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From NetSpeed Leader Volume 29, November 2006
Coaching to help people improve their performance is
one of those skills that is easy to talk about and a
whole lot harder to do. A recent experience has
driven home for me just how important having a good
coach can be.
My seven-year old daughter has recently started
taking ice-skating lessons. To help make it fun, I join
her on the ice after her lesson for an hour of
free-skating. I wish I could say I cut a graceful figure
on
the ice. In fact, about all I can do is skate within an
arm’s length of the railing so I can steady myself if I
start to lose control. Last weekend, I decided to
teach myself how to skate backwards. I observed
the skillful and experienced skaters in the center of
the ice rink skating backwards as they launched
themselves into athletic jumps and turns.
"How hard can it be to skate backwards?" I asked
myself. After an hour of wiggling, twisting, and
turning as I tried to propel myself backwards, I
concluded, "Pretty darn hard." This is what I call
a "coachable moment." It is that moment when the
learner realizes that she needs serious help from
someone who is willing to give concrete positive and
negative feedback. If a coach had magically
appeared, I would have hung on her every word.
In the NetSpeed Leadership module, Coaching to
Redirect, we liken the work of a skilled manager
to an
archery coach who helps someone hit the bull's eye
on a target. To guide an inexperienced archer, the
coach gives developmental feedback that includes
praise and redirection in equal measure. Just as an
archer needs to make small adjustments with the
guidance of his coach so as to get the arrow closer
to the bull's eye, so does an employee set about
learning and mastering a new task.
From the coach's perspective, what can make the
coaching role difficult to perform is the attitude of
the learner. Often, when tackling the new task or
assignment, an employee says, in effect, "How hard
can it be?" Convinced that she might be able to
perform the task without much assistance from the
manager or coach, she may blunder forward (or, in
my case, backward) until she discovers that she
needs help.
As coaches we are there to support, guide and direct
employees when those "coachable moments" occur.
Essentially we allow our employees to fail with
support. In those moments we move from passive
observer to active coach, redirecting and praising
improvement on the road to mastery. And you know
what? Many arrows will miss the mark before mastery
occurs. It’s all part of the coaching and learning
process. |
A blended learning program for customer service providers |
