978-1285063003 Chapter 11

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Chapter 11

Coaching for Higher Performance

After reading and studying this chapter, the student

should be able to:

 Explain the concept of coaching.

 Identify the four major coaching functions.

 Describe the important skills used in coaching.

 Differentiate between general and pinpointed

coaching statements.

 Describe an “I” message.

 Explain the extent to which a supervisor should

counsel an employee about personal problems.

Brief Outline

What is Coaching

Coaching Is Performance Linked

Current Emphasis on Coaching

Why Supervisors Reject Coaching

The Coaching Functions

Tutoring

Mentoring

Confronting/Challenging

Counseling

Coaching and Understanding

Diversity

The Coaching Skills

Coaching: The Core Skills

Coaching for Improved Perfor-

mance: Confronting and Challeng-

ing

Coaching: The Counseling Func-

tion

Areas of Employee Counseling

Role of Employee Assistance

Programs in Counseling

Learning Objectives

SUPERVISORY MANAGEMENT Instructor’s Manual

Stacy Aldeman: Paintbox Manager

Stacy Adelman has what she calls the perfect job as Paintbox manager for the world class Montage Resort

Hotel in Laguna Beach, California. She loves how she spends her day—working with children of hotel

guests daily. She also loves the Montage culture of “connecting with guests” that is the industry’s envy.

Then, there is aso its strong commitment to employee training and development—the respect with which

it treats employees and continuously supports their growth. Since its 2003 opening, the Montage has won

rave reviews for its excellence; after just four short years, its CEO, Alan Fuerstman, was named Resort

Executive of the Year by hospitality industry leaders.

I. What is Coaching?

• The essence of supervisory coaching is helping individuals become more effective performers.

• Think of coaching as the interpersonal process supervisors and managers use to help individuals

continually reach their highest levels of performance.

• Coaching is a one-to-one relationship that starts when a new employee joins the team and continues

throughout his or her tenure in the work unit.

• Supervisors continually coach individuals to help them achieve increasingly higher levels through-

out their careers.

A. Coaching is Performance Linked

• The focus of coaching conversations is employee performance.

• Through effective coaching, the supervisor can help an employee become an increasingly

effective performer.

• Some situations, such as helping an employee learn a new skill or addressing a problem of

substandard work, are more obviously performance linked.

• Others are less directly performance related, such as helping an employee to prepare for

advancement or to better understand and overcome insecurities.

• In the 1940s, many large organizations experimented by employing professionals to serve as

organization-wide counselors.

• The counselors’ job was to listen to employees’ job-related, personal, and emotional problems.

• These programs had limited success because the counselors worked outside the formal chain of

command.

• Today, the individual supervisor often is considered the “first line” of counseling.

Preview

Lecture Outline

CHAPTER NOTES Chapter 11

• A team member’s problems often affect his or her work performance, attendance, and

relationship with colleagues, and so on.

• While supervisors cannot resolve personal problems, they must at least understand the problem

and urge the employee to seek adequate help if the problem has the potential to impact the

employee’s job performance negatively.

B. Current Emphasis on Coaching

• Coaching gained momentum in the quality-driven 1990s and today is increasingly becoming the

trademark in “best of class” organizations.

• Because organizations and work units have become more culturally diverse, managers and

supervisors must understand their people as individuals, considering their needs, competencies,

goals, attitudes, insecurities, and concerns.

• Coaching efforts must be tailored to the individual being coached.

C. Why Supervisors Reject Coaching

• Many lack confidence and may feel uncomfortable counseling employees and are often

embarrassed to discuss problems of substandard performance.

• Many supervisors view coaching as a passive process.

• They are more inclined through experience to have ready answers for everyone’s problems and

to deal with performance matters expeditiously.

• Supervisors tend to be “tellers” which is an active, fast way to handle things.

• Effective coaching involves more open, two-way communication and greater emphasis on the

supervisor’s listening skills.

• Coaching takes considerable time; many supervisors become caught up in managing “details”

and neglect coaching.

II. The Coaching Functions

• There are different ways to understand effective coaching.

• One is to examine why someone conducts a coaching session—that is, the function coaching is in-

tended to serve.

• Coaching serves four fundamental functions: (1) tutoring, (2) mentoring, (3) confront-

ing/challenging, and (4) counseling.

A. Tutoring

• Tutoring involves a large range of coaching situations that help a team gain knowledge, skill,

and competency.

• The goal is to avoid complacency with present skill levels and develop a commitment to contin-

uous learning.

SUPERVISORY MANAGEMENT Instructor’s Manual

B. Mentoring

• Mentoring is the coaching activity that helps develop careers in others.

• It may also mean:

o Helping an employee see the potentially negative impact of behavior he or she is consid-

ering.

o Understanding how to approach and gain influence with powerful organization members.

o Learning who key players are in given circumstances.

o Understanding how relevant past or current events should influence the team member’s

actions and behavior.

• Successful supervisory coaches aid in giving good career guidance, and keep a watchful eye for

effective development of their team members’ careers.

• In about 75% of the “Top 100 Best Places to Work,” supervisors perform formal mentoring.

• Mentoring comes into play by being more personal, practical, and job specific than training.

C. Confronting/Challenging

• The confronting/challenging coaching function is most directly performance related.

• Supervisory coaches establish clear performance standards, compare actual team member per-

formance against those standards, and address performance not meet those standards.

• Often supervisors find it difficult to confront and challenge team members regarding perfor-

mance issues.

D. Counseling

• Counseling is the coaching function whereby the supervisor helps an individual recognize, talk

about, gain insight into, and solve either real or perceived problems that affect performance.

• The manager’s role is to help the individual determine his or her own course of action.

• The most common mistake is the tendency to give advice rather than to help an employee think

through, understand, and develop alternatives to problems.

• Supervisors should show sensitivity and help a team member understand how personal problems

affect job performance.

• All four functions have much in common and are often combined in a single coaching session.

III. Coaching and Understanding Diversity

• Today’s organizations reflect considerably more employee diversity than in the past years.

• The supervisor’s ability to relate to and understand an employee’s needs, sensitivities, and unique-

ness is crucial to successful coaching.

IV. The Coaching Skills

• The coaching process usually involves a number of spontaneous interactions that occur in a re-

CHAPTER NOTES Chapter 11

laxed, personal setting.

• The supervisor must create a supportive atmosphere that encourages contact.

• Supervisors must establish an open, receptive communication climate, and effective listening is a

critical coaching skill.

A. Coaching: The Core Skills

• A given coaching session may involve several or perhaps even most of these skills.

1. Acknowledging

• Acknowledging is showing through a range of nonevaluative verbal responses, that you lis-

tened to what the employee has stated.

• The acknowledging skill is designed to bounce the communication ball back to the employee

and allow him or her to develop the information further.

2. Attending

• Attending showing through a nonverbal behavior you are listening in an open, nonjudgmen-

tal manner.

3. Affirming

• Affirming is communicating to an employee his or her value, strengths, and contributions or

other positive factors.

4. Confirming

• Confirming is making sure an employee understands what has been said or agreed upon.

• Confirming may also occur with an eye to the future.

5. Pinpointing

• Pinpointing is providing specific, tangible information about performance to an employee.

6. Probing

• Probing asks questions to obtain additional information or exploring a topic at greater

length.

7. Reflecting

• Reflecting is stating in your own words your interpretation of what the employee has said or

feels.

CHAPTER NOTES Chapter 11

• Feelings, emotions, and attitudes may be exchanged.

• In counseling, the listening-related skills of attending, acknowledging, reflecting, and probing are

especially essential.

• Counseling helps identify and help both supervisor and team member understand those “below-the-

surface” factors that are influencing the team member’s performance.

• The team member, not the coach, usually initiates the counseling session, with no advance warning.

A. Areas of Employee Counseling

• Counseling is involved in virtually all aspects of the supervisor-employee relationship. It begins

with the hiring phase and does not end until the employee leaves the company.

1. Job Performance

• Counseling is especially important in the area of job performance.

• Numerous factors, the supervisor is unaware of, influence employees’ job performance.

• A good rule of thumb is to always be prepared to counsel when addressing below-standard

employee performance especially for employees without performance difficulties in the past

or who only recently engaged in negative job behavior.

2. Physical and Emotional Illness

• The employee must clearly see the impact or potential impact of these problems upon per-

formance.

• Behaviors such as increased accidents, need for increased rest breaks, frequent off-the-job

emergencies, deteriorating personal appearance, and overreaction to criticism may indicate

substance abuse.

• The rash of corporate downsizings, mergers, and financial and ethical mismanagement has

created unparalleled emotional anxiety.

3. Personal Problems

• The supervisor should counsel an employee with personal problems if the problem impacts

present or future job performance.

• However, a supervisor should be careful when dealing with personal problems, for several

reasons.

o Employees may feel resentful or embarrassed after “opening up” or disclosing highly

personal matters. This may jeopardize their future job relationship with their supervi-

sor.

o If the supervisor makes too concerted an effort to probe into more than an employee

cares to divulge, the employee may be resentful.

o If the supervisor gives advice on personal problems and the results turn out unsatisfac-

torily, the supervisor will be blamed. In addition, the supervisor and/or the company

SUPERVISORY MANAGEMENT Instructor’s Manual

may be open to legal liability.

• In general, counseling should be restricted to factors that affect job performance.

B. Role of Employee Assistance Programs in Counseling

• Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) emerged to extend professional counseling and other

services to employees confronted by unresolved personal or work related problems.

• In cases where an EAP does not exist, a supervisor may refer an employee to counseling ser-

vices provided within the community, most of which have public mental health or social service

professional counseling available.

• A society of Human Resource Management survey of small firms with fewer than 100 employ-

ees showed 70 percent provided EAP services.

• The EAP can help supervisors by handling referred cases at a professional level.

• It is in the supervisor’s best interest to encourage employees to participate when necessary.

VII. Chapter Review

The PowerPoint slides correlated with the Lecture Outline above are available on the Instructors CD-

ROM and on the product support website.

PowerPoint Slide 11-1 Chapter 11 Title

PowerPoint Slide 11-2 Learning Objectives

PowerPoint Slide 11-3 Coaching

PowerPoint Slide 11-4 Performance-Linked Coaching (Text Exhibit 11-1)

PowerPoint Slide 11-5 Examples of Coaching Situations (Text Exhibit 11-2)

PowerPoint Slide 11-6 Coaching

PowerPoint Slide 11-7 Outcomes of the Four Coaching Functions (Text Exhibit 11-3)

PowerPoint Slide 11-8 Outcomes of the Four Coaching Functions (Text Exhibit 11-3) (cont’d)

PowerPoint Slide 11-9 Coaching Skills

PowerPoint Slide 11-10 Coaching Skills (cont’d)

PowerPoint Slide 11-11 Suggestions for Confronting Poor Performance (Text Exhibit 11-4)

PowerPoint Slide 11-12 Coaching for Improved Performance

PowerPoint Slide 11-13 “I” Message

PowerPoint Slide 11-14 Counseling Function

PowerPoint Slide 11-15 Iceberg Model of Counseling (Text Exhibit 11-6)

PowerPoint Slide 11-16 Counseling Function

PowerPoint Slide 11-17 Supervisory Counseling

PowerPoint Slide 11-18 Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs)

PowerPoint Slide 11-19 Example of an Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

PowerPoint Slide 11-20 Important Terms

Visual Resources

CHAPTER NOTES Chapter 11

1. What is meant by coaching?

2. Of the four major coaching functionsCtutoring, mentoring, confronting/challenging, and counsel-

ingCwhich do you feel is most difficult? Why?

Tutoring involves a large range of coaching situations that help a team member gain knowledge, skill

Counseling is the coaching function whereby the supervisor helps an individual recognize, talk

3. Describe the following coaching skills, and give an example of each.

a. Attending: showing through non-verbal behavior that you are listening in an open, non-judging

4. Give an example of a “general” coaching statement as contrasted to a “pinpointed” coaching

statement. Which is more effective and why?

5. What is an “I” message? Why is it an effective way to confront someone’s behavior? Give an exam-

ple.

6. To what extent should a supervisor counsel an employee about the employee’s personal problems?

7. What is an EAP?

Skill Builder 11.1

The Personal Trainer and Coaching

Works with SCANS competencies: Interpersonal Skill, Information

Instructions:

Break the class into teams of four to six members. Select a spokesperson and discuss the following ques-

tions.

• In what way are the roles of personal trainer and manager/supervisor similar? Dissimilar?

• In what types of circumstances can all or most of the coaching behavior of personal trainers be ap-

plied to the manager/employee relationship? Give examples.

Solutions to the Skill Builders

CHAPTER NOTES Chapter 11

• Have any team members worked for a manager/supervisor who functioned much like a personal

trainer? In what ways?

• Following discussion, the spokesperson will present to the class results of the team’s discussion.

There are many similarities between a personal trainer and a supervisor. The fitness trainer’s job is to lis-

rely on personal persuasion.

Skill Builder 11.2

Practicing ‘I’ Messages

Works with SCANS competencies: Interpersonal Skill, Information

• Write a hypothetical “I” message for each of the three situations.

Answers will vary, but the following are some examples:

a. “I’m concerned that when you talk on the phone for an extended period of time. It affects our

• Gather in groups of three to five students and share answers.

Have students divide into groups and share their answers from question number one. Answers will

vary, of course.

• From your answers select some good examples and present to the rest of the class.

Skill Builder 11.3

Practicing Coaching Responses

Works with SCANS competencies: Interpersonal Skill, Information

The purpose of this Skill Builder is to let students develop individual responses. The responses given here

are just suggestions.

SUPERVISORY MANAGEMENT Instructor’s Manual

Instructions:

• In the space below, write the opening statement you will make to Jason that pinpoints the reason

reinforces the need for him to improve performance. “I have always valued your willingness to do

Skill Builder 11.4

Conducting a Coaching Meeting: Role Plays

Works with SCANS competencies: Interpersonal Skill, Information

(Note: This assignment best follows discussion of Case 11-1)

Break the class into small groups. The entire group should read the role for the manager/supervisor and

the employee. One person should be designated to perform each role, the others being observers. Several

minutes planning time should be allowed for players and observers to study their roles before beginning

the actual coaching meeting.

Instructions:

Following each role-play, the group can discuss the manager’s effectiveness in handling the performance

coaching meeting. Review some of the important coaching principles presented in the chapter to help

evaluate the manager’s performance. For each of the coaching meetings, the following questions can be

used as guides for discussion.

• What do you feel was the objective of the meeting?

• Were the steps in Exhibit 11-4, suggestions for confronting poor performance, followed .Were any

done especially well? Which might have been improved?

• Which of the “Core Coaching Skills” such as acknowledging, attending, affirming, etc., did the

manager use in the meeting?

• To what extent do you feel the manager achieved the objective of the meeting?

Each student will bring a different approach to the group discussion.

CHAPTER NOTES Chapter 11

Skill Builder 11.5

Organizational EAP Newsletter: Help for Supervisors?

Works with SCANS competencies: Interpersonal Skill, Information, Technology

In this exercise, students will visit and critique the EAP website of the University of Maine and examine

its helpfulness to supervisors in resolving employee assistance issues.

Instructions:

1. Go to http://www.umaine.edu/eap/supervisor_resources.htm.

2. Read the text of “How Can EAP Be a Resource for Supervisors.”

3. From the left margin menu, click “Supervisors,” and read several copies of the Frontline supervisor

newsletter.

4. On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being lowest and 5 highest, how helpful do you think the Newsletter is

to the University of Maine supervisors? Why? What recommendations would you make to improve

it?

5. In groups of three to five students, discuss your rating, explanation, and any recommendations for

improvement.

6. Select a newsletter month/year and click.

7. Print and bring to class the Frontline supervisor newsletter for that month.

8. Be prepared to share with a team of three to five students the most critical EAP-related questions/

Case 11.1

Critiquing a Coaching Meeting

1. What type of coaching function was reflected in Rowe’s meeting with Busche?

2. In terms of effectiveness on a 1-10 scale, with 1 being “poor” and 10 being “excellent,” what score

would you assign to Rowe’s handling of the session? Why?

3. Identify specific transcript comments by Rowe that reflect the following coaching skills: (a)

Solutions to the Case

SUPERVISORY MANAGEMENT Instructor’s Manual

reflecting, (b) pinpointing, (c) probing, (d) affirming, (e) confirming.

a. Reflecting: “So you didn’t get to put in the time on the report…“

4. To what extent did the meeting reflect the seven suggestions for confronting poor performance

(Exhibit 11-4)?

The transcript closely follows the suggestions given.

i. Describe the performance situation in specific detail. In Rowe’s third remark, she describes in

5. Meet with a group of three to five other students, discuss your responses, and be prepared to report

these to the rest of the class.