If you want a better team, you have to coach them. It is as simple as that. There are many different approaches to coaching but I developed the ADVANCE technique to help me get the most out of the short time I had available for coaching.
A typical session using the Advance Coaching Technique should last about one hour though there is no reason why it could not be much shorter. Much will depend on the area chosen, the difficulty of finding potential solutions, and the attitude of the team member.
1. Assess their performance and identify what area to focus on
Line management coaching is different from executive coaching where the coach asks questions to help the coachee discover for themselves. In line management coaching, you as line manager have already identified an area where you think the team member could improve. You don't have to be specific at this stage (the next stage allows the team member to set their target) but you do need to identify an area for improvement.
This shouldn't be a shock for the team member. Perhaps there was some negative feedback received or it came up in the course of a performance review and you suggested having a coaching session on the area to improve their performance. Don't just dump it on them. They need to be already aware that this area needs improving.
2. Decide together what tangible target they will have for the next three months
You will need to encourage them to set the target as much as possible. People tend to resist targets given them but feel greater ownership of targets they set themselves. Encourage this but don't be afraid to push if you feel the target is not ambitious enough. Make sure that any target is SMART and written down. They should write this target down.
The target should be achievable within three months. This is important. It is long enough to allow sufficient time to improve but also short enough so that they can quickly see the benefit of their actions. Setting targets is a skill in itself but if you stick to the SMART rules and have a tight timeline, they will be able to set a target that works.
3. Validate this target against corporate strategy and team targets.
I think that people are more motivated to achieve targets when they see the contribution or impact their target makes on others. You will need to link their target to the success of the team or the wider organisation. I use some simple questions to do this. Sometimes I link upwards, for example: How does your target benefit the organisation and help it achieve its strategy? And at other times I link downwards: How does the corporate target or the team target affect your target?
Whether you link upwards or downwards, this should be straightforward. If you find it difficult to link to corporate and team targets, then you need to question your own target (not the corporate ones!).
4. Agree possible actions they could take to achieve the target
This is the most difficult stage. For all targets, you need to help your team member identify four realistic actions they can take to achieve the target. Most people know what they need to do but need prodding to accept it. Ask direct questions to encourage this: What steps could you take to achieve this? What do you need to change? How could you make this happen? Usually this is enough to get four possible ideas. Don't let them settle with three or two. When they have four, it makes it easier to see which option is the strongest.
Sometimes people plead lack of knowledge and claim they don't know. It is OK to suggest ideas to unblock this but remember people tend not to resist their own ideas but are quite happy to dismiss other people's. Only use this as a last resort.
When they suggest actions, make sure you write them down clearly. When you have four, read them back and agree that they make sense, they are possible, they could work.
5. Nix unworkable, unsuitable or overly ambitious suggestions
In this stage, you will dismiss three options and agree to work on the fourth. Make sure you do this systematically rather than just on intuition. Ask your team member to give each option two ratings: A, B or C for likelihood of success and one, two and three for ease of completion.
Obviously anything rated A1 is best. The challenge comes with ratings like A3 (will work but difficult) and B2 (should work but quite hard to achieve).
The ratings given should prompt questions. Be explicit. Why is that option so hard to achieve? What could you do to make it easier? The more you challenge the more they will develop their options.
Cut all options that don't make an A.
6. Choose the action most likely to achieve the target
As a rule of thumb, only those options rated A are worth considering. If you have two options with an A likelihood of success, then challenge the ease of completion. Don't accept their first number. People tend to rate the things they are most afraid of as difficult when actually they could be quite easy (if scary).
Get them to agree one action. Only one. Keep challenging until one action is A1 or A2. This is what they will do.
7. Evaluate Progress
You can't do the actual evaluation in this coaching session but you do need to agree how you will monitor progress. A weekly catch up? Or at the end of the month? Agree when you will discuss progress. In the Advance Coaching Technique, targets are set that can be achieved in three months. Don't over-monitor but also be clear that progress will be monitored.
You can use the ADVANCE coaching technique to get the most out of your teams. What else would you do?