4 Steps to Effective Coaching & Feedback

I’ve been fortunate in my career to have worked with many great leaders and benefitted from the knowledge of strong mentors and sponsors.  I’ve taken a little something from each of those experiences and sprinkled in some of my own learnings.  The result is a four-step approach to coaching and feedback which has helped me to build several high-performing, fully-engaged teams in a number of different organizations and industries. 

Step 1: Make sure you have a sufficient relationship

You can only effectively coach someone with whom you have a sufficient relationship. Coaching can only effectively be given and received when the relationship between the parties is built on trust.  Said another way, a person can only effectively hear the coaching if they believe that it is being given with their best interests and personal development in mind.  That’s what I mean by having a “sufficient” relationship – that when you deliver the coaching it is perceived by the recipient that you are doing it because you care about them and their development. 

Step 2: Coach to weaknesses, which helps to avoid failure

Making sure that employees know what’s expected of them and making them aware when they are falling short of those expectations is indeed part of what good managers need to do.  That helps team members to avoid failure.  It’s important that this type of feedback be provided based on more than a single data point that has come to the manager’s attention.  If a manager provides feedback for improvement every time they learn of something that may need to be improved, they run the risk of coaching based on impressions that aren’t founded on facts or reality. 

In coaching to weaknesses, do it as soon as possible after the event or events which led to the need to coach, and use specific examples whenever possible.  Be direct, but not unkind.  Make sure that the employee understands the feedback, and work with them to figure out ways to improve.

Step 3: Coach to strengths, which leads to success

While coaching to weakness helps to avoid failure, reinforcing and developing the areas where an employee is already strong leads to success and their increased engagement.  Teams tend to be most effective when they are comprised of talented people working at what they do best.  Identifying the strengths of your team members and then reinforcing and developing those strengths will lead to their success.

When you are coaching to strengths, be sure to be genuine.  Only give a compliment if you truly mean it and make sure that your body language reinforces what your words are saying.  In other words, don’t discount the message by unintentionally using negative micro messages (such as not making eye contact, or typing an e-mail while you are giving positive feedback over the phone).

Step 4: Develop yourself so that you can effectively develop others

You can only effectively develop others if you are first developing yourself. Everyone needs to find the best way to develop themselves.   A few ways you could develop yourself include: 

• Working with a career coach
• Obtaining 360-degree feedback
• Introspection
• Developing or maintaining your personal brand
• Creating your own personal development plan
• Finding or becoming a mentor
• Making sure to have balance in your life