Everyone wants to be effective in what they do. If you gave a training workshop to a group of employees and the next day you went into their project development room and watched while they did exactly the opposite of what you told them, you might want to go bang your head on your big oak desk. Obviously you were not effective.
Face-to-Face Coaching Session
Coaching cannot always be done in a group. You may think it is the fastest way to accomplish what you want to do, but it is not often the most effective way. More than likely every employee will not need coaching so know your employees well enough to discern which employee is off track in performance either because he or she does not care or does not understand. Do not presume either.
Have a face-to-face coaching session with that one individual, giving specific direction, information, knowledge and a goal to work toward. Do not go into this session and say to the employee, “What seems to be the problem?” This employee is likely doing the best he or she knows. You are the one who is to say, “This is wrong; this needs to change, and this is how we are going to do it.”
Provide Performance Development Goals
There is nothing like setting a marker or a goal for where the employee is and where he or she needs to be to be a competent employee who can follow through on a structured plan of design. Goals are more reachable than mere resolutions that are a dime a dozen. Engage the employee into setting goals of what he or she things is achievable in the next two weeks or next month. You may have expectations, but by engaging the employee, he or she will feel it is a plan that belongs to him or her.
Provide Feedback on Moving Towards the Goal
Performance coaching is not a one-time B-12 shot in the arm. It is a continual IV of encouragement, feedback and tracking progress. Coaching cannot be a random hit-and-miss process. It has to be specific and routine so the employee knows exactly what is expected and when the next evaluation will occur. The goal is only beneficial if you continue to measure progress against the goal. That may be a weekly goal or even in some situations, a daily check-up.