Dear Eyeing:
At the core, employees want to know how they are doing, what they need to do to be successful, and that their contributions are recognized and valued. Theunderlying challenge to improving ongoing feedback and recognition is gettingmanagers to communicate these things to employees in a way that will motivatethem and improve their performance. More information alone will not improveperformance, but linking the feedback to business goals and employees’personal motivations will have much greater impact.
If you sort through all the fads and programs of the month, the single mostvaluable action you could take is to help your managers become better coaches.Without exception, the managers who are viewed and recognized as effectivecoaches get more from their teams than managers who can’t or won’t put onthe coaching hat. The following five-part strategy provides a context and a gameplan for managers to make coaching easier:
1. Forge a partnership with employees and get them to want to work with youbecause you as the manager are in sync with their individual goals andaspirations. This will increase motivation and build trust.
2. Inspire commitment by connecting your employees to the organizational andjob goals and priorities that matter.
3. Grow skills and new competencies in your people so they know how to dowhat is required for success on the job and in the organization.
4. Promote persistenceby building the stamina and discipline in your peopleto make sure learning lasts on the job.
5. Shape the environment in a manner that builds organizational support toreward learning and remove barriers.
It’s not enough to just have managers meet more frequently with employeesor orchestrate more recognition events. Managers need to purposefully stayconnected to employees and build effective coaching relationships that addressemployees’ needs, as well as those of the organization.
SOURCE: Jeff Stoner, director of multi-rater solutions for PersonnelDecisions International, Minneapolis, Minnesota, July 22, 2002. This model istaken from Leader As Coach: Strategies for Coaching and Developing Others (PDI,1996).
LEARN MORE: Read: Frequent Employee Feedback is Worth the Cost and Time.
The information contained in this article is intended to provide usefulinformation on the topic covered, but should not be construed as legal advice ora legal opinion. Also remember that state laws may differ from the federal law.