Coaching Performance and Behavioral Issues

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Coaching Performance and Behavioral Issues
Pat Donini Employee Relations Director, Deputy
Director of Human Resources
Payroll Dan Taggart Employee Relations
Specialist
November 16, 2007
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Agenda

• Homework and sharing of good ideas
• What is coaching for performance and/or behavior
  change?
• Coaching Dialogue demo(s)
• Practice 1
• Practice 2
• Gaining commitment/ending the session
• Practice 3
• Practice 4
• Whats next?

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Lets jump right in
HOMEWORK
GOOD IDEAS FROM AMA TRAINING
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Good Ideas

• Agenda of issues to discuss
• Deliberate choice of setting
• Two minute challenge
• Wait for response
• Agree on course of action
• Identify motivations
• Use of language (mimic)
• Set SMART goals

• Engage them in the solution (buy-in)
• Balance between self-determination and direction

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The Two-Minute Challenge

• Make it private Make it positive Show you care
  Dont skip a step
• State the facts of what you observed (I
  observed)
• Wait for a response. Dont respond to sidetracks,
  excuses, denials, counterattacks, blaming,
  super-agreeability, etc.
• Remind them of the ideal (The ideal is)
• Ask for a specific solution (What could you do
  different next time)
• Agree on a solution. Follow up.

From the American Management Association
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Coaching

• Coaching occurs in several forms. While each has
  a different focus, they all require the same
  skills and have the same goal to help people
  grow, develop, and improve.
• Educating, Developing, Counseling, Mentoring

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What hat am I wearing today?
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What does a coach do?

• Coaches help people to
• Clearly identify the issue
• Clarify perceptions
• Focus on the future
• Think outside the box
• Adapt to change

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What Questions Does a Coach Ask?

• What will happen if
• What are your other options?
• What support do you need to accomplish that?
• Where do you go from here?
• If the same thing happened again, what would you
  do?

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How Coachable Are Your Employees?

• Are they
• Future focused?
• Defending the status quo?
• Open to change?
• Looking at the situation objectively?
• Intending to act or taking action?

From Howard Guttman, When Goliaths Clash
Managing Executive Conflict to Build a More
Dynamic Organization
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Coaching Dialogue(s)
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The Coaching Session

• Welcome
• Why are we here? Explain the purpose of the
  meeting.
• Talk about the performance/behavior
• (discuss reach agreement what was expected
  what actually happened)
• Talk about improvement and agree on next steps
• What should be continued? Done differently?
  When will we meet next to discuss?
• THROUGHOUT LISTEN, BE SUPPORTIVE, BE
  COLLABORATIVE, IF NECESSARY, BE DIRECTIVE

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Practice 1
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Practice 2
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Practice 3
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Effective phrases used in vignettes

• The goal is
• Can you tell me what was happening there?
• What would you suggest we do?
• Thats a good idea. I think we can implement that
  right away
• So youre telling me
• Im looking for your point of view so I can
  better understand it

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Conversation Starters

• "I have something Id like to discuss with you
  that I think will help us work together more
  effectively.
• "Id like to talk about ____________ with you,
  but first Id like to get your point of view."
• "I need your help with what just happened. Do you
  have a few minutes to talk?"

From Judy Ringer We Have to Talk A Step-By-Step
Checklist for Difficult Conversations
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Conversation Starters

• "I need your help with something. Can we talk
  about it (soon)?"
• "I think we have different perceptions about
  _____________________. Id like to hear your
  thinking on this."
• "Id like to talk about ___________________. I
  think we may have different ideas on how to
  _____________________."

From Judy Ringer We Have to Talk A Step-By-Step
Checklist for Difficult Conversations
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Practice 4
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Does your employee understand what you want?

• End the session by checking to be sure
• Just to be sure we are both in agreement, how
  about summarizing what you see as next steps?
• Is he/she committed to the action steps youve
  discussed?
• If you dont think so, check commitment. For
  example, You seem hesitant about this. Do you
  have other questions or concerns that we should
  talk about?

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Next steps

• Start coaching
• Compare notes with a trusted colleague how am I
  doing?
• We will meet to discuss coaching for motivation
  in early 2008 please send us some examples or
  questions youd like us to address in that
  session.
• Thank you for your participation!

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More Resources

• Masons Workplace Coaches are available through
  Employee Relations x3-1275
• Co-Active Coaching New Skills for Coaching
  People Toward Success in Work and Life by
  Whitworth, Kimsey-House, Kimsey-House, and
  Sandahl
• Difficult Conversations How to Discuss what
  Matters Most by Stone, Patton, Heen, and Fisher
• Skillport smartforce.gmu.edu Login and search
  on coaching

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Questions?

• Employee Relations
• Pat Donini- x3-4185 or pdonini_at_gmu.edu
• Dan Taggart x3-1275 or dtaggart_at_gmu.edu