Are You Taking Advantage Of Your Coaching Moment?

This post is geared more towards those in a management position, but we thought it was important following our post on engaging and retaining employees to dig a little deeper into taking advantage of the coaching moment.

Do you know how to take an opportunity to turn a struggling employee into one who is successful? Can you coach them up or coach them out? It’s a term John Maxwell uses if you’re familiar with his work. Leaders have expectations and sometimes when they aren’t being met, the consequences can lead to frustrations and this is where the coaching moment comes in.

Here are some things you should try the next time you are faced with an employee who needs, potentially, a little more leadership.

1. Empathy. This means you’ve been in their shoes. You know what it’s like to struggle and you can see they are trying to figure it out. It’s saying, “I’m in this with you. Let’s figure it out together.”
2. Use Questions. This allows you to learn and understand where the problems or confusion lie. It gives you a chance to better see the problem from their perspective and may even give you a chance to see how a system you’ve put in place could be creating a problem for them and it needs to be fixed.
3. Promote a Growth Mindset. Give them the space to grow. All is possible. Abilities are not fixed. They will continue to develop and change. Let them do so. Growth is contagious.

As a leader, give your employees the benefit of your positive thought process. That process is constantly asking yourself: “how can I add value to their process?”