Having an understanding of the team member as a person can help you determine if they perhaps don’t have the right skill-set, if they are missing specific resources or need more support from the rest of the team. Being able to conduct those conversations around unacceptable performance, mistakes, and behaviours is a crucial coaching skill that managers need to make their own. If neglected, what starts out as a quirky mistake can become an irritation and quickly grow into an issue with a major impact on the team and possibly on internal stakeholders or even customers.Īnd yet, so often, team leaders procrastinate on having the essential conversation to address issues, give feedback and provide guidance. Whereas high achievers are typically seen through a positive lens, team members at the other end of the performance scale, are often at risk of being stigmatized as lazy, incompetent or just not a good fit for the team. Checking in to discuss what support they need, or to hear their ideas on how to shift the balance, is a critical coaching moment because coaching is about duty of care. Make a point of noticing whether your organization’s workload is being shared in a balanced way, or if the majority is being carried by your high achievers. Another risk is the bitterness and resentment that could build up, when people feel that they are being unfairly burdened with more work than other members of the team. Many a high achiever has been caught out by the burnout caused by the chronic stress of wanting to be seen as exceptionally capable and successful. Their relentless drive to excel over and above what is expected is a behaviour that, if not attended to, can lead to problems in their physical and mental wellbeing. You may marvel at their ability to effortlessly handle a heavy workload, and may be tempted to give them even more work because they are such a productive team member.īut looking a little deeper, you may discover that the swan you see smoothly gliding across the water is paddling furiously under the surface. The first instinctive response to someone doing really well at work is admiration, particularly when the team member seems calm and amenable while doing it. Make it part of your morning ritual to spend the first 15 minutes of your working day checking in with your team members to say hello and see how they are doing because, coaching is about connection. It may require more an even more intentional approach, but the benefits are still powerful. In fact, it’s better when it’s personal because relationships are created and deepened when there is a balance between formal one-on-one meetings and more casual, personal encounters.Īnd if you are all working remotely, you could share the water cooler moment over the phone or via the internal messaging system. Rather than relying on serendipity, you could start to intentionally seek out those serendipitous occasions as an opportunity for a coaching moment, an opportunity to ask: How are you doing? How was your weekend? Is everything OK? The conversation doesn’t even have to be project-related. Those serendipitous encounters are the glue that connect teams and help build a culture of openness, inclusion and belonging. The thing most people miss about working in the office are the incidental occasions at the proverbial water cooler to catch up on office news, share personal stories, or find out about the latest project hick-ups. So, how can you turn a quite transactional encounter into a coaching moment? In this article, I invite you to reframe your idea of what coaching is about and hopefully inspire you to integrate coaching moments into your daily interactions with your team. Conversations tend to be about checking up rather than checking in. There is so much daily business to manage, that people-related topics take a back seat. By thinking this way, it’s difficult for people managers to justify the need for coaching time with their team members. It’s a common misconception that coaching needs to occur in a scheduled, one-on-one setting. When is a good time to apply your coaching skills in the workplace?
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