I was recently passed over for a promotion to a management position and the primary reason given is that I need to improve my leadership skills.  My boss says she will support a promotion for me in the future if I can demonstrate greatly improved performance in this area.  I met with someone from human resources to figure out how I can fill this gap and was told that I should consider working with a coach.  I know what a coach does in football, but what’s the role of a coach in the workplace?

In the workplace, coaching is an effective means to help people improve job performance, build leadership skills, and remove obstacles blocking their path to success.  It is a learning partnership for generating creative, purposeful action toward one person's goals and desires.  Coaching is given before the performance as a means to achieve the goals and specific outcomes that have been determined by the employee and coach.

Coaching is about one person (the coach) helping another (the employee) to excel.  It is a relationship that operates in an environment of respect, trust, safety, challenge and accountability.  The coach's job is to:

Assess the Need.  Teh initial assessment involves gathering information in order to identify focus areas for coaching.  It generally includes an employee interview, observation by the coach, input from others in the work environment, adn reviewing work products.

Clarify Expectations.  The coach works with the employee to create a foundation for the coaching relationship, clarify roles and expectations of each other (as well as the organization if appropriate), and gain employee commitment to the process.

Create a plan.  Together with the employee, the coach designs a coaching plan - with goals and objectives - and determines strategies for accomplishing them.

Question and Challenge.  A good coach presents more questions than answers and challenges the employee to consider new perspectives and different approaches - to “stretch” beyond where you are currently.

Evaluate.  The coach and employee determine appropriate methods to measure progress towards achieving the employee's goals, and to assess the effectiveness of the coaching process.

Empower.  A primary goal of the coach is to help the employee achieve his/her goals in a way that, over time, reduces dependence on the coach by helping the employee identify and access a variety of resources.

Working with a coach can provide energy and motivation to achieve the goals and specific outcomes that are important for success.

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