Imagine that you coach two junior colleagues: Anita, who's experienced and motivated, and Patrick, who's enthusiastic, but new to his role.
Both have been assigned new projects, but both are feeling frustrated. Anita has said, as nicely as she can, that she finds your advice patronizing, while Patrick is struggling to do what you suggest.
It's clear that you need to rethink your approach to coaching them.
The Skill/Will Matrix can help you find the right coaching style in situations like these. It's designed to help you assess people's skill and motivation levels. You can then tailor your coaching to their needs, based on this assessment.
In this article, we'll look at the matrix in more detail, and we'll explore how you can use it effectively.
About the Tool
Coach and author Max Landsberg wrote about the Skill/Will Matrix (see figure 1, below) in his 2003 book, " The Tao of Coaching ."
You can use the matrix to think about people's levels of skill and motivation, and, from this, choose the best coaching style for each of them.
Figure 1 – The Skill/Will Matrix


From " The Tao of Coaching " by Max Landsberg. Published by Profile Books, 2003. Reproduced with permission.
The matrix is divided into four quadrants. Each one reflects a different coaching style that you can use, based on people's levels of skill and motivation. The four styles are:

Direct: use this approach for people with low skill and low will.
Excite: use this coaching style for people high skill, but low motivation.
Guide: this approach is best for those with high will, but low skill levels.
Delegate: apply this approach for people with high skill and high motivation.


Note:
The Skill/Will Matrix is similar to the Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership® Theory .
Both focus on how you can tailor the way you work with others, based on their experience. However, the Hersey-Blanchard Theory focuses on management, while the Skill/Will Matrix covers coaching.



How to Use the Matrix

First, explore people's levels of skills, and think about how motivated they are. Then, plot skill and motivation on the matrix to determine which coaching style you should use.
Let's look at the different coaching styles that you can use for each quadrant.
Direct (Low Skill/Low Will)

Working with someone in the Direct quadrant takes a lot of time and effort.
If you manage the person that you're coaching, set clear deadlines, and monitor progress closely. If you don't manage her, encourage her to discuss deadlines and instructions with her manager, and to ask for help if she is struggling.
Consider using the GROW Model to focus on skills development, and on increasing motivation.
Excite (High Skill/Low Will)

Someone who falls into this quadrant has the skills he needs to perform effectively, but lacks the motivation to use them.
Use Herzberg's Motivator and Hygiene Factors Theory , McClelland's Human Motivation Theory , and Sirota's Three Factor Theory to explore what motivates this person. Then, make a link between this and his motivation in his role.
For example, if he's motivated by new responsibilities, point out where these will arise within his current projects, and highlight that there will be more of these if he sets an example of effort and hard work.
Your coachee may reveal that elements of his role or working environment are negatively affecting his motivation. If this is the case, explore how you, or he, can reduce or remove these demotivators.

Guide (Low Skill/High Will)
Someone in this quadrant already has the motivation that she needs to improve. Your task is to look for opportunities for her to build key skills, and then give her the confidence to apply them.
Use the GROW Model , and allow time to explore opportunities for development. You may also need to encourage her to think about her preferred learning style , so that she can make the most of learning opportunities.
Then, encourage her to take managed risks, so that she can learn from her experiences.

Note:
Someone in this quadrant may be highly motivated, but may need guidance on a specific issue with her work or attitude – for example, improving timekeeping or personal hygiene.
Use the Situation – Behavior – Impact Tool to highlight the impact of her behavior, and to help her change it.

Delegate (High Skill/High Will)
Someone with high skill and high motivation needs you to be less of a coach, and more of a mentor or "sounding board" for his ideas.
Let him know that you're available if he needs to brainstorm, and encourage him to adopt a "self coaching" approach to personal development. Make sure that you're clear on your responsibilities as a mentor, and, if you're also his manager, check that there are no conflicts of interest.

Key Points
Max Landsberg developed the Skill/Will Matrix, and outlined it in his 2003 book, "The Tao of Coaching."
The matrix consists of four quadrants:

Direct (Low Skill/Low Will).
Excite (High Skill/Low Will).
Guide (Low Skill/High Will).
Delegate (High Skill/High Will).

Use the matrix to assess the skills and motivation of your people, so that you can choose the best coaching approach to use for each person and situation.

Read more…

During the recent economic downturn, many managers have been under pressure to achieve more, but with fewer resources.
And many will continue to pursue this goal, even when their industries or organizations start to grow again.
So how can you make this happen?
One way is by helping your people to be more effective and productive in their existing roles, and at the same time empowering them to take on new challenges and responsibilities. And coaching is an excellent tool for achieving this, alongside other elements of a comprehensive talent management strategy.
In particular, coaching can help you:

Reveal people's capacity to develop new skills, and take on increased responsibility.
Develop their existing skills and talent through supported experimentation – when you encourage people to try new ways to do essential tasks and processes.
Identify where unhelpful attitudes are preventing them from succeeding in their roles, so that you can help them deal with this.
Develop your people, by helping them solve problems that are blocking their progress.
Improve operational efficiency by identifying fundamental problems with business processes.
Highlight succession planning issues, and provide people with a more realistic understanding of their career expectations.

The guidelines below can help you direct your coaching-focused conversations for best results.
Managing a Coaching Conversation
The GROW model is a valuable framework for managing a coaching conversation. Follow these four steps to adapt GROW specifically for talent development.


Explore People's Goals (G)

Coaching is ideal for exploring people's professional, economic, and personal ambitions. By better understanding how they want to commit to their roles and careers, you can more easily assess how to shape the way that they work to meet those desires. For example, a coaching conversation might identify untapped motivation, a skill gap, or a need for a different work experience.

In a similar way, by exploring people's formal work goals, you can help them bring clarity to what they should be doing and the skills they need to be developing, so that they know what they should be focusing on, and where they should and shouldn't be using their time.
Assess the Current Reality (R)

You can use coaching conversations to discuss the good and bad aspects of people's work life, and this is a great way of uncovering how they perceive their roles and relationships within the organization. Are they sufficiently challenged in what they do? Perhaps they find their job stressful? Or maybe they're experiencing conflict with their co-workers? By helping people understand their current situation, you can help them fulfill their potential in a way that benefits the organization. This helps you build a happier team.

Recognizing reality is also important where people are struggling to achieve their formal work goals. They're unlikely to find the motivation to change their behavior if they can't see a problem that needs to be solved.
Explore the Options for Developing People's Capability (O)

If people need to improve their skills or change the way that they work, then take time to explore the options available to them. For example, the outcomes of coaching conversations could include an agreement to take on new responsibilities within the current role, to look at changing roles within the organization, to engage with a potential development mentor, or to start a training program to build skills and knowledge.
Assess and Confirm People's Motivation (Will) to Develop (W)

Once the people you are coaching have agreed to a path of action, coaching can help you explore whether they are sufficiently motivated to make the changes that you have agreed. As a coach, you can challenge them to explore what will make the plan happen. For example, they may need a break from their current role to provide sufficient time to develop new skills, or they may need to change their daily routine to allow for additional responsibilities or tasks.


Tip:
Coaching conversations usually work best when initiated by the person being coached. However, you can always ask team members if some coaching time with you would be useful.

A Coaching Example
In this example, you're managing a person who is talented, but his interpersonal skills limit him from advancing his career. He is disruptive in meetings, and he's building a reputation for being angry and unapproachable.
You have two options for dealing with this situation. You could reprimand him, explaining how his behavior affects others, and demand that he changes. Or you can use a coaching conversation in which he thinks of ways of resolving the issue. The coaching approach might take longer and require some patience, but the outcome will likely be more positive, and promote continued development.

At the end of a staff meeting in which he has clearly demonstrated negativity, you could start a conversation with him.


You:
Any thoughts about that meeting?


Team member:
The usual stuff. Nobody understands anything, and I end up doing all the talking and then all the work.


You:
That's tough talk. Is that what you really think?


Team member:
It seems like I'm the only one with an opinion, and everyone else just wants to keep quiet, do the minimum, and pick up their monthly paychecks.


You:
Well, I've noticed that these meetings have been bothering you. Would it help to talk about it?


Team member:
Maybe, but I'm sure you'll tell me to go easier on people, and just do my job.


You:
I could, but that probably won't help. No, I meant that you could tell me your thoughts and ideas, and we could work together to find the best plan of action for you.


Team member:
OK. I feel like I'm stuck in a position where I come up with ideas, try to sell them to people, get no buy-in, and end up implementing the ideas all by myself – and I often have to work late, when everyone else is home with their families. It's unfair, and I don't know how much more I can tolerate. I don't want to leave, because I'm loyal to this company, and I want us to be the best. But I don't think anyone else understands.


You:
Even me?


Team member:
No, I think you sort of understand, but you hold back in telling them to do it my way. Maybe you don't think my ideas are any good.


You:
Actually, I think your ideas are generally very good.


Team member:
So, why don't we just implement them?



You:
Sometimes teamwork isn't that simple. How do you think the rest of the team sees your ideas?


Team member:
Sometimes I think they're jealous. Other times, I think they just want to do the minimum, and my suggestions would mean working harder.


You:
Have you asked for their opinions?


Team member:
I ask them what they're going to do about putting ideas into action, but I get no response.


You:
And you think that means they don't understand the idea, or they're too lazy to execute the idea?


Team member:
Yeah.


You:
What if I told you that they probably understand most of your ideas? They see some of the benefits, but they can't see what it means for them individually, or they don't know what they need to do to help you.


Team member:
Is that what they've told you?


You:
No, I'm just offering a potential explanation. My point is that if you don't find out what they're thinking, you'll make assumptions that may be wrong.


Team member:
So, you're saying that I need to understand other people's views before they'll understand mine?


You:
I'm not saying that, but if you think that approach may work, then it's probably worth trying.


Team member:
I can see how that might be better. Thanks for the advice.


You:
I think the advice came from you. I just asked some questions and gave you some feedback.



This scenario represents just one small step on a longer talent development path. Find the right moment to start a conversation to explore an issue with a person, rather than tell them what to do. Then, by giving them some space to explain what they think and feel, they will start to see a path to their own change and development. With this type of conversation, the person has a better chance of "owning" whatever has been discussed, and they're more likely to think of the best approach to making a solution work.


Note:
Remember, this is a coaching conversation! When you are coaching, you're not required to direct people (as a manager would) or provide an expert opinion (as a mentor would). You're an objective facilitator, helping people to make the right decisions for their development or career path. The coachee ultimately decides what action to take.
Of course, if coaching isn't delivering the results you want, then you'll need to move into a managerial or mentorship role. You'll need to judge when or if this is appropriate.


Key Points
With effective coaching, you can help your people to improve their performance significantly, and you can empower them to take on more responsibility and take advantage of new opportunities.
An open-ended and non-directional coaching conversation is likely to uncover issues that you might not find in day-to-day manager and team member interactions.
Find time to use coaching to develop people's talent. This will help the members of your team reach their full potential, find the right roles, and be more effective at reaching your organization's goals.

Read more…

Most managers are aware that the way they coach their people can play a big role in ensuring their team's success.
Unfortunately, when it comes to giving feedback, many don't know how to coach, and simply resort to telling others how to improve.
This is NOT coaching! It's unlikely to be effective or to be acted upon; and it won't uncover any deeper problems or incorrect beliefs that may lie behind unhelpful behaviors.
It's often much more effective to adopt a question-led approach when you provide feedback. When you do this, you'll better understand your colleagues' outlook on their work and their career, and their feelings about the organization you both work for. This helps you to engage with your team members as partners and stakeholders in the organization, which helps you to improve each individual's performance and anticipate performance issues before they arise.
It can take time to perfect the art of coaching, but it's worth persevering because one of the most valuable ways that you can encourage new ways of working is to provide feedback to members of your team. If you follow the guidance below, you'll soon be on the right track!
How to take a coaching approach to providing feedback
Most of us have been on the receiving end of both constructive and critical feedback at some point in our careers. So you'll likely know that when it is delivered well, feedback can be inspiring, and it can stimulate people to develop new skills or knowledge. However, when it is poorly delivered, feedback can irritate or demoralize people, and even push them to quit their jobs.
These steps will help you to provide effective feedback, thereby building a more talented team.

Step 1: Know what outcome you want to achieve
It is all too easy for a coaching conversation to degenerate so that it delivers little more than a long list of perceived performance flaws. This is totally counter-productive.
Why? Most likely the person you're coaching will feel attacked on a personal level, and will be overwhelmed by the volume of information.
By being specific about the desired outcome of the feedback session, you'll help the individual see the benefit of receiving the feedback, and remain focused on the precise behaviors to work on. For example, if you want your colleague to recognize the importance of keeping co-workers up-to-date on the status of a task, then keep to that agenda, and be open about that purpose with the individual concerned.

Tip:
When you're functioning purely as a coach, you are not required to direct the other person (as their manager) nor provide expert opinion (as their mentor). You're acting as an objective provider of facts and questions that will support your colleague. Here, it is for your colleague to decide how to use the facts and what action to take next.
In the real world, though, this isn't always appropriate. You need to use your judgment to find the blend of coaching, managing and mentoring that best suits the individual and the situation.

Step 2: Be specific about behaviors you have observed, and their impact
Where you're addressing a negative behavior, inform the individual of what you have seen them do or heard them say. Be accurate and objective, yet sensitive, when stating the facts. Include specific dates or instances: it is important that there is no room for misunderstanding when giving feedback!
Next, provide information regarding the impact of that behavior on others. Do not understate or overstate the problem, or pull punches, or embellish the facts.
Although it may not seem that way, feedback can be a gift when delivered in this honest and open way. For the individual the solution, their solution, could involve signing up for skills training, or could just as easily involve adjusting the way they work or communicate. For instance, a worker who persistently arrives late to early morning team meetings may not be aware of the resentment this behavior can create. Once made aware of the issue, the individual has the opportunity to adapt their behavior, or recognize the need to explain their behavior to others.

Tip:
To check whether your feedback is objective and free from emotional judgments, imagine someone delivering the same feedback to you.
How does it sound? How would you react to this feedback? Would the information prompt you to change your way of working?
We are all individuals and what works for you might not work for your colleague. However, this simple test can help you to shape the exact words you plan to use when delivering feedback.

Step 3: Use questions
Armed with specific, unambiguous and timely information about their behavior, most individuals can be coached to modify their actions. But first, it is essential that the individual "owns" the issue.
The key to turning a directional conversation into a coaching conversation is the use of questions. Questions can be used to come up with solutions, reveal feelings, or generate new ideas. Ask open questions to allow individuals to explore their own performance, and add information from your own observations when appropriate.

Follow the GROW model , and focus in particular on establishing the ‘will' to change. What motivates this individual? And what is in it for them to adapt and develop?
Step 4: Be timely
Effective managers use periodic personal review meetings to providing detailed feedback to team members. But why wait for those sessions?
Most people value prompt feedback, because it allows them to change their behavior immediately. As a manager-coach you don't need to be in a formal situation to initiate a coaching conversation. As long as you ask permission from your colleague, spontaneous and informal coaching is an efficient way of helping people to improve their performance.
Example
Alison is an account manager, and has just attended a client meeting with Graham, one of her team. The meeting was broadly successful, but Alison observed Graham talking over the client's representative in pursuit of additional sales. This scenario is fictitious so the dialogue is unlikely to match the words you might use in the same situation. However, compare the following possible "tell" and "coach" versions of the conversation Alison and Graham might have after the meeting.
"Tell" conversation


Alison:
You talked right over her and most likely she's thinking about winding down the account with us.


Graham:
I didn't see it like that, she wanted to know more about the new product and I was telling her enthusiastically.


Alison:
Well you were wrong and I don't expect to see that behavior again in any meeting with one of my clients!


Graham:
I tried my best to sell the relay product and meet target.


Alison:
It wasn't good enough.


Graham:
It seems like it never is with you. I don't know what I have to do.


Alison:
Just follow my lead.



"Coach" conversation


Alison:
So how do you think that went?


Graham:
OK but I'm not sure she bought it.


Alison:
Why?


Graham:
I got the points across, but at the end she seemed a bit cold.


Alison:
Mind if I give you some coaching feedback for next time?


Graham:
Go on.


Alison:
Well what were the points when the meeting ran particularly smoothly?


Graham:
I guess when she was telling us about their new power plant.


Alison:
Why was that?


Graham:
Because she was excited, and wanted to tell us more.


Alison:
What were the points when the meeting ran least smoothly?


Graham:
Just after I told her about our new relay product. She seemed to listen, and I'm sure I got all the key points across, but there was a silence afterwards.


Alison:
So what could that mean?


Graham:
She wasn't interested, she didn't understand. I don't know. What did you see or hear?


Alison:
I agree she seemed excited about the new power plant and looked like she wanted to talk some more, but then you started to speak about our relay product and continued for five minutes.


Graham:
Was that too long?


Alison:
Maybe, but, more importantly, why did you start talking?


Graham:
I thought it was the right time. Or it was about time. We only had an hour and I thought we were running out of time. Did I really talk when she was still speaking?


Alison:
Yes. Why do you think that was?


Graham:
I got carried away on her excitement and at the same time got frustrated that I hadn't had the chance to talk about our relays. I should have waited.


Alison:
What else could you have done?


Graham:
I guess I could have listened to find a more direct link between their power plant and our relay. Back to basics – people buy when they have a need and a clear benefit from doing so.


Alison:
How can you focus on that for future meetings?


Graham:
Firstly, I could be clearer about my understanding about the purpose of the meeting up front. If I think there may be an opportunity to talk about our products, I should say so at the beginning rather than at a random moment in the conversation. I should also have my own clear list of buying triggers for the relay products, so that when these come in conversation I am ready to recognize these, and am prepared to refer back to this list when the client has finished talking.


Alison:
That sounds constructive. Anything else you could note?


Graham:
Nothing springs to mind.


Alison:
OK. If you want any more feedback let me know.



Sure, the second approach might take a few minutes longer. However, the outcome is much more likely to be positive, and to promote continued development.

Key Points
Telling team members what to do has its place, particularly where time is scarce, when they're very inexperienced, or when safety-critical issues come up. For most management situations, however, it pays to invest a bit more time in coaching.
Combining coaching and feedback is a powerful way of motivating your people to improve their performance. Used wisely and with skill, coaching based feedback can help your people reach their full potential.

Apply This to Your Life
Would you like to receive feedback in this way yourself?
Even the most experienced managers can improve their performance, and learn more about how their behaviors are perceived by others.
So, if you're not already being given feedback using a coaching approach, consider asking your boss – or even a member of your team (provided there is someone who is confident enough to be objective) – to help you improve your performance using this approach.
You could ask for general feedback, or perhaps more specific feedback after a meeting, or in relation to a piece of work you've done.

Read more…

Teams are the force that drives most organizations.
Whether it's a functional team, a team of managers, or a project team, people get most done when they work together effectively.
So when members of a team don't work well together, performance and productivity can suffer.
That's not good for anyone.
Have you seen hostility, conflicting goals, and unclear expectations within your teams? These are symptoms of an unhealthy team. To avoid these harmful effects, you need be proactive about
improving team performance. And even when a team is meeting its objectives, there's often room for improvement.
So how can you help your team improve? With good team coaching (as distinct from individual coaching) you can take your team to the next level. It's a valuable
activity, and it's an essential management and leadership tool.
Team Coaching
Team coaching helps people understand how to work better with others. It's an effective method for showing teams how to reduce conflict and improve their working relationships. The team can
then focus on its real work, and achieve its objectives.
To coach your team, focus on interpersonal skills and interactions
instead of on individual development (as you tend to do with
individually-focused coaching). The way people act with their
teammates, and the way they communicate with one another – these
are important drivers of effective team performance. After all, you can put a lot
of high-performing individuals on a team and still have
performance problems.
People must learn to work together and understand how to relate to one another – otherwise the team's output will be less than it could be.

Note:
We're assuming here that your team has a well-defined direction as well as the resources and support needed to achieve its goals. If these needs are not met, then you should build a solid team foundation before you start coaching for improved performance.

Understand Team Dynamics
A great place to start team coaching is by understanding the dynamics of the team. This is the process of figuring out how team members relate to one another. We all have different styles of working and communicating, and when we encounter a person with a style that's different from our own, we can often get frustrated with that person, and fail to recognize his or her unique strengths.
Some people can be "pushier" than others. A pushy person may think everything is going great – however, her teammates might have a different perspective. If one person walks away from conflict, and another speaks his mind and doesn't back down from an argument, this can lead to poor decision-making and unproductive work.
Personality and behavior assessments are great tools for improving a team's understanding of its own dynamics, and they give team members a better understanding of why they react to their colleagues in certain ways. This new understanding helps them think about how they can relate to one another more effectively, at the same time that it breeds tolerance by helping people understand that different approaches may be valid in different situations.
Myers-Briggs and DiSC are excellent tools for uncovering individual patterns in things such as communication and conflict resolution. You can also use
360-degree feedback to help people better understand themselves.
As a coach, your role is to bring team members together to discuss
their individual profiles and help them find ways to work
together. For example, if Sally knows that George is shy, she'll
have a better appreciation for why he prefers to do tasks
independently. Rather than assume he's just not interested in
working with her, Sally can focus instead on finding ways to
relate to George on his terms. Likewise, when George realizes that
social acceptance is important to Sally, he can make an effort to
be more friendly and interested in what she's doing.
With a greater level of understanding, team members begin to see
one another differently. This allows them to adjust their own
behavior for better results, and they're able to interpret others'
behavior with more insight and empathy.
Establish Behavior Expectations
Understanding other people's perspectives is a great way to
improve relationships with them. However, teams still need to
follow ground rules so they can accomplish their goals. For
example, you may know that Harold prefers to avoid conflict,
however, you can't really accept that from him if you also expect
him to provide expert opinions that may not match the general
consensus.
This is why developing a clear set of behavior and communication
expectations is an important aspect of team coaching. The
expectations help to build empathy and understanding, and ensure that individual
preferences aren't given more importance than team objectives.
A great way to formalize these expectations is with a team
charter . In a charter or "contract," you outline a set of behavior rules that everyone is expected to follow and support. Treating everyone with respect, offering opinions when needed, and talking directly to a person when you feel wronged – these are all examples of ground rules that a team can use.

Taking this one step further, you can also define processes for
team members to follow to meet the expectations. For example, a
conflict resolution process would define the steps to take when
one team member feels offended by another. Typically, the process
would state that the offended person first speaks with the
offender before going to a supervisor.
Likewise, if expressing opinions is an issue, then you might use the Stepladder Technique to encourage individual participation. These types of rules and
processes help build trust among colleagues and create a more unified team.
Evaluate Reward and Recognition Systems
Quite often, people have competing values, and these create a
major obstacle to team unity and effectiveness. For example, it's
not uncommon for an organization to promote teamwork, but still
reward individual behavior. When this happens, you can naturally
expect problems with team members who give personal reward a
higher priority than team performance.
With cross-functional teams, departmental or business unit
loyalties often get in the way of effective teamwork. When team
members have personal goals that don't match team goals, this can
lead to "secret," hidden behavior. As a team leader and coach,
your role is to identify the sources of competing values – and
find ways to fix them.


For details on structuring reward systems that align individual performance with strategic objectives, see Performance Management and KPIs and Management by Objectives .

Support Individual Development
Finally, be supportive of individual development. Team members may
need help to learn new skills, so that they can meet team
expectations and follow supporting processes. Each person has a
different level of readiness to take the steps necessary to
change. As a team coach, be sensitive to those differences, and
find resources to support each person's development goals.
In addition to arranging individual coaching where possible, find
ways in everyday work situations to coach people. Give feedback
regularly, help set individual performance goals, follow up with
training opportunities, and model great team behaviors yourself.

Key Points
Coaching to improve team performance can need different approaches
for different teams and different people. What works for one team
may not necessarily work for another.
Effective working relationships are built by understanding team
members' needs, preferences, and styles of work. By helping people
understand their own styles and appreciate the different styles of
others, you can work with them to change their behaviors and use
everyone's strengths.
The process of improving team performance takes time, and it may
involve looking deeper than team processes. Organizational systems
– such as reward and recognition, performance management, and
training – may need to be addressed as well.
However, the end result of this work is usually well worth it;
improved collaboration and communication will benefit the
organization as whole.

Read more…

You've probably heard people talking about coaching in the workplace.
You might have even received some coaching in the past, or you might have used coaching to improve a person's performance, even if you didn't actually describe it as "coaching" at the time.
But what actually is coaching, and how do you use it? And what skills do you need to be an effective coach?
In this article, we'll look at the basics of coaching in the workplace. We'll clarify what it involves, and review the key approaches that you can use to be a successful coach. We'll also review some situations where coaching can be useful, and look at some examples of coaching questions.
About Coaching
Coaching is a useful way of developing people's skills and abilities, and of boosting performance. It can also help deal with issues and challenges before they become major problems.
A coaching session will typically take place as a conversation between the coach and the coachee (person being coached), and it focuses on helping the coachee discover answers for themselves. After all, people are much more likely to engage with solutions that they have come up with themselves, rather than those that are forced upon them!
In some organizations, coaching is still seen as a corrective tool, used only when things have gone wrong. But in many companies, coaching is considered to be a positive and proven approach for helping others explore their goals and ambitions, and then achieve them.
Coaches in the workplace are not counselors, psychotherapists, gurus, teachers, trainers, or consultants – although they may use some of the same skills and tools.
Most formal, professional coaching is carried out by qualified people who work with clients to improve their effectiveness and performance, and help them achieve their full potential. Coaches can be hired by coachees, or by their organizations. Coaching on this basis works best when everyone clearly understands the reason for hiring a coach, and when they jointly set the expectations for what they want to achieve through coaching.
However, managers and leaders in the organization can be just as effective as externally hired coaches. Managers don't have to be trained formally as coaches. As long as they stay within the scope of their skill set, and maintain a structured approach, they can add value, and help develop their people's skills and abilities.


Note 1:
The key challenge for managers is to separate their management role from their coaching role. Our article Informal Coaching for Managers includes ideas and best practices on how best to do this.
Note 2:
Although coaching in the workplace is just as important as coaching in sport, the approach is different. Sports coaches mentor their athletes, using technical skills, experience, and a "telling" style of direction. By contrast, questioning and reflection are often more important in workplace coaching.

Where Coaching Can Help
Here are a few examples of questions that you can answer with the benefit of coaching:

How can I manage my time better to achieve all I want in life?
What should I do next in my career within the organization?
How can I reduce the stress in my job or my life?
How can I achieve a better balance between work life and home life?
What skills do I need to grow and develop further?
How can I improve my relationship with a specific colleague?


Tip:
Our articles on Coaching for Team Performance , Coaching with Feedback , Coaching for Talent Development , and Coaching Through Change look in more detail at specific situations where coaching is useful.

Golden Rules of Coaching
These are the fundamental "rules" of coaching:
Coaching is founded on confidentiality and trust
Coaching can be successful only if coachees are able to discuss every aspect of an issue or challenge with their coach. The coach may need to listen to personal problems or private information that must be kept confidential. (Unless, of course, it involves criminal activity or activities harmful to the team, its clients or the organization; or affects the safety and welfare of other people.)
The solution to the coachee's issue lies within the coachee
This may sound unusual, but it means that the background of an issue and the options available are generally known to the coachee. The coach's job is to ask the right questions to help coachees arrive at their own conclusions. As we've said before, this is a very powerful way of helping people to change.
Of course, the coach can provide helpful input or suggestions, but the best answers usually come from the coachee.

Tip:
There's a difference here between the type of coaching conducted by a professional coach (who doesn't know about the day-to-day functioning of the organization) and coaching conducted by a manager (who does). As a manager, you probably have useful knowledge and experience, and you're responsible for helping people find the right answers to questions they're asking. However, be sensitive and humble in the way you help people – situations may be more complex than you initially think!

There's no judgment or fixed agenda, but have an agreed goal for each session
For a coaching session to work well, there should be a lot of relaxed conversation, and the session should be free from the fear of judgment and should not follow any set pattern. At the same time, coaching conversations must be focused in order to be effective.

The coachee should have a general idea or outline of the objectives of the coaching, both within the specific session and in the longer term. The coach then helps the coachee arrive at that destination by whatever route seems appropriate. The coach should check with the coachee during the session to determine if they're both moving in the right direction.
Coaching is about the whole person
Although a coaching session will probably focus on one issue, coaches must remember that they're having a conversation with a whole person who has specific experiences, emotions, and patterns of behavior.
Workplace coaching will probably focus on workplace issues, but coaches must recognize that other factors and issues will likely enter the conversation.
The coach and coachee are equal partners
The best coaching conversations are set up so that the coach and coachee are equal partners, whatever relationship and hierarchy might exist in the workplace. The coachee will define the actual issue, while the coach will use his or her skills to help deal with the issue.
Coaching looks to the future and next actions
Coachees are typically looking for some change to their performance, career, or life direction. Determining the right path may require the coachee to look at past experiences and decisions.
However, the most positive coaching experiences are sessions that conclude with an agreed set of next steps or actions to take.

Tip:
Good coaching sessions typically last between one and two hours. If they're less than an hour long, it's likely that the topic, or topics, won't be reviewed in sufficient detail. If a session lasts more than two hours, both the coach and coachee may lose focus and concentration.

Key Approaches Used in Coaching
These are useful approaches that you can use in coaching sessions:
Structured questioning
Most coaching is achieved by asking the right questions – the types of questions that coachees would ask of themselves.
With practice and experience, you can develop a sense of what the right questions are. But as a simple rule, start with open questions, and then ask more specific and probing questions once the coachee has raised an issue or concern.
Active listening
Pay attention to the fine detail of what coachees are saying, and how they're saying it. This is key to understanding a coachee's position at a deep enough level.
Is there a lot of emotion attached to the words that the coachee is using? If so, what emotion? Passion, fear, excitement, dread, anger, joy?
How does the coachee's body language compare with the words being spoken? We often use words lightly, but the underlying meaning may say a lot about what we feel or believe. For example, phrases starting with "I should do …" or "I must do …" are very different from phrases starting with "I will …"
Summarizing and repeating
During a coaching session, summarize where the coaching conversation, or part of the conversation, has led. This helps the coachee relax and continue, as they know that you have taken an interest, and see the whole picture.
You should also occasionally repeat what coachees say – particularly when it could help you understand how their behaviors or expressions might be seen by others.
Checking in with the coachee
During a coaching session, it really helps to confirm with coachees that the session is going well for them and that it's covering what they want it to cover.
It's normal for coaches to give "homework assignments" to coachees. This does not mean the coaches are taking on the role of teacher. It simply means that both coach and coachee agree that some structured thinking time between coaching sessions is of value.

Tip:
Our article on the GROW Model will help you further when planning and structuring a coaching session.

Example Coaching Questions
A member of your team has asked you to help them improve her time management. You schedule in a coaching session with her, and ask these questions:

Where are the key conflicts in your use of time?
What usually stops you from leaving work at a regular time?
How do you think you could address that problem and stop it from happening?
What stops you from getting up an hour earlier to do X?
What support do you have at home to do Y?
How could you get more support at home for Y?
How could you get more support at work for the regular tasks you perform?
How do you feel about delegating at work and at home?
What is the main priority for how you spend your time?
How do you deal with distractions?

These are simple, open questions. But the answers to these and other similar questions will often show that the real issue behind a time management problem, for example, has nothing to do with time management – but rather, something to do with how the coachee feels. If you have an issue with time management, try answering some of the questions above. Substitute X for an activity you believe you want to do, but never seem to make time to do it. Substitute Y for a home or family task that you always have to do yourself.
External coaches often have to deal with a coachee's major life changes and more wide-ranging career considerations. When managers act as coaches, they should think about whether to coach on these topics, depending on whether there's a potential conflict of interest with the manager's regular organizational role.

Key Points
Coaching is great for helping people develop their skills and abilities, and for resolving issues before they become serious.
Coaching is useful in many different situations, and you can use coaching as part of your everyday role. Use the approaches we've discussed here, as well as tools such as the GROW model to help you structure your sessions.
Always remember to keep the coachee's interests at the forefront of coaching sessions. Also, try to let coachees come up with their own conclusions through open questions, rather than giving them the answers directly.

Read more…

The GROW Model
A Simple Process for Coaching and Mentoring


Learn how to use the GROW Model,
with James Manktelow & Amy Carlson.


As a leader, one of your most important roles is to coach your people to do their best.
By doing this, you'll help them make better decisions, solve problems that are holding them back, learn new skills, and otherwise progress their careers.
Some people are fortunate enough to get formal training in coaching. However, many people have to develop this important skill themselves.
This may sound daunting. But if you arm yourself with some proven techniques, practice, and trust your instincts, you can become a great coach.
The GROW Model is a simple yet powerful framework for structuring your coaching or mentoring sessions. We'll look at how to apply the model in this article.

About the Model
GROW stands for:

G oal.
Current R eality.
O ptions (or Obstacles).
W ill (or Way Forward).

The model was originally developed in the 1980s by performance coach Sir John Whitmore, although other coaches, such as Alan Fine and Graham Alexander, have also helped to develop it.
A good way of thinking about the GROW Model is to think about how you'd plan a journey. First, you decide where you are going (the goal), and establish where you currently are (your current reality).
You then explore various routes (the options) to your destination. In the final step, establishing the will, you ensure that you're committed to making the journey, and are prepared for the obstacles that you could meet on the way.


Tip:
In its traditional application, the GROW Model assumes that the coach is not an expert in the "client's" situation. This means that the coach must act as a facilitator, helping the client select the best options, and not offering advice or direction.
When leaders coach their team members, or act as mentors to them, this may or may not apply. On one hand, it's more powerful for people to draw conclusions for themselves, rather than having these conclusions thrust upon them. On the other hand, as a team leader, you'll often have expert knowledge to offer. Also, it's your job to guide team members to make decisions that are best for your organization.


How to Use the Tool
To structure a coaching or mentoring session using the GROW Model, take the following steps:
1. Establish the Goal
First, you and your team member need to look at the behavior that you want to change, and then structure this change as a goal that she wants to achieve.
Make sure that this is a SMART goal: one that is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound.
When doing this, it's useful to ask questions like:

How will you know that your team member has achieved this goal? How will you know that the problem or issue is solved?
Does this goal fit with her overall career objectives? And does it fit with the team's objectives?

2. Examine the Current Reality
Next, ask your team member to describe his current reality.
This is an important step: Too often, people try to solve a problem or reach a goal without fully considering their starting point, and often they're missing some information that they need in order to reach their goal effectively.
As your team member tells you about his current reality, the solution may start to emerge.
Useful coaching questions in this step include the following:

What is happening now (what, who, when, and how often)? What is the effect or result of this?
Have you already taken any steps towards your goal?
Does this goal conflict with any other goals or objectives?

3. Explore the Options
Once you and your team member have explored the current reality, it's time to determine what is possible – meaning all of the possible options for reaching her objective.
Help your team member brainstorm as many good options as possible. Then, discuss these and help her decide on the best ones.

By all means, offer your own suggestions in this step. But let your team member offer suggestions first, and let her do most of the talking. It's important to guide her in the right direction, without actually making decisions for her.
Typical questions that you can use to explore options are as follows:

What else could you do?
What if this or that constraint were removed? Would that change things?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of each option?
What factors or considerations will you use to weigh the options?
What do you need to stop doing in order to achieve this goal?
What obstacles stand in your way?

4. Establish the Will
By examining the current reality and exploring the options, your team member will now have a good idea of how he can achieve his goal.
That's great – but in itself, this may not be enough. The final step is to get your team member to commit to specific actions in order to move forward towards his goal. In doing this, you will help him establish his will and boost his motivation.
Useful questions to ask here include:

So, what will you do now, and when? What else will you do?
What could stop you moving forward? How will you overcome this?
How can you keep yourself motivated?
When do you need to review progress? Daily, weekly, monthly?

Finally, decide on a date when you'll both review his progress. This will provide some accountability, and allow him to change his approach if the original plan isn't working.


Tip 1:
A great way to practice using the model is to address your own challenges and issues. By practicing on your own and getting yourself "unstuck," you'll learn how to ask the most helpful questions. Then, write down some stock questions as prompts for future coaching sessions.

Tip 2:
The two most important skills for a coach are the ability to ask good questions and the ability to listen effectively.
Don't ask closed questions that call for a yes or no answer (such as "Did that cause a problem?"). Instead, ask open ones, like "What effect did that have?" Be prepared with a list of questions for each stage of the GROW process.
Use active listening skills and let your "client" do most of the talking. Remember that silence provides valuable thinking time: you don't always have to fill silence with the next question.


Example
You're helping a team member, Julie, achieve her goals using the GROW Model.
Julie says that she would like a promotion to team leader within the next two years. This is a SMART goal – it's specific, measurable, attainable (as she already has one year of experience, and there are several team leader positions in her department), relevant (both to Julie's overall career aspirations and the team's mission), and time-bound.
You and Julie now look at her current reality. She's in an entry-level position, but she already has some of the skills needed to be team leader. You brainstorm the additional skills that she'll need in order to be successful in a team leader role: She needs more experience of managing other people, and experience dealing with overseas customers. she also needs to continue performing well in her role, so that she'll be considered for a promotion when one is available.
You then both review her options. To get the experience she needs she could lead a small team on a small project. She could also spend time in the overseas team.
Finally, you establish the will. As her manager, you offer to let her lead a small team on a minor project. If she performs well, she can take on additional projects with more responsibility in the future. Julie must also approach the overseas team to arrange to spend time in that department, and continue performing well in her current role. You agree to review her progress in three months time.


Key Points
The GROW Model is a simple four-step process that helps you structure coaching and mentoring sessions with team members.
GROW is an acronym that stands for:

Goal.
Current Reality.
Options (or Obstacles).
Will (or Way Forward).

You can use the model to help team members improve performance, and to help them plan for and reach their longer-term career objectives.

Read more…

Have you ever been part of a highly-motivated, high-morale team?
If you have, chances are that most days you were happy coming in to work. You had fun collaborating with your colleagues, and, together, you were able to come up with some great ideas. Because of your focus and enthusiasm, you probably did some of your best work with this group.
Teams that are highly motivated and positive are not only fun to be part of, but they also accomplish far more than teams that are struggling with morale.
This is why it's so important that, as a leader, you strive to build a positive team. In this article, we'll show you how!
The Benefits of a Positive Team
Research shows that positivity can make a real difference to people's success and well-being.
In one study , researchers found that happy individuals are then more successful in many areas of their lives, especially in their careers, compared with individuals who struggle with happiness and positive thinking.
Other studies show how much of an impact positivity has on people's ability to think creatively, progress their careers, cope with challenges, and work with other people. Positivity is an essential ingredient for success!
Positivity also brings longer-term benefits. Barbara Fredrickson, professor and social psychologist, created the Broaden and Build Theory to explain how positive emotions can broaden our behaviors over time. According to Fredrickson, the more positive emotions we experience, the likelier we are to exhibit other positive behaviors, such as curiosity, awareness, discovery, and creativity – all essential for successful innovation. In short, the happier we are, the more creative we are, and this is true for individuals as well as for groups.
Becoming a Positive Leader
Teams often become more positive because they have a positive leader. This is why focusing on your own happiness, well-being, and emotional intelligence is the first step in creating a great team.
Martin Seligman, a leading positive psychologist, developed the PERMA Model to highlight the five essential elements that you need in order to be happy. PERMA is an acronym that stands for:

P ositive emotion.
E ngagement.
Positive R elationships.
M eaning.
A ccomplishment/achievement.

Start by thinking about how you can increase each of these elements in your life. Spend some time reading our article on PERMA and then take action – the more of these things you can bring to your life, the happier you'll be!
Next, stop and think about the work that you do. Do you know what your strengths are? And how often do you get to use these strengths?
Our work is most satisfying when we can use our unique abilities in a way that makes a real difference to someone else, or to our organization. First, conduct a Personal SWOT Analysis to discover your strengths. Then, use the MPS Process (MPS stands for Meaning, Pleasure, and Strengths) to see how you can use your strengths to bring more meaning and pleasure to your career.
Last, work on your emotional intelligence . Emotional intelligence is a vital leadership skill, because it gives you an awareness of your own emotions, as well as for the feelings and the needs of others.
Emotionally intelligent leaders understand what their emotions are telling them, and, because of their inner strength and awareness, they don't take out their own negative emotions on their people. This is definitely a skill that you should cultivate if you want to lead a positive team!
Removing Obstacles to Positivity
Before you can encourage positivity in your team, you need to remove any obstacles to it. By doing this, you can ensure that your team won't start getting motivated and then run into a series of roadblocks; this start-and-stop progress is dispiriting, and it can quickly undermine your team's sense of motivation.
Herzberg's Motivator and Hygiene Factor Theory gives you a great starting point for working on motivation. Psychologist Fredrick Herzberg discovered that employee satisfaction and dissatisfaction are not opposites. For your team members to be satisfied in their jobs, you must first remove the causes of dissatisfaction, and then add factors that contribute to satisfaction. Both of these steps need to take place for your team members to feel truly happy in their work!
For example, are there policies in your organization that could be causing dissatisfaction for your team members? Is each person's salary competitive? Would your team members be happier if you provided cross-training opportunities, or flextime? These are just a few of the elements that could contribute to your team members' satisfaction or dissatisfaction.

The office itself is something that has the potential to destroy motivation and positivity. So, take steps to create a healthy workplace for your team. Look at the work environment; it should be comfortable, well-lit, clean, and safe. Other elements, such as life balance, employee recognition, and involvement, also play a big part in your team members' happiness (or lack thereof).
Praise your team members for the good work that they do, and ensure that everyone has a healthy balance of work and time off.
Managing Positively
Once you've removed obstacles that could slow your team's progress, it's time to start managing your team in a positive way. There are many ways to do this.

Teams that fully understand the purpose of what they do are usually more engaged than teams without this focus. This is why it's important to create mission and vision statements for your people. These statements are inspiring messages that express the deeper purpose of the work that you are doing.
Create a team charter to define each person's role, the group's projected outcome, and your own expectations. Team charters are useful for a happy team, because they provide focus and direction. After all, when your team members know what they're doing (and why), they can all move forward together, instead of pulling in different directions.

Next, look at the objectives that you've set for your team. Make sure that your team members' goals align with those of the organization by using Management by Objectives . Without this framework in place, your team members might feel unmotivated, simply because they're not sure what they should be doing, or because they don't understand how their role benefits the organization.
Keep in mind that you play an enormous part in how your people feel day-to-day, as well as in their long-term success. Look at how you're communicating with them, and how you're helping them develop on an individual level.
Keep your team informed about what's happening in the organization, as well as within the team; the more open and transparent you are, the easier it will be to build trust and create good relationships. Schedule regular meetings to discuss important updates or changes. This also gives your team members a chance to voice any concerns or issues that they're having with their work.
Research shows that autonomy plays a significant role in how satisfied people are in their jobs, so do what you can to give more power to everyone on your team. This might mean delegating important tasks, or simply stepping back and letting people choose how they're going to complete a project. An added benefit of encouraging autonomy is that people's work often improves when they have the power to choose when and how they complete it.
Your team members can't be positive and focused if they don't have the resources they need to do their jobs. So, are you supporting your people as effectively as you could be? The only way to know for sure is to ask them.
Find out what their biggest frustrations are at work, and discuss how you could eliminate them. Are the processes and procedures that they use working well? Do they have any trouble finding key information? By practicing Management by Walking Around on a regular basis, you can connect and communicate well with your team, and, by doing this, you can understand what's really going on.

Reinforcing Positivity
Positivity is a habit, and the only way that you'll cultivate long-term positivity with your team is to reinforce it daily. This takes focus and self-discipline, but the benefits can be huge!

First, make an effort to build confidence in your team . Giving autonomy helps you get started with this, but you can also build confidence by celebrating the successes that your team members achieve. Another way to help your team is to encourage training and development opportunities, so that your people can build additional skills and knowledge.
As you've likely experienced in the past, one person's bad attitude can affect the entire group. If you have a team member who consistently thinks negatively, then you need to take action before he or she drags the group down.
The Betari Box is a useful tool for explaining how someone's attitude and behavior can affect the people around them. Meet with your negative team member one-on-one, and use this tool to explain how his or her attitude is affecting the group. Approach the situation with sensitivity and respect; this person might be experiencing problems at home, or may have deeper issues that might be contributing to his or her negative attitude.
Next, try to understand the problem. Is this person unhappy in his or her role? And what could you do to help him or her turn things around?
Also, coach your people to use affirmations to be more positive. Affirmations are positive statements that help you overcome negative thinking. They're great for helping your team members overcome
self-sabotaging thoughts and behaviors.


Key Points
While there are countless benefits of building a positive team, one of the most significant is that people are most creative and productive when they're part of a happy, healthy group.
Positive teams are led by positive leaders, so start with yourself. Next, remove the obstacles that could have a negative influence on your team's positivity.
Manage positively by creating a mission and vision statement so that your team members know why they're there. Then, reinforce long-term positivity by building self-confidence and using affirmations.

Read more…

Imagine that you've just hired a new team member to work on an important project. Jim was a star employee in his last organization, and now he's joined your team.
Unfortunately, Jim is having a hard time learning some of the new skills he needs.
He's used to being able to do his job perfectly, and starting from the ground up in some areas is making him uncomfortable.
Instead of becoming irritated or shutting him out, your people step up and increase their efforts to support Jim. They slow their pace to match his, they encourage questions, and they even stay late to help him finish some of his work on time. As a result, Jim's morale goes up, and he quickly becomes a high-performing member of the team.
For some leaders, this situation might sound too good to be true. But, if you're leading people with high emotional intelligence, this may sound like a natural and obvious way for people to behave.
By focusing on increasing your people's emotional intelligence, you can reap many benefits from improved teamwork. In this article, we'll look at what you can do to help your team members develop this important quality.
The Many Benefits of Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence , also called EI, is partly the ability to recognize and control your own emotions, and understand what those emotions are telling you. EI also means that you can recognize the emotional wants and needs of others and respond appropriately. Put simply, EI determines your self-awareness and your people skills.
EI is necessary for building trust, creating a sense of identity and efficacy, solving problems with others, cooperating, and participating productively in a group.
When emotionally intelligent people work together, they have the ability to sweep aside minor conflicts in order to focus on the team's interests. They can deal well with more serious conflicts, and they can grow from any disagreements that may arise.
While it's possible for people without emotional intelligence to "go through the motions" and experience some of these benefits, they ultimately lack the trust that comes with high EI. This means that they can't realize their full potential as individuals, or work well within a group.
Research suggests that there are many important benefits of EI. For example, a study published in The Leadership Quarterly shows that people who have high EI perform better and experience more job satisfaction than those with lower EI.
Furthermore, when people with high EI come together as a group, there are numerous benefits. A study published in The International Journal of Organizational Analysis found, as you might expect, that EI competencies were positively correlated with team cohesiveness. Another study, published in the Human Resources Management Review , found that teams with higher EI perform better, quicker, than teams with lower EI. EI really matters!
Building Emotional Intelligence
EI might sound as if it's something you're born with. However, research shows that you can develop your team's emotional intelligence, even in just a few hours.
Start With Yourself
One of the best ways to help your people develop EI is to lead by example . So, start by making sure that you're leading with emotional intelligence . This means staying aware of your own thoughts and feelings, and managing them, so that you affect other people positively.
Communicate the Benefits
Your team members might be more open to developing their EI if you communicate the benefits that they can expect.
For example, sales professionals who have higher Emotional Intelligence often achieve better sales than colleagues with lower EI; professionals with higher EI typically have a higher income and experience greater job stability throughout their life; and, high EI makes work and professional relationships more rewarding.
Let your team members know how developing their EI will benefit them, both personally and professionally.
Develop Self-Awareness
Self-awareness is the most important aspect of EI. People who are self-aware understand their own thoughts and emotions, as well as understanding how their actions affect others around them.
Encourage your team members to keep a daily journal – even writing for just five minutes a day can help people develop self-awareness.
You can also help team members build self-awareness by asking for their opinions on decisions – this is especially important for quieter people, who might not speak up that often. When you ask about a team member's thoughts and feelings, it makes them stop and examine how they really feel about an issue, and this can lead to increased self-awareness over time.
It's also important to set aside time to talk about difficult situations or issues, and to address the resulting emotions. This can take place one-on-one, or informally over lunch. The more you encourage your team members to open up and talk about what they're thinking and feeling, the more likely they are to develop self-awareness.
Strengthen Communication
People with high EI typically have excellent communication skills. Develop better communication in your team by teaching people to understand body language .
Good communication also means knowing how to deal with negative emotions. Give your team avenues for "venting" negative emotions – or frustrations about setbacks – in a constructive way.

For example, if people are upset, set aside five minutes of each meeting for complaints and frustrations, and let your team know that their criticisms won't be frowned upon. You can keep this lighthearted by using a stopwatch; when five minutes are up, then your team members should move on and focus on an action item, or something that they can control. Try to create fun ways to acknowledge and deal with stress or tension.
Another important and often overlooked communication tool is listening. Teach everyone on your team to use active listening skills, and to respect other people when they're speaking. When people are obviously not listening, call them out on their behavior.
Last, if you think that your group doesn't discuss and analyze decisions fully, make sure that you question decisions and avoid
Groupthink . Play devil's advocate and force a discussion about the issue at hand. Ask why everyone is agreeing, and, again, encourage quieter team members to speak up.
Build Optimism
The ability to think positively is an important part of EI. You can help your people think positively by stopping self-sabotaging behavior or statements. For instance, if you hear someone say "I'm not very good at writing reports," or "I'll never be able to make a presentation in front of the group!" remind them of their strengths and thank them for the good work that they're doing.
Keep in mind that positive thinking doesn't mean ignoring bad news and avoiding issues. It means acknowledging bad news and rationally deciding how to handle it, as well as searching for the good in each situation and learning from every mistake.
Encourage Healthy Conflict
People with high EI know how to engage in conflict in a healthy way, where everyone's perspective is respected when they communicate their views. This type of conflict can strengthen people individually and within a group, and can lead to personal growth.
Teach your people good conflict resolution skills . Make it clear that conflicts should never get personal, and that whoever "has the floor" gets the full attention of everyone else in the room. Set ground rules, so that everyone knows what is and isn't fair behavior.
Set Specific Learning Goals
Your team members will have different strengths and weaknesses when it comes to their own EI. For example, some people might be poor communicators, others might have little self-awareness, and some might be lacking in empathy.
First, help each person discover their strengths and weaknesses. You can do this by performing a personal
SWOT Analysis . It may be necessary to provide extra support and guidance for team members with low EI, as they may have low self-reflection.
Next, set clear, specific goals to help each person work on their weaknesses. For example, one person might be a poor listener, so, his goal could be to use active listening techniques four times per week for the next four weeks. Personalized goals like this will keep each person motivated.
Last, make sure that you provide constructive feedback on each person's progress, but remember to do this sensitively for team members who may have low EI. A word of encouragement or a helpful observation will go a long way in keeping your team members motivated and moving forward.

Key Points
Emotional intelligence, or EI, is the awareness of your thoughts and emotions, as well as of the emotional wants and needs of the people around you.
Research shows that people with high EI are often more satisfied with their work, have better work relationships, and experience higher productivity than people with lower EI.
You can help your team members develop their EI if you help them strengthen their communication skills, think positively, and engage in conflict in a healthy way. It's also essential to lead by example.

Read more…

Imagine that the person who runs your firm's accounting reports is off sick.
The problem?
No one else knows how to run the reports without making mistakes.
And if they aren't run, the month-end recap will be thrown into chaos.
Your organization has likely run into situations like this. Often, teams are made up of individuals with specialized skills or knowledge, and one person's absence can negatively affect the productivity of the entire group. This is especially true in smaller teams.
This is just one reason why it can be useful to cross-train people within your team. In the example above, if another member of your team had been trained to run the accounting reports, there would be no need to worry.
In this article, we'll examine the many benefits of cross-training, and we'll look at how to implement a successful cross-training program with your team.

What is Cross-Training?
Cross-training is the practice of training your people to work in several different roles, or training them to do tasks that lie outside their normal responsibilities.
For instance, you might use cross-training to teach someone who works in Collections how to work in the Billing Department, and vice versa. You could then move people from one team to another when there's a staff shortage, or when one department is exceptionally busy.
Benefits
There are many benefits to cross-training people in your team. For instance, cross-training can:

Save money – if one of your team members is sick or goes on vacation, there's no need to hire a temporary worker; existing team members can fill the gap until he or she returns.
Help you react quickly to changing goals and business conditions – because your team is trained and flexible, it can easily handle fluctuations in workflow demand. Cross-training can also help you deal with workflow bottlenecks.
Strengthen team relationships – when team members can see and understand what others do, they're far more willing to lend a hand when someone falls behind. They're also able to help out more, because they've learned what other team members do.
Improve satisfaction – many people like being challenged, and enjoy learning new skills. So setting aside time for cross-training can help keep your team interested and engaged. People working in new roles can also discover talents, strengths, and skills they didn't know they had: this can lead to renewed excitement and self-discovery, resulting in reduced employee turnover.
Improve processes and workflow design – you can get some great ideas for organizational, team, or process improvement from cross-trained people, because they're looking at a role or task with a fresh perspective.

Cross-training can also help with succession planning . For instance, you might allow junior managers to train for a week in the role of the district manager. This allows you to gauge which employees perform best in that role, so that when the district manager retires, you'll have a good idea of who will be best to replace her.
Overall, cross-training helps increase team productivity, performance, and communication.
Implementing a Cross-Training Program
1. Identify Roles and Responsibilities
Make a list of everyone on your team, along with their job descriptions . Spend some time thinking about the knowledge and skills needed for each position, as well as the unique strengths that each person brings to the team.
2. Cross-Reference Skills
You now want to match each position with the right potential cross-trainee. Try to pair positions that require similar skills and strengths.
For instance, imagine that your regional sales manager is a natural multi-tasker. He's very detail oriented, and works effectively in high-stress situations. Because of his unique strengths, knowledge and skills, he could easily be cross-trained in the role of the regional customer support manager, since that position is also stressful and requires someone who can handle many demands at once; plus, he knows and understands customer needs.


Note:
Although it's often easiest to cross-train team members who work in similar roles, keep in mind that it can also be useful for people to learn about positions that are radically different from their own.

3. Identify the Method
Once you've identified the team members who should be cross-trained for each role, you need to think about how they should be trained. Approaches include:

On-the job-training – this is when a team member follows or "shadows" another team member for a period of time to learn new skills.
When you set this up, bear in mind that not everyone is naturally an effective trainer – you may need to teach them how to train their colleagues. (Our Bite-Sized Training class, Training for Non-Trainers , can help you do this.)
On-the-job training can be the most effective cross-training technique, as learning takes place under normal working conditions.

Instructor-Led Training – this is often most efficient where instructors are expensive, because one instructor can teach many people at the same time. However, for training to be effective, people must then have the opportunity to put the skills they've learned into practice in a working environment.
E-Learning/Online Training – this can be beneficial, because team members can learn at their desks, at a time that suits them. However, as with instructor-led training, people must have the opportunity to practice skills live in the workplace.

4. Explain the Benefits
Before you implement a cross-training program with your team, it's important to explain why you're doing it, so that people understand why you want them to be trained in multiple roles.
This will help people to see that cross-training is a positive exercise, rather than a negative one.
5. Get Training!
Once you've planned your cross-training program and people understand why they should cross-train one-another, it's time to get going!

Launch the program, make sure that the training is happening, give people the support they need to be successful, provide opportunities to apply skills, and follow up to ensure that training has been successful.
6. Rotate Tasks
People lose knowledge if they don't use it regularly. Once your team has gone through a cross-training process, consider implementing a rotation plan so that every few months, members of your team spend a half or a full day working in the role they've cross-trained for.
Not only will this help keep their training fresh, but it will also add challenge and interest to their work.
7. Get Feedback
Encourage your team to give feedback and offer suggestions on developing the cross-training program.
This feedback will help you improve how you train your people in the future.

Tip:
Our How Well Do You Develop Your People? quiz will highlight your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to developing your team, and it offers strategies and tips that will help you mentor, coach, and train your people effectively.


Key Points
Cross-training is the practice of training people to perform tasks that normally lie outside their role. It offers teams and organizations several important benefits.
First, cross-training saves organizations money, because it eliminates the need for temporary workers to fill gaps when staff or workflow changes. Cross-training keeps people motivated because it offers new challenges, and it can even help them uncover skills or strengths they didn't realize they had.
To develop an effective cross-training program, follow these steps:

Identify roles and responsibilities.
Match roles with the right trainees.
Identify the method to be used.
Explain the benefits.
Implement the program.
Rotate tasks.
Get feedback.

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People in your team may have a wide range of abilities.
For instance, some may be outstanding performers: they're definitely the "stars" of your organization.
Or you might have people who could be star performers, if they had the right opportunities and training.
As a manager, you need to assess talent within your team. That way, you can give your people the training and development they need to reach their full potential.
However, it can be a real challenge to evaluate talent objectively, which is why a tool like "the Nine-Box Grid for Talent Management" is so useful.
In this article we'll examine the Nine-Box Grid model, and discuss how to use it to develop your people.

About the Tool
The Nine-Box Grid for Talent Management (also known as the Performance and Potential Matrix), gives you a useful framework for evaluating your team members' talent.
Shown in figure 1, the X axis measures performance, while the Y axis measures potential.



For more information, please visit www.mckinsey.com .
You use the model by matching team members to the appropriate boxes, depending on their potential and their performance. You can then manage talent by providing the training and development opportunities appropriate to people in each box.

Note:
The exact origins of the Nine-Box Grid model are unclear, and there are several variations. For instance, some versions of the model say that a person with moderate potential and low performance is an "Acceptable Performer" – it's hard to see why this would be the case! However, the way in which you can apply the model is the same for all variations.

Using the Tool
To use the tool, first score team members based on their performance and their potential.
To score for performance, ask yourself, "Does this team member's performance exceed expectations, meet expectations, or fall below expectations?" (It can be useful to refer to past performance appraisals here.)
It can a challenge to measure a person's potential. Try asking yourself the following questions:

If you promoted this person to a more challenging role tomorrow, are you confident that he or she could meet the challenge?
Do you feel confident that this person could learn the skills needed to perform at a higher level?
Have you noticed this person demonstrating leadership abilities?
Has this person demonstrated flexibility and open-mindedness when faced with a project that he or she has never worked on before?
Does this person actively seek out opportunities to learn new skills?
Is this person comfortable taking risks?

You could also consider asking people to go through aptitude testing ; these tests can help you measure their potential objectively, as well as drawing out their strengths and abilities.
Once you've scored a person for their performance and potential, you can match him or her up with the appropriate box on the grid. You can then use your findings to ensure that appropriate training and development is taking place, so that everyone in your team can reach their true potential.

Note:
Clearly, you need to be as objective as possible when scoring people using this tool. Try to use the same criteria for each team member, and avoid letting personal feelings cloud your analysis.

Consider using different approaches to training and development with people in each group:
Star Performers (High Potential, High Performance)
Give these people lots of responsibility, and allow them to work on high profile projects that push them outside their comfort zones. Consider giving them new products to promote, new sales areas to cover, new processes to design, and so on.
You could also allow them to shadow experienced managers and executives.
Rising Stars (High Potential, Average Performance)
Development for these people is similar to Star Performers. (The only difference between them is their current performance level.) So manage performance appropriately, and provide plenty of feedback , so they know how they can improve.

Potential Star (High Potential, Poor Performance)
Find out what's preventing these people from achieving greater performance. Do they have enough training, or the right tools? Is there another team member who's blocking or bottlenecking their progress? Would they benefit from mentoring from a high-performing colleague?
These people may also be in the wrong role. Our article on the Four Dimensions of Relational Work will help you analyze your people to ensure that they're working on the right tasks.
Key Contributors (Moderate Potential, High Performance)
With these people, use a similar approach to the one you use with Star Performers. However, you may want to focus on longer-term development, and on training at a slower pace. Here, coaching or mentoring will be effective.
Core Team Members (Moderate Potential, Average Performance)
People in this group may be perfectly happy with where they are and with what they're currently doing. So, don't pressure them to advance if they don't want to, but provide opportunities for training and development. They may also benefit from mentoring or coaching relationships.
Underperformers (Moderate Potential, Poor Performance)
You can use the same strategies for this group as for Potential Stars. However, you need to put more focus on improving performance than on their development.
Again, manage performance appropriately, and provide regular feedback and rewards for good work.

Tip:
You might find that newer employees and new leaders fall into the Potential Star and Underperformer groups; so make sure that these team members are getting the training and support they need to perform well.

Trusted Team Members (Limited Potential, High Performance)
Focus on these people's motivation: what motivates them, and what development opportunities would they like? See our article on Motivating Your People to learn how to motivate them further.
Also, make sure that people in this group are rewarded appropriately for their good work, and provide regular feedback so that they keep on performing at their current good level.
You could also use people in this group to mentor and train others – as high performers, they're likely to have good skills and to be good role models.
Adequate Performers (Limited Potential, Average Performance)
Development for this group is similar to Core Team Members. Provide regular and detailed feedback about their performance, and help them improve.
Problem Team Members (Limited Potential, Poor Performance)
With people in this group you'll want to focus on their performance, not their development. Our article on Dealing with Poor Performers will help.
Make sure that people who fall into this category aren't blocking or negatively impacting anyone else on your team.

Note 1:
Some of the strategies we've highlighted above are based on ideas by Daniel McCarthy , Director of Executive Development Programs at the University of New Hampshire's Whittemore School of Business and Economics.

Note 2:
For more on developing your people, see our article on Understanding Developmental Needs , and take our How Well Do You Develop Your People? quiz.


Key Points
The Nine-Box Grid for Talent Management helps you to evaluate talent in your team, by categorizing people based on their performance and their potential. This helps you think about how to train and develop individual team members.
The grid's nine categories are:

Star Performer (high potential, high performance).
Rising Star (high potential, average performance).
Potential Star (high potential, poor performance).
Key Contributor (moderate potential, high performance).
Core Team Member (moderate potential, average performance).
Underperformer (moderate potential, poor performance).
Trusted Team Member (limited potential, high performance).
Adequate Performer (limited potential, average performance).
Problem Team Member (limited potential, poor performance).

To use this model effectively, analyze team members objectively, using the same scoring criteria for each person. Also, remember that this is just one approach you can use to develop your people.

Read more…

If you deliver training for your team or your organization, then you probably know how important it is to measure its effectiveness.
After all, you don't want to spend time or money on training that doesn't provide a good return.
This is where Kirkpatrick's Four-Level Training Evaluation Model can help you objectively analyze the effectiveness and impact of your training, so that you can improve it in the future.
In this article, we'll look at each of the Kirkpatrick four levels, and we'll examine how you can apply the model to evaluate training. We'll also look at some of the situations where the model may not be useful.
The Four Levels
Donald Kirkpatrick, Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin and past president of the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), first published his Four-Level Training Evaluation Model in 1959, in the US Training and Development Journal.
The model was then updated in 1975, and again in 1994, when he published his best-known work, "Evaluating Training Programs."
The four levels are:

Reaction.
Learning.
Behavior.
Results.

Let's look at each level in greater detail.
Level 1: Reaction
This level measures how your trainees (the people being trained), reacted to the training. Obviously, you want them to feel that the training was a valuable experience, and you want them to feel good about the instructor, the topic, the material, its presentation, and the venue.
It's important to measure reaction, because it helps you understand how well the training was received by your audience. It also helps you improve the training for future trainees, including identifying important areas or topics that are missing from the training.
Level 2: Learning
At level 2, you measure what your trainees have learned. How much has their knowledge increased as a result of the training?
When you planned the training session, you hopefully started with a list of specific learning objectives: these should be the starting point for your measurement. Keep in mind that you can measure learning in different ways depending on these objectives, and depending on whether you're interested in changes to knowledge, skills, or attitude.
It's important to measure this, because knowing what your trainees are learning and what they aren't will help you improve future training.
Level 3: Behavior
At this level, you evaluate how far your trainees have changed their behavior, based on the training they received. Specifically, this looks at how trainees apply the information.
It's important to realize that behavior can only change if conditions are favorable. For instance, imagine you've skipped measurement at the first two Kirkpatrick levels and, when looking at your group's behavior, you determine that no behavior change has taken place. Therefore, you assume that your trainees haven't learned anything and that the training was ineffective.
However, just because behavior hasn't changed, it doesn't mean that trainees haven't learned anything. Perhaps their boss won't let them apply new knowledge. Or, maybe they've learned everything you taught, but they have no desire to apply the knowledge themselves.
Level 4: Results
At this level, you analyze the final results of your training. This includes outcomes that you or your organization have determined to be good for business, good for the employees, or good for the bottom line.

Tip:
Make sure that you plan your training effectively. Use our articles on Training Needs Assessment , Gagne's Nine Levels of Learning and 4MAT to help you do this.

How to Apply the Model
Level 1: Reaction
Start by identifying how you'll measure reaction. Consider addressing these questions:

Did the trainees feel that the training was worth their time?
Did they think that it was successful?
What were the biggest strengths of the training, and the biggest weaknesses?
Did they like the venue and presentation style?
Did the training session accommodate their personal learning styles ?

Next, identify how you want to measure these reactions. To do this you'll typically use employee satisfaction surveys or questionnaires; however you can also watch trainees' body language during the training, and get verbal feedback by asking trainees directly about their experience.
Once you've gathered this information, look at it carefully. Then, think about what changes you could make, based on your trainees' feedback and suggestions.
Level 2: Learning
To measure learning, start by identifying what you want to evaluate. (These things could be changes in knowledge, skills, or attitudes.)
It's often helpful to measure these areas both before and after training. So, before training commences, test your trainees to determine their knowledge, skill levels, and attitudes.
Once training is finished, test your trainees a second time to measure what they have learned, or measure learning with interviews or verbal assessments.
Level 3: Behavior
It can be challenging to measure behavior effectively. This is a longer-term activity that should take place weeks or months after the initial training.
Consider these questions:

Did the trainees put any of their learning to use?
Are trainees able to teach their new knowledge, skills, or attitudes to other people?
Are trainees aware that they've changed their behavior?

One of the best ways to measure behavior is to conduct observations and interviews over time.
Also, keep in mind that behavior will only change if conditions are favorable. For instance, effective learning could have taken place in the training session. But, if the overall organizational culture isn't set up for any behavior changes, the trainees might not be able to apply what they've learned.

Alternatively, trainees might not receive support, recognition, or reward for their behavior change from their boss. So, over time, they disregard the skills or knowledge that they have learned, and go back to their old behaviors.
Level 4: Results
Of all the levels, measuring the final results of the training is likely to be the most costly and time consuming. The biggest challenges are identifying which outcomes, benefits, or final results are most closely linked to the training, and coming up with an effective way to measure these outcomes over the long term.
Here are some outcomes to consider, depending on the objectives of your training:

Increased employee retention.
Increased production.
Higher morale.
Reduced waste.
Increased sales.
Higher quality ratings.
Increased customer satisfaction.
Fewer staff complaints.

Considerations
Although Kirkpatrick's Four-Level Training Evaluation Model is popular and widely used, there are a number of considerations that need to be taken into account when using the model.
One issue is that it can be time-consuming and expensive to use levels 3 or 4 of the model, so it's not practical for all organizations and situations. This is especially the case for organizations that don't have a dedicated training or human resource department, or for one-off training sessions or programs.
In a similar way, it can be expensive and resource intensive to "wire up an organization" to collect data with the sole purpose of evaluating training at levels 3 and 4. (Whether or not this is practical depends on the systems already in place within the organization.)
The model also assumes that each level's importance is greater than the last level, and that all levels are linked. For instance, it implies that Reaction is less important, ultimately, than Results, and that reactions must be positive for learning to take place. In practice, this may not be the case.
Most importantly, organizations change in many ways, and behaviors and results change depending on these, as well as on training. For example, measurable improvements in areas like retention and productivity could result from the arrival of a new boss or from a new computer system, rather than from training.
Kirkpatrick's model is great for trying to evaluate training in a "scientific" way, however, so many variables can be changing in fast-changing organizations that analysis at level 4 can be limited in usefulness.

Key Points
The Kirkpatrick Four-Level Training Evaluation Model helps trainers to measure the effectiveness of their training in an objective way. The model was originally created by Donald Kirkpatrick in 1959, and has since gone through several updates and revisions.
The Four-Levels are as follows:

Reaction.
Learning.
Behavior.
Results.

By going through and analyzing each of these four levels, you can gain a thorough understanding of how effective your training was, and how you can improve in the future.
Bear in mind that the model isn't practical in all situations, and that measuring the effectiveness of training with the model can be time-consuming and use a lot of resources.

Read more…