Successful coaching strategies are essential for managers to build trust with their employees, foster open communication, and motivate them to learn and develop. By using these techniques, managers can provide an outside perspective that employees can use to make personal improvements. As responsibilities are added to an employee's role, their performance will affect their level of confidence in their abilities and commitment. Mistakes and failures are inevitable, but they can be used as teaching moments to guide employees with open and honest feedback.
Managers should guide employees so that they will do better next time, and gradually they will be able to rely more and more on their own capabilities. To be a great mentor and help a learner reach their full potential, managers must know how to address and meet their needs and concerns. However, meeting the unique requirements of new or young employees can be difficult. Fortunately, 15 members of the Forbes Human Resources Council have detailed their most successful training strategies below.
When employees follow their advice and improve their processes and skills, they will realize that the manager has their interests in mind and will learn to trust their training methods.
Understanding a Person's Position on the Learning Scale
Understanding a person's position on the learning scale and when they have progressed or regressed is a key element in knowing how to train their staff. Coaching conversations are meant to bring about change and results, so it is important to clearly define and describe what needs to happen next.Focusing on Subconscious Thinking and Behavioral Patterns
Effective coaches understand that change and improvement begin at the fundamental levels of subconscious thinking and behavioral patterns. If coaching conversations focus entirely on what isn't working and what the employee needs to do to change, that's not motivating, but rather demoralizing.Asking Open-Ended Questions
Guiding, open-ended questions lead to more detailed and thoughtful answers, leading to more productive coaching conversations. Coaches or mentors who don't have experience guiding new or young employees may accidentally prevent improvement by trying to achieve an outcome that doesn't benefit anyone.Developing Your Management Repertoire
Developing your management repertoire through the 10 effective training strategies described below will help you better support your employees and become a more effective manager for your team members.An effective training strategy for leaders with new or young hires is to help them determine their purpose.
Recognizing That People Can Overcome Stages
An effective coach will recognize that people can overcome these stages and modify their approach. Managers who adopt a training style put employees in the driver's seat, allowing them to make their own decisions when possible. When you train employees to improve performance and engagement, approaching things from their perspective, rather than your own, will greatly help you to see the changes and results you want.Asking How You Can Improve Your Coaching Role
During meetings and individual sessions with employees, ask how you can improve your coaching role to help your employees achieve the performance and behavioral goals that you have set together.Effective coaches understand that change and improvement begin at the fundamental levels of subconscious thinking and behavioral patterns.
