Provide a supporting or alternate perspective on your colleague’s example of an effective or ineffective coaching situation.

Effective Coaching

When I started in HR, I had no experience whatsoever as to what really involved becoming an HR professional. During the first few weeks, my manager took the time to prepare a training list that we would go over, and she would always sit down with me to show me what was next on the list, what the goal was and what techniques she used to reach that goal. After that, she would provide me with similar tasks so I would get some practice. According to Closing Gaps and Improving Performance: The Basics of Coaching, there are four steps involved in successful coaching. The first one is observation, which includes “identify[ing] a performance gap or an opportunity to improve” (2006). After showing me once, my manager would observe how my practice was going and she was able to spot some gaps that needed more training or more explanation on her side. After she observed, she would sit and ask me how I was doing and what areas I thought needed more work. Later, she would discuss the areas she thought could be improved, and she would set up another training to go over that area again, or she would share a guide that was helpful to her when she started as an HR professional. The fact that she shared with me how helpful different techniques had been to her really helped me connect with the feedback she was providing me with. These two actions, discussion and active coaching conform the two other steps, which involved talking things over with me and making sure we were on the same page as to the areas that needed improvement. Even though, this article also mentions creating an action plan, in this case we already had the list of training tasks that she had originally created, so I had an understanding of the final goal. Finally, the follow-up step, which entails checking progress and understanding. My manager was actually great at this. Even after I had worked on a specific task several times and even after seeing I was completing the task successfully; she would always ask if I had any doubts and she made sure that I didn’t hesitate to ask her if I had any questions.

Ineffective Coaching

Even though the experience described above denotes successful coaching skills, there was an HR Director who I also answered to, and so did my manager, and whose coaching skills were quite ineffective. The experience with her was completely different. When it came to coaching, she wouldn’t even try. She would definitely observe and let me know when there were tasks done incorrectly. However, she would just tell me to do it differently and to send it to her so she could review it. Closing Gaps and Improving Performance: The Basics of Coaching expresses that there is a difference between praise and feedback, as well as between criticism and negative feedback. “Praise is simply a pat on the back for good work [while] positive feedback goes further, identifying particular actions of merit” (2006). This manager would just respond and say, “great job!” when a task was well done, without providing details on what was done well. Honestly, I also never thought of asking. In the same way, “criticism is a kick in the pants and explains very little [while] negative feedback brings in the details, providing a basis for discussion and improvement” (2006). This reflected in her actions when she would mention that an offer letter, for example, wasn’t correct. I would eventually begin asking what changes she expected and while she continued working on other tasks, such as answering emails, she would start listing all the changes she expected, without showing an example or providing any coaching as to what the right technique would be in order to apply it to future tasks. Lastly, she never followed-up and asked if I understood what she was asking or if I had any questions. In order to improve as a coach, she could have at least taken the time to show me examples of what she was expeciting so I could have a guide to follow. She could also, once in while, ask for some feedback from her subordinates so she could probably receive some tips on aspects she could improve as a leader.

The key takeaways from these situations are, firstly, to consider the learning process of others and to make sure I provide enough feedback on the gaps I may be observing in their performance. Secondly, to make sure I word that feedback correctly in order to be a learning and growing opportunity for the other person. Thirdly, making sure that their goals and my goals meet in the middle in order for the coachee to be motivated and to want to work on improving.

References:

Harvard Business Review Press. (2006). Closing gaps and improving performance: The basics of coaching. In Performance management: Measure and improve the effectiveness of your employees (pp. 1–19). Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation.

1 day ago

Maria Gonzalez

RE: Discussion – Week 4

COLLAPSE

“Coaching involves learning from experience. Experience may be a good teacher, but unless we reflect on that experience it won’t be a very effective one” (Gote, 2011). Based on the information of how being coached can be effective and/or ineffective I will describe how both can be done by others. When being coached it involves giving advice, providing guidance to develop skills and knowledge to perform effectively, give support and built confidence for others. Being an effective coach takes pride of helping others when being asked or when you notice theirs a lack of performance. In contrary, being an ineffective coach is totally the opposite. Some would say that coaching can sometimes be micromanaging which is “telling people how to do their jobs or explaining precisely the way you want something done” (Gote, 2011). In addition, being a coach does not mean you are being a counselor.

A time I was evaluated by a leader in my work experience in an effective way of being coached was in my current position. Given that I was currently new to my job role at the time, I was being challenged by a student via email regarding some academic test scheduling she had to complete before starting her program with us. As the student and I were going back and forth, there was a mute period where the student was not responding to none of my emails, which then I took the route of calling her. As I called twice with the follow up emails, the student then attacked me of me harassing her. In the end, I came across a little too aggressive in my email I last sent her which was a teaching moment with my manager. Even though it was the student’s responsibility to keep in contact with me and turned the situation around with me supposedly harassing her, she used that in order to get more time to get her exam scheduled. My manager and I had an open discussion and went over the emails, and as he pointed out that she understood my frustration, she coached me in how I could have handled the situation differently. I took the criticism that my manager gave me, and I took it as a teaching moment. One factor in avoiding mistakes is “losing control of your emotions”. She trusted me in what I had to say and motivated me in order to improve my mistakes of what I did wrong, even though we both knew what the student was really trying to achieve. In the end, I sent an email to the student to apologize for my tone of verbiage. “Giving constructive feedback when it’s needed is essential to creating a productive work environment” (HBPE, 2014).

If I wouldn’t have a great leader that listened to my side of the story when this situation happened to me, I think things could have been different. When being an ineffective coach to your employees it can cause conflicts between both parties when not knowing how to coach correctly. Some examples that could have gone totally wrong would-be poor listening, not being as involved with your employees and lack of integrity. Coaching is an essential skill for any leader, especially for leaders at more senior levels. Therefore, I think being an effective coach is also being a role model to others when it comes to learning how to handle certain situations that get the best of you. When developing skills to be a better leader, we must take every circumstance professionally and learn when to listen, process and then react in when situations do not seem to please us.

In conclusion, some key takeaways for developing my own skills as a coach would have to be considering the Coaching 101 steps written by Ibara and Scoular. Some basic steps would be as follows: assess the situation, listen, ask open-end question and practicing nondirective coaching. I think this shows great steps in better becoming a coach to others.

Grote, D. (2021). How to be good at performance appraisals: Simple, effective, done right. Gildan Media Corporation.

Harvard Business Review Press. (2014). Conducting a feedback session. In Giving effective feedback (pp. 25–42). Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation.

Ibarra, H., & Scoular, A. (2019, October 31). The leader as coach. Harvard Business Review Digital Articles, 2–11. http://hbr.or

Julie Wancik

RE: Discussion – Week 4

COLLAPSE

Effective and Ineffective Coaching experiences:

Effective Coaching experience:

Had I learned about the differences between coaching and managing before, I would have glorified my manager more when I was running a surgery clinic before medical school. She was the direct manager, yet I was the ‘Clinic lead’ and thus did everything under the sun alone until she popped in once or twice a month. She was a good listener, not always commenting on workflow hiccups I was having, but would ask open-ended questions regularly to assess how I think I should structure clinic days, surgery scheduling days, etc. This art of being a good listener and not telling me what to do, of asking “what do you think will work for you in ___?” are the fundamental coaching skills that Shelley talks about (Shelley, 2018). Sometimes my workflow solutions would yield advantages and sometimes they wouldn’t work, but my manager never criticized what didn’t work she would give alternate supporting advice to help me get back on track. This method my manager exhibited of nondirective then situational coaching infused me with energy to strive to build a better system of streamlining work at the clinic (Ibarra and Scoular, 2019). Ultimately, we increased our overall production statistics and increased patient access and care, all because my manager was a coach, not just a manager. A manager directs and instructs; a coach sees potential and allows it to foster and maximizes and help the employee excel to greater strides (Milner and Milner, 2018).

Ineffective Coaching Experience:

I knew I had poor coaching from my master’s thesis advisor. Her ‘command-and-control’ leadership style was suffocating and stunting to my productivity; these leadership traits are ‘old school’ and going out of style in today’s world (Ibarra and Scoular, 2019). Though I knew she had good intentions, her micromanagement style stifled me- I recall sitting in her office for 6 hours at a time, many times, doing edits to my 100+ page thesis. This art of trying to conserve time and energy by micromanaging hurt our productivity and made me lose confidence in her advising style and made her lose more time than she banked on (HBR, 2006). Often, I would have to listen to her talk, a lot, and I did not feel she heard me in return. My advisor even tried to change the nature of my thesis, despite the IRB (Independent Review Board) approval that took 4 submittals (it’s a lot of work), and despite the objections by the rest of my thesis committee, and my own resistance. Forcing a subordinate to do something they do not want to do, not listening but talking over them, and talking too much are poor coaching techniques (HBR, 2006). Perhaps I would have been more open to her ideas if she would have exhibited emotional control, assertiveness, and empathy, for these traits seen by those in subordinate positions are disarming and opening (Bregman, 2016).

Actions for Effective Coaching:

My effective manager exhibited good coaching qualities of good listening, and situational coaching (and most often non-directional coaching) (Ibarra and Scoular, 2019). I look back on this management style and I hope to embolize it as I grow in my career goals. She provided day-to-day and periodic coaching- from the phone or when she was there in person. She was in tune with the nonverbal cues I elicited when I had to get back to her, and she was keen to give me a moment or longer when I received her feedback and needed time to process it. She monitored her own reactions if we disagreed or thought differently on something, and we often worked together on action plans that entailed clinic monthly, quarterly, and yearly goals (Grote, 2011; HBR, 2014). These traits of a coach exceed the duties of a mere manager. I did not know at the time just how lucky I was to learn from her, but I relished going to work most days. I enjoyed her supportive, comradery style of both delivering positive criticism and letting me blossom with tasks she allowed me to develop and execute myself. These coaching traits conserved the time and energy of my manager as she knew when to coach and when to give me the reigns. Being delegated management of clinic responsibilities made me accountable and gave me ownership of my position while helping her time manage better (HBS, 2006).

Actions for Ineffective Coaching:

Coaching is a mutually beneficial activity between the subordinate and the manager/leader. During the long hours, I spent in “Julie’s chair” in my thesis advisor’s office, I often felt subservient and acquiescent to her demands, not feeling mutual growth or respect. I met her demands not because I agreed with her but because of her authoritative, controlling behavior over my original thesis idea (HBR Press, 2014; Chhaya, 2019).

The way in which my advisor would deliver feedback was not as structured as it should have been. She would have benefited from a FUEL framework of coaching/mentoring me (Zenger and Stinnett, 2010). First, ‘F’ for framing what her goal was for the feedback session on my revisions to my thesis would have set the stage and intention clearly. Next, her explaining why she wanted the changes, not just dictating ‘do these changes’ would have helped me and the committee understand her viewpoint. This is the ‘U’ for understanding the FUEL acronym. And if she would have had me explore how revisions and changes would have helped my thesis project, I may have benefited more than being dictated. And finally, though we had a goal together, our eventual goals were not aligned and therefore our milestones and objectives were not in line so neither could we be on the same page with accountability. ‘L’ is for laying out a success plan. These critical pieces of coaching with time-bound steps that uphold accountability are critical to motivating and retaining employees or in my case the student (PERLA, n.d.). I eventually ended up switching thesis advisors, supported by my committee, and successfully completed my study. Yet I learned critical lessons about what not to do as a coach and probably saw for the first time how management was moving from control to nondirectional coaching methods to motivate, grow, and retain employees (Ibarra and Scoular, 2019).

Coaching Takeaways:

1. Zenger and Stinnett’s FUEL acronym of a coaching checklist lays out a nice way to coach and engage employees/subordinates in a way to gain mutual understanding, align goals, and support the ‘coachee’ to grow and thrive (PERLA, n.d.). This framework of ‘FUEL’ aligns with HBS Press’ 4-step process of observing, discussing, agreeing, active coaching, and follow-up (HBS Press, 2014). Though not formally, my boss with good coaching skills exhibited these steps in infusing me with supportive energy and freedom to blossom as her clinic lead.

2. The most impactful piece of information I found laid in first, isolating my own style of coaching with Ibarra and Scoular’s styles of coaching. I first isolated that I need to work on being less ‘directive’ as a coach (and just as my original thesis advisor was to me), and more situational and nondirective like my clinic boss example, my medical school professors, and preceptors are. By listening, questioning, and withholding judgment, a nondirectional coach can help the ‘coachee’ foster their own insight and creativity, and new ways to look at a problem that will keep them energized and striving (Ibarra and Scoular, 2019).

Further, Sir John Whitmore’s GROW model of nondirective coaching also lays explicit details of how to train a manager to be a coach (Ibarra and Scoular). Unveiling the employees’ Goals or what they want to accomplish right now. Then, establishing how to do this realistically, (Reality), that is the ‘what, when, where, and who’ of how to accomplish the goal. After realistically entertaining the key things to accomplish the goal, then there need to be Options, for when a subordinate feel stuck, they need to be able to think broadly and come up with new ideas to reach a goal. I encountered this when my thesis got too big yet was not given an option to downsize and streamline my objective with my first advisor. For if you feel no other options, you not only feel baffled, but you cannot do the final step of GROW which is Will; this ascertains if a person will do the task to reach the goal and how likely it is that they will be successful at it. Had I been asked my ‘will’ I would have been eager to say I will get my thesis tasks completed, yet I would have also felt downtrodden that I could not complete my goals with the management I had, which was not coaching.

3. Finally, I believe performance and feedback are essential. I received and have seen tons of positive criticism for downright cutdowns while in the workforce and in medical school. I saw avoidance of much-needed conversations that frustrated groups of peers and caused low workflow productivity (Geisler, 2020). Sometimes I would see peers at work, not in a happy mood but slower than usual with tasks. They’d get called out, more so for their attitude than their slow behavior. So, instead of focusing on what could be wrong and helping the employee, judgment was passed on their quiet attitude which caused a protective attitude by the employee. This is a poor way to start a conversation with an employee and promotes defensive behavior and it did (Geisler, 2020)! Bregman’s skills for a coach to have a difficult conversation resonated with me in that first, we need to manage our own emotions, and secondly, we must have a combination of empathy and assertiveness to both understand the trainee/coachee’s point of view but also to know we are heard, too (Bregman, 2016).

Thank you for reading my experiences in being coached and learning what coaching vs. management is. I hope to hear from you!

Warmly,

Julie

References:

Bregman, P. (2016). Partner with employees to improve poor performance [Video]. Skillsoft. https://waldenu.skillport.com/

Bregman P. (2016). Skills for a difficult conversation [Video]. Skillsoft. https://waldenu.skillport.com/

Chhaya, N. (2019, July 25). Does your Leadership Style Scare Your Employees? Harvard Business Review. http://hbr.org

Geisler, J. (2020). What leaders should know before having tough conversations about performance. Healthcare Financial Management, 74(1), 50-51.

Grote, D. (2011). Providing day-to-day coaching. In How to be good at performance appraisals: Simple, effective, done right (pp. 71-88). Harvard Business Review Press.

Harvard Business Review Press (2006). Closing gaps and improving performance: The basics of coaching. In Performance management: Measure and improve the effectiveness of your employees (pp. 1-19). Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation.

Harvard Business Review Press. (2014). Conducting a feedback session. In Giving effective feedback (pp. 25-42). Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation.

Harvard Business Review Press. (2014). Developing an action plan. In Giving effective feedback (pp. 43-53). Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation.

Ibarra, H. & Scoular, A. (2019, October 31). The leader as coach. Harvard Business Review Digital Articles, 2-11. http://hbr.org

Milner, J., & Milner, T. (2018, August 14). Most managers don’t know how to coach people. But they can learn. Harvard Business Review Digital Articles, 2-5. http://hbr.org

PERLA Coaching & Consulting. (n.d.). A coaching conversation checklist for smart managers. https://www.perlacoaching.com/coaching-conversation-checklist-for-smart-managers/

Shelley, G. (2018). Coaching skills fundamentals [Video]. Skillsoft. https://waldenu.skillport.com/

Zenger, J. H., & Stinnett, K. (2010). The extraordinary coach: How the best leaders help others grow. McGraw-Hill.