Stop managing so much and start coaching more

In this time of unprecedented numbers of disengaged workers and overwhelming workloads start spending more time coaching. The process of coaching engages the hearts and minds of people, so you will more often get different results. The results can be immediate. When people feel valued and appreciated they respond with a higher level of motivation, they become more engaged in their work, they become more proactive in solving problems and collaborate more with team members. All of what I just described is a result of coaching, not managing. I’ve been working with managers to increase their coaching effectiveness and those are the tangible benefits and changes they observe in their employees. Coaching doesn’t require a huge amount of time; you can have a coaching conversation in less than seven minutes. These are what I refer to as the informal or spontaneous conversations that can be far more productive and powerful than the planned coaching conversations we most often associate with coaching. Set a goal to have at least one informal coaching conversation each week and begin to reap the benefits.

Adaptability

I was talking to a colleague yesterday who teaches a Certified Personal Care course and we were discussing the value of being adaptable. I began thinking about this and decided that this just isn't a skill that applies to a variety of business situations this is an under rated life skill. I often discuss adaptability in the context of behavioral styles and creating effective relationships to achieve the results or outcomes we desire. The more I thought about my conversation the more I realized this is a life skill we are not teaching our business students. Being able to adapt to different people and situations will determine your success in life and business. I constantly stretch myself to increase my ability to adapt. And one of the ways I do that is to take the time to reflect on my approach to a particular situation, or how I interacted with a particular person or client. Then I ask myself a couple of questions. What went well? What would I do differently next time?

Tips for Increasing Accountability

Holding people accountable for their results/outcomes/performance is a common challenge for all managers. So a question recently came up: "How can I tighten accountability? When you are coaching to increase employee performance/potential here are a few tips:

• Always set clear expectations
• Gain agreement when setting action items
• If a situation/issue arises follow-up the same day or within 24 hours. Don't lump this discussion with any other discussion or previously planned follow-up out of convenience-it dilutes the importance of the issue/situation and it decreases accountability
• Be specific when setting follow-up dates to discuss progress on action items

Hit the Reset Button

I just spent a few days at a client location working with managers on advancing their coaching effectiveness. During the course of our discussions I made a few observations, one being managers have failed to set clear expectations. I've always said, you cannot coach until you have set clear expectations, and it's never too late to do so. Effective performance management systems start with setting goals and clear expectations. Coaching is part of an effective performance management system. A majority of the managers discovered that they hadn't set clear expectations. So, the first thing they are going to do is what I call "Hit the reset button". In other words they are going to have a discussion with their employees about expectations. Yahoo! These managers will be far more successful in applying their coaching skills after they hit the reset button.

Stick with six-get the most important things done!

I am reading The Ultimate Sales Machine, written by Chet Holmes. This book is filled with excellent ideas and suggestions. The ideas he shares are proven to work, so I couldn't pass up sharing one that I use to plan more effectively and be more productive. The general principle is focus on the most important things you need to get done every day, and don't do more than six. On average you have six hours of productive time each day-so on average you can accomplish the six most important tasks in a day. Chet Holmes has tested this over many years, and now I've tested the "magic of six" over the past three months and it works. No matter whether it's a day or month-stick with the top six things you need to accomplish, and you will get them done!

You must prioritize your tasks and establish chunks of time for each task. "Chunking" things down is an excellent approach to doing any major task-so if you have been procrastinating doing something important because it takes too much time, chunk it down. Do 30 minutes per day on it, you will be amazed at the results. Once you have allocated the amount of time for each task plan your day. Plan the day according to whats most important first-enter your tasks in the appropriate time slot and stick to it. I use Outlook to plan my day, it doesn't matter what type of time management tool or calendar system you use-just pick one and use it every day.

I'll leave you with this quote, "You only have to do a little each day, to get a ton done."

Who makes up your social capital?

Whether you are a business owner, sales person, IT professional, supervisor or front line manager, vice president or CEO there is one thing we all must do to be more successful in business. Leverage social capital for greater success. Your social capital boils down to one thing only-your relationships. How do you build and maintain relationships? How do you sustain relationships? These are important questions to answer as you think about the single most important asset we all have in business today-relationships.

Customer Service Isn't Dead Yet

I've been reflecting on a few recent customer service experiences and a conversation I had with a new acquaintance. So often our service experiences are dismal, disappointing, and down right poor! And it's time to share some thoughts. I recently stayed at a Hilton Garden where I always stay when traveling to a client in upstate NY. I have preferences listed in my profile, one being my favorite rooms. So I expected to be staying in one of those rooms this week and I had a unpleasant surprise when I checked in. The original room number was crossed out on the card key folder (my favorite room) and a different room assignment was hand written. The front desk attendant saw a "look" on my face that prompted her to ask me what was wrong. After telling her how I was feeling she promptly check the hotel records and switched me to a room near my favorite room. Her prompt action turned a disappointed client into a satisfied one, enough so to want to share it on the Internet. The other experience I want to share is about a newspaper subscription. I decided to change my subscription from a daily to a weekend. So I was downgrading my subscription-well they welcomed the change to my surprise (they were more interested in meeting my needs and retaining me of course) and gave me $1.00 off the rate since I signed up for automatic payments, and a few days later they sent me a letter thanking me for my subscription and included a $10.00 gift card to a local establishment-which I do frequent. I was thrilled and will be writing a letter to the editor of the newspaper to share this experience. Now by all accounts you may consider what these two companies did as nothing extraordinary-but for me they did. The moral of the story is that customer service does make a difference. What can you do to prompt your customers to talk good about you? If you want to brainstorm ideas or have a story to share email me at: carol@learningandperformance.net