New Manager Guide

Group 3
Angela Foster, Dorian Herceg,
Dave Lambert, Jen Smith, and Alex
Beeman

10 Pages Included
 Coaching Employees and Giving Feedback: Current Trends and

Challenges

Trends in Coaching Employees

Coaching has become commonplace in many organizations and firms within the
United States. Often it has become so engrained in business culture that
employees expect to be coached (Hunt 58). Some of the current coaching trends
include:

Technology
Technology has shaped the communication methods used in coaching employees.
Social-networking sites and online communications have changed the employee-
employer relationship (Garvey 149).
 Younger generations of employees seem to adapt well to “virtual” coaching

 Older employees may prefer face-to-face interaction.

Centralization
Centralization is another trend in coaching. This occurs when one central office or
executive position determines the coaching agenda, rather than the employees’
direct managers.
 Often the agenda focuses on the importance of a strategic partnership with
the organization (Garvey 151).

The buddy system.

The buddy system is third trend found in the workplace. It places a new employee
with a seasoned employee who helps them learn their new position and feel more
confident. Some employers believe that using this system helps the employee
become productive faster by making him or her immediately feel part of the team.
 When using the buddy system it is important that the “buddy” realizes his or
her responsibility to create a positive work environment (Lau 27).

2
  The graph above demonstrates the path employees can take when
there is not proper coaching involved.

Challenges in Coaching Employees

Some of the main coaching challenges include:

Generational differences
When coaching employees, it is difficult to have one strategy that works for
employees of varying ages.
 Generational differences are evident in the workplace as younger employees
have greater exposure to technology, have more independence and value
work-life balance more than predecessors (Sujansky).

 Employees often struggle if these differences are not identified and

integrated into the coaching strategy.

3
Creating personal responsibility
Organizations that use centralization to determine the coaching agenda often have
challenges creating personal responsibility.
 Centralized agendas often focus on broad goals that do not always engage
the individual employee (Garvey 58).

Determining if coaching is appropriate

Many organizations provide coaching for every employee. One challenge is
determining if this is the best form of intervention for the employee.
 If the employee has specific challenges or performance problems, coaching for
the employee may need to focus on realigning performance (Idaho Division of
Human Resources).

Trends in Giving Feedback

Giving feedback to employees is an important part of helping them be more
productive. Current trends focus on:
Overcoming the feedback form
Many organizations limit the ability to give feedback to an employee by using
standardized reports.
 These forms do not allow for individualized improvements

 Some organizations are looking past the form and allowing managers and
directors to write their own comments and give feedback through emails or
memos (Imperato).

Providing timely feedback

Some organizations have learned that yearly feedback is not effective.
 These organizations have adopted communication methods that provide
feedback that is timely and related to a specific project

 This allows for the employee to identify where they can improve while still
relevant and make real changes to enhance their performance (Imperato).

Not substituting a raise for feedback

4
Organizations have also learned that employees need feedback that is not just in
the form of a raise.
 A raise is a financial transaction and cannot take the place of a conversation
expressing praise or correction

 Feedback used in connection with a raise provides a clear message to the

employee (Imperato).

Challenges to Giving Feedback

Some of the challenges that come with giving feedback to employees include:
Giving a clear message
When feedback is given to an employee often the manager does not know how
helpful that feedback actually is.
 Sometimes there is a disconnect between what managers believe they said
and what the employee hears (Imperato)

 The best feedback provides a clear and consistent message to the employee
(McGill 160).

Not generalizing
Making generalized statements when giving feedback is another challenge.
 If a manager uses words like “all,” “never,” or “always,” the statement made
could be false or place arbitrary limits on the behavior (McGill 160).

Limiting unnecessary advice

Giving unnecessary advice is third challenge to giving feedback. Rarely do people
not perform well because the lack a specific piece of information.
 The best feedback helps the employee better understand the issue, realize
how the issue developed and identify actions to be more effective (McGill
160)

Coaching Employees and Giving Feedback: Best Practices and HR Metrics

Best Practices in Coaching Employees

5
According to an article written by Ridge Associates, “coaching is individualized
instruction that’s mutually desired.” It is important that manager’s have a
constructive approach to the development of their employee’s merit and view
coaching as a noble venture.
 This is necessary for manager’s to promote growth and development in their
employee’s

In order to train their employees effectively

 Managers must recognize that every employee has their own unique talents,
skill sets, and potential

 Managers must have a belief in their employee’s capabilities, as this is vital

to establish a high-performance expectation for them to achieve.

There are several coaching techniques companies have implemented to equip their
employee’s with the tools necessary to enhance performance. Some of these
techniques include:
 Creating an environment in which employee’s feel their jobs are important,
focusing on behavior not traits, and promoting the full potential of all
employees (Ridge Associates).

 A manager that is able to recognize an employee’s weaknesses, as well as

their strengths, can help that employee understand what obstacles may need
to be conquered in order to excel in overall performance.

 Feedback from a manager directly following a behavior is very effective for

the employee, right or wrong, thereby enabling them to continue the good
work or to look for ways to improve upon their work.

 By observing employees periodically, managers are better able to determine

which areas of performance offer an opportunity for coaching.

6
  Above is a graph depicting the core coaching skills and process. As you
can see, things such as listening, inquiring, connecting, and reviewing
play a critical role.

 This graph demonstrates the important of inquiring and listening while

coaching and giving feedback. It shows the process by which they
travel.

Best Practices in Giving Feedback to Employees

Coaching, counseling, and mentoring are useful techniques for managers to use
with employees (Stone).
 It’s important the managers know the difference between all three
techniques, as well as, how and when to use each technique

7
  Continuously encouraging employees to do their jobs is a key aspect of
coaching and mentoring (Stone)

 In order to give meaningful and effective feedback, managers should be

aware of the elements of feedback and feedback should be common practice.

 The elements of feedback include the manager’s willingness to give

feedback, ability to provide concrete information, and to include
relevant elements of performance that contribute to task success and
that are under the recipient’s control (London).

 The graphs above shows survey results from employees and their
thoughts on coaching and feedback

HR Metrics in Coaching Employees

Most metrics will be used in feedback; however there is one application for
coaching:
An online assessment of managers, specific employees, and even executives can be
used to develop a “coaching profile”
 The assessment covers work priorities and current coaching activities

 Each coaching profile can then be used to develop a personalized coaching

strategy and potential coaching development opportunity (Earley, 96).

8
“Effective feedback is possible only when it is based on accurate observation (or
other kinds of performance data)” (Hunt and Weintraub, 124).
 Other areas of business commonly use quantifiable data in decision-making
and HR should be no different (Thomas)

It is widely believed that metrics in HR should be taken with a grain of salt, because
nothing compares to actual observation or face-to-face interaction. Essentially,
there are three feedback mechanisms to analyze coaching:

Performance feedback
 Performance feedback can be used in coaching to pinpoint areas where it
might be utilized best

 This measurement includes a list of things the employee has exceeded and
criticisms of those they have not

 Time series feedback shows the progression and influence of coaching on

performance over a period of time.

Employee feedback
 Employee feedback measures how well the manager is coaching

 Here the employee appraises the ability of his manager, which can include
how well a coaching experience is functioning

The 360 degree report

 The 360 degree feedback report involves managers, peers, and other
employees in the creation a performance report

 These reports can focus on specific areas such as coaching and development
(Wright).

Metrics can be used to gauge the importance of coaching on the company’s

financial statements and performance. The idea is that a “coached employee is a
more engaged employee and that the improvements in engagement trickle down to
others on the coachee’s team making coaching a great way to impact employee
engagement” (Marcus). In fact there is one example where a financial firm’s

9
common stock was devalued mainly because of the lack of “employee
engagement” (Marcus).

HR Metrics in Giving Feedback to Employees

Most companies have the basic idea of HR metrics, which include employee
engagement and workforce productivity. Currently companies are measuring the
return on investment (ROI) of individual employees.

 This makes it possible for an organization to measure the effectiveness of

feedback and if coaching employees makes a difference in productivity
(Bates, 51).

By understanding what is being done and what is possible in the next few years
may encourage organizations in adopting metrics and an analytical–based approach
to human capital management
 “The value of metrics, the report concludes, is undeniable: metrics can bring
both “hard-dollar” and strategic savings, as well as significantly higher
operating income growth for organizations that use workforce measurement
approaches and technologies.” (HRfocus, 6).

Learning management, performance management, talent management, and

workforce analytics are all tools used for metrics related to coaching and giving
feedback (HRfocus, 7).

Other measures include:

 Employee engagement, personal and professional development, and

turnovers (which could relate to feedback and coaching).

The key to success is the organization’s strategy.

 It’s important that the organization standardizes and agrees upon a set of
metrics

10
  The metrics value produces measurable outcomes related to the impact they
have on organizational performance (HRfocus, 10).

Works Cited and Consulted

Bassi, L. and D. McMurrer. (2007, March). Maximizing Your Return on People.

Retrieved September, 27, 2009, from Harvard Business Review - Current
Business Articles and Case Studies web site:
http://harvardbusiness.org/product/maximizing-your-return-on-
people/an/R0703H-PDF-ENG.
Bates, S. (2003). The Metrics Maze. HR Magazine, 48, 50-55.
Ridge Associates. Coaching at Work. Retrieved September 27, 2009, from Ridge
Associates’s website:
http://www.ridge.com/downloads/Coaching_At_Work.pdf.
Earley, C. (2009, May). Coaching for High Performance: A medical supply company
learns that being nice only gets you so far. T+D, 96.
Garvey, B., P. Stokes, and D. Megginson. (2009). Coaching and mentoring: theory
and practice.
London: Sage.
Homan, Madeleine and Miller J. Linda (2008). Coaching In Organizations. New Jersey:
John Wiley and Sons Inc.
Hunt, J.M. and J.R. Weintraub. (2002). The coaching manager: developing
top talent in business. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. (Best Resource)
Idaho Division of Human Resources: Performance Management. 10 Sept. 2009
<http://www.dhr.idaho.gov/dhrapp/training.PerformanceManagement/Coachi
ng.htm>.
Imperato, Gina. “How to Give Good Feedback.” Fast Company 18 Dec. 2007.
Lau, Shari and Vicki Neal. (2009). Economic Trends, Buddy Systems, Receiving
Criticism. HR
Magazine 54: 26-29.
London, M. (2003). Job Feedback Giving, Seeking, and Using Feedback for
Performance Improvement. 2nd ed. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Marcus, M. (2006, January 12). Defining Executive Coaching. HR.com. Retrieved
September 25, 2009, from http://www.hr.com/sfs?
t=/blogs/blog.show&e=UTF-
8&i=1116423256281&l=0&blogid=1137096243688&highlight=1&keys=coac
hing+%2Band+%2Bfeedback&active=/blogs/index.
McGill, Ian and Liz Beatty. (1994). Action learning: A practitioner’s guide. London:
Kogan Page, 159-163.

11
Schlosser, B. et al. (2006). The Coaching Impact Study: Measuring the Value of
Executive Coaching. International Journal of Coaching in Organizations, 4, 3,
8-26.
Stone, F.M. (2007). Coaching, Counseling & Mentoring How to Choose & Use the
Right Technique to Boost Employee Performance. 2nd ed. New York:
AMACOM/American Management Association.
Sujansky, Joanne G. The Private Sector: Energetic Generation Y bores easily, needs
coaching. 8 Sept. 2009 <http://www.keygrp.com/about.php>.
Thomas, Z. (2009, January 9). HR Analytics Drive Sound Decision Making in
Turbulent Times. HR.com. Retrieved September 25, 2009, from
http://www.hr.com/SITEFORUM?t=/contentManager/onStory&e=UTF-
8&i=1116423256281&l=0&active=no&ParentID=1119278070334&StoryID=
1231298604512.
What Companies Are Measuring, and Why There Is More Metrics Work to be Done.
(2007, May). HRfocus, 84.5, 1-15.
Wright, T. (2008, November 4). The 3 Feedbacks That (Can) Matter to Employee
Engagement. HR.com. Retrieved September 25, 2009, from
http://www.hr.com/SITEFORUM?t=/blogs/blog.show&e=UTF-
8&i=1116423256281&l=0&blogid=1225826514049&highlight=1&keys=coac
hing+%2Band+%2Bfeedback&active=/blogs/index.

12