is progressing towards goals and what needs to be worked on in next session. These are reviewed at each Coaching session.
-The Coach keeps a Weekly Status Report, which outlines content of sessions, issues addressed and goals/follow-up for next session. These are kept for the Coach’s use.
-Tools used: depending upon the goals identified, the Coach will provide the employee with tools to complete and use such as assertiveness training, the Professional Wheel of Balance, Cognitive Restructuring Logs, Understanding Differences between people, Success over stress worksheets, Conversation openers, etc. These tools become part of the employee’s homework to complete the action plan.
-Update meetings with Company Representative, Coach and employee will occur to update progress, obtain specific examples of identified successes or areas to grow, and Coaching plan and sessions. These generally occur at the start or end of one of the scheduled Coaching meetings.
-A Coaching Evaluation is completed upon the finalization of the Coaching sessions to assess goal completion, tools and concepts that helped to attain goals, and recommendations for the coaching process.
How many sessions and for how long is determined at the discovery session. Coaching sessions face to face are one hour; telephonic updates can occur at half hour increments of time.