Successful coaching leads to motivated employees

How do you prepare your employees for the big game? Coaching. The most effective leaders see themselves not as managers or supervisors, but as coaches. While the term �coaching� is used interchangeably with progressive discipline, in reality it serves as a prelude to progressive discipline.

Coaching is an ongoing, two-way process that involves using constructive, consistent feedback to reinforce positive behavior or to counsel employees, resulting in improved performance. Coaching provides employees an opportunity to amend their behavior or performance. In order for employees to recognize issues with their behavior, supervisors and managers must provide performance feedback, which is the key part of coaching. This, in conjunction with setting expectations, provides your staff with a plan to follow.

Steps to effective coaching:

	Maintain an open-door policy.
	Establish a climate of ongoing communication.
	Provide continuous constructive performance feedback.
	Ensure feedback is specific; too much generalization can be perceived as insincere.
	Set and clearly communicate expectations.
	Provide a reasonable time to improve behavior or performance.
	Set a goal of resolving the issue before it progresses.