Management Skills Development

Communication & Coaching for better Performance

Current Motivation and Engagement Issues
Current situation
• Only 13% of the world’s
workers are engaged
• Why are so many employees
not engaged?
• Manager accounts for at
least 70% of the variance in
employee engagement
Source: Gallup Employee Engagement survey
 Most Common Employee Manager Issues
Research shows employees
• receive no regular feedback
• don’t feel supported and encouraged
• are not coached to become better
• are not developing and growing
• feel they are not listened to
as a result they become less
engaged and motivated
Shocking Statistics
75% of people who willingly leave their jobs don’t quit their
75%
OPTION 01

jobs, they quit their bosses.

OPTION 01
39% feel underappreciated at work, with 77% reporting
39% they would work harder if they felt better recognized.
OPTION 01
89% of employers assume employees leave for more
89%
money, but only 12% earn more from their next company.
OPTION 01 Only 40% of employees are well informed of their
40% company’s goals, strategy, and tactics.
OPTION 01 Only 3% thought their managers treated them as key parts
3% of the organization
Main reasons managers find it difficult to
change
Too focused on daily tasks, not people
Time
Don’t know where to start
"Stuck in a rut" relationships
Don't have the skills
Lack of ROI
 Insight Exercise
As a manager/ leader, to what extent do you:
1. Clarify for your direct reports the specific expectations and
responsibilities related to their roles, as well as the mission,
values, and culture of the organization? Your Score..
2. Meet at least monthly in one-on-one meetings with your
direct reports? Your Score..

(1- Never, 2 - Seldom, 3 - Sometimes, 4 - Frequently, 5 – Always)

 Insight Exercise
As a manager/ leader, to what extent do you:
3. Consistently and continually emphasize continuous
improvement and the development of strong interpersonal
relationships among your direct reports? Score..
4. Have a formalized routine in which you can regularly
demonstrate inclusive collaboration, building relationships,
positive communication & feedback. Score..

(1- Never, 2 - Seldom, 3 - Sometimes, 4 - Frequently, 5 – Always)

Knowledge Workers
and Society
Changes in the workforce, society and
companies
“The shift to a knowledge society.”

“Increasing the productivity of

knowledge workers is “the most
important contribution
management needs to make in
the 21st century.”
P. Drucker
Knowledge
worker

a person whose job

involves handling or
using information.
Knowledge worker

“Knowledge workers have high degrees of expertise,

education, or experience,
and the primary purpose of their jobs involves the creation,
distribution or application of knowledge.”
 Characteristics of a knowledge work(er)
Cannot be supervised closely or in detail.
He can only be helped.
Must manage himself, and he must direct
himself toward performance and
contribution, towards effectiveness.
Knowledge work is not:
• defined by quantity
• defined by its costs.
Knowledge work is defined by its results!
Greatest lesson

From Japanese car

manufacturers
• All employees are
ultimately knowledge
workers
• The role of the firm is
to both encourage
and support problem-
solving by all
employees
 Finance,
Business, IT
• All employees are
ultimately knowledge
workers
• The role of the firm is
to both encourage
and support problem-
solving by all
employees
 Insight Exercise

Ask yourself:
• How do my direct reports specifically add value -with
their knowledge- to the companies core business?
• What can I do to help my direct reports maximize their
value creation? (look at maximizing the creation, distribution
or application of their knowledge)
• How should managers alter their approach
• Traditional management and new management styles
• The new management styles introduce new needs from
managers
• Introduction of the one on one meeting and coaching
program
How should managers alter their approach to succeed?
Traditional Management New Management
 Traditional versus New Management
TRADITIONAL MANAGEMENT NEW SYSTEM

Management Team, employees

• Telling • Explaining performance
• Informing • Explaining causes
• Giving direction • Status on Action
Team, Employees Management
• Listening • Listening and asking
• Questioning thinking and approach
Leader owns the performance Team owns performance
Team are doers Leader/manager leads & coaches on how
to Improve
 What we need
A mechanism where a Manager and an Employee interact with
each other and focus on:

• Company and individual results • Personal growth &

development
• Company and individual
alignment • Future and outward orientation
• Mutual understanding & trust • Accountability
• Effective communication • Problem solving
• Positive and constructive • Taking action
feedback
How to effectively deal with this
One effective technique to
get more motivated and
engaged employees that
produce better results is to
start:

a One-on-One Meeting
& Coaching Program
One-on-One Meeting & Coaching Program
A set of ongoing, one-on-one face
to face coaching meetings
between the leader and each
direct report.

Goal is continuous improvement

in personal and organizational
performance and accountability.
Coaching
The Manager-Coach
What is coaching?

Is the process of facilitating, training,

developing and/or helping an employee
towards improving performance, and
achieving success and fulfilment.
Why is coaching important?
• You improve employees ability to do their current jobs and
increase their potential to do more in the future.
• Your organization’s success depends on developing
employees!
• Coaching is a key factor in attracting and retaining the best
employees
• Employees are inspired to work to their greatest potential
when they are given support and encouraged to develop
their skills
Why is coaching important?
• It prepares both the employee and the organization for
the future
• Coaching employees and teams is one of the most
critical role of a manager/supervisor in business today.
• The success of the employees, team and organization
depend on the coaching ability of the
manager/supervisor.
 Executives stated coaching benefits:
22% Bottom line profitability 37% Improved client relationships
53% Improved productivity 48% Improved quality
39% Improved customer service 52% Conflict reduction
23% Cost reduction 67% Improved team work
77% Improved relation staff 61% Improved job satisfaction

Research study of Fortune 1000 companies, who had engaged in coaching for performance, skills or change
(Source: Manchester Inc.)
Main Coaching Ground rules
The approach to coaching operates on the principle that:
• Everyone can be “developed” through coaching
• Employee development is every managers’
responsibility and every employee’s responsibility as
well
• Moving employees through new challenges strengthens
their professional abilities
Main Coaching Ground rules
• Development more likely means informal, on-the-job
ways of learning
• Coaching ideally helps a person to find their own
solutions, rather than prescribing a solution
• Coaching generally looks forward significantly more
than it analyses the past.
Coaching is about the present and the future, not the past.
The manager is a catalyst, helping employees develop their
potential and improve performance.
The emphasis is on action, accountability and follow-through.
Manager-Coaches

“Of the different roles that the manager performs,

the coach is ‘the most difficult one to perform’”
(Gerber, 1992)

That’s why this program!!

 Insight Exercise

• What are your top 3 management

challenges?
• How could you better face these challenges
involving your direct reports through
coaching?
One-on-One Meeting & Coaching Program
One-on-One Meeting & Coaching Program
A set of ongoing, one-on-one face
to face coaching meetings
between the leader and each
direct report.

Goal is continuous improvement

in personal and organizational
performance and accountability.
Research
Research has shown big Improvements
Implementing a One-on-One Meeting program
Significantly improved performance on both
• Subjective factors: morale, trust, and engagement
• Objective factors: productivity and goal
accomplishment
Significant performance improvement

_____ After initial implementation, 5 teams

continued regularly for 18 months.

. . . . . After initial implementation, 5 teams

stopped and started again during the 12- to
18-month period.
Source: Bosch
How to implement
Simple in concept but not necessarily simple in application

Step Two

Ongoing One-on-One
Meetings
Step One
Role Negotiation
session
Step 1: Role-negotiation session
What is a role negotiation session:
A session in which you clarify expectations,
responsibilities, standards of evaluation,
reporting relationships, culture, and values.

This is a psychological contract-setting

Goal of role negotiation session
• To obtain clarity between both parties regarding what
each expects from the other.
• a foundation on which the relationship is built
Topics for discussion
• The mission, goals, and values of the
organization are clarified.
• The appraisal system, the accountability
system, and the rewards are made clear.
• The leader and direct report negotiate all
role-related issues that are not prescribed
by policy or by mandate.
Why?
• A low percentage know precisely
what is expected
• Underlying often-undiscussed
aspects of their roles are never
clarified
• Most employees merely learn on
the job
Other benefits
The start of a relationship of mutual understanding and
mutual commitment
• This session is held early in a relationship as a way to
establish a basis of clarity of expectations
• A written record is made of the agreements and
responsibilities.
Step 2 Ongoing One-on-One Meetings
A set of ongoing, one-on-one
meetings between the leader
and each direct report.

• These meetings are regular and

private.
• The meetings are one-on-one,
face-to-face meetings
One-on-One Meeting Objectives
Main objective:
• Continuous improvement in
personal and organizational
performance and
accountability
Other objectives
• Create positive communication and relationships (building
trust, listening understanding, feedback chance to
communicate freely, openly, and collaboratively)
• Organizational and personal alignment (early adjustments)
• Personal development (to coach and develop subordinates
and to help them improve)
• Foster collaboration, information sharing, and mutual
benefit
Action, not just talk
• Identifying action items that need to be
accomplished before the next meeting
• Actions clarified at the end of the meeting and
reviewed again at the beginning of the next
meeting.
• Accountability is maintained for
improvement.
• Action, not just talk, is the explicit goal
What it’s not
• not just a meeting held because it is on the calendar
• not formal appraisal sessions called by the leader
• not to conduct monthly evaluations or performance
appraisals
• not a top-down, micromanagement tool

It is a collaborative meeting, a chance for individuals

to have personal time with their leaders
Frequency
• At least monthly, if not more
frequently.
• Keep coaching sessions to 30
to 45 minutes maximum.
• Plan ahead and prepare
Objections
• The major objection is lack of time.
“I cannot implement a series of one on-one meetings”

For example, 7 direct reports:

requires 5 or 6 hours per month of
face-to-face meetings, plus
preparation time.
Time savings gained by the meetings
• One of the most important was time
savings
• More flexible time available as a
result of holding One-on-One
Meetings
Increased:
• Alignment
• Collaboration
• Improvement strategies
• Positive energy

Reduced:
• Interruptions
• Unscheduled meetings
• Mistakes
• Problem-solving time
• Helps to eliminate long, inefficient
group meetings
 Insight Exercise
• When are YOU going to start with your One-
on-One Meeting & Coaching program?
• What are potential obstacles to follow-
through implementing this?
• How are you going to deal with those
obstacles?
Meeting Basics, Structure and Agenda
Meeting Basics
• pre-arranged
• require preparation
• both parties know the purpose (notified in advance)
• information to be exchanged should be considered in
advance
• Answers in the meeting should be honest
• Manager should keep control over the progress of the
meeting
Meeting Structure

• Setting the scene, the purpose and a

1. Opening relaxed atmosphere
• Stay on purpose, listen, cover the
2. The middle agenda
• Summary, agreed action, end naturally
3. Close not abruptly on a positive note
Meeting agenda
Focuses on problem-solving issues as well as strategies.

1) leadership and organizational issues

2) information sharing
3) interpersonal issues
Meeting agenda
4) obstacles to improvement
5) training in necessary skills
6) individual needs
7) feedback on job performance
and on personal capabilities
8) resource needs
Meeting agenda
9) accountability for commitments made in past meetings
10) targets and goals
11) personal concerns or problems

Remember
• a working meeting that leads to
verifiable improvements.
 Insight Exercise

Make your own meeting agenda template:

• Which items are you going to put on the meeting
agenda for your direct reports?
• Are you going to involve your direct reports
setting up the agenda?
10 key Principles for Successful and Effective
Communication
10 Key Principles
1. Help employees to see, understand and improve their
strengths, performance and results through self-discovery
and maintain or enhance self-esteem.
2. Always ask first and then tell
(lead with questions)
3. Listen to understand and respond with
empathy
4. Share thoughts, feeling and rationale
(transparency)
10 Key Principles
5. When giving feedback on behavior be specific and
detailed (later more…)
6. Ask for help, encourage involvement, create ownership
and commitment
7. Provide support without removing responsibility
8. Encourage employees to choose their own objectives
(for the next coaching session)
10 Key Principles
9. Ensure objectives are specific behaviors or activities.
(SMART)
10.Document objectives, actions and discussions (but
keep it short).
Follow up find them doing things right.
 Insight Exercise

• Which 3 items on the “10 key principles” list do you

want to focus on improving?
• After the first meeting(s) evaluate yourself:
How well did you perform on each of the 10 principles?
(give yourself a rating from 1-10)
Structure of Effective Communication
5 step communication approach
1. Opening

2. What went well?

3. What could be done more effectively?

4. Addressing new topics

5. Close
Structure of the Communication
1. Opening
• Positive opening
• Purpose and importance of the meeting
• Confirm agenda =
• Results from objectives from the last session
• + Manager’s input
• + Employee input
Structure of the Communication
2. What went well (Positive feedback on recent past)

• Positive open questions from the coach to the

person coached (Ask: “what went well”)
• Concrete positive point from the coach perspective
(Tell: what you thought went well)
• Agreement on the accomplished objectives/ results
Structure of the Communication
3. What could be done more effectively?
• Ask/(open): for possible point of improvement
• Clarify: give concrete point of improvement, presents
relevant information
• Develop: get involvement by collaborating to
create a solutions
• Agree/close: specify actions, timelines and resources to
achieve the solutions
Structure of the Communication

4. Addressing new topics

• Open/clarify: presents all relevant information, issues, and
concerns as well as related facts and figures.
• Develop: get involvement by collaborating to create
solutions
• Agree/close: specifies actions, timelines and resources to
achieve the solutions
Structure of the Communication
5. Close
• A final chance to check that both are
clear on agreements, actions, goals
• Summary of agreements
• Next coaching date
• Positive ending, an opportune time for
the manager to voice his/her confidence
in the employee
 Insight Exercise

• When and how are you going to prepare yourself,

to use this communication structure, and tailor it
towards the specific direct reports?
The Five Step Coaching
Communication Cycle
The Five Step Coaching Communication Cycle
The Five Step Coaching Communication Cycle

Open/Ask

Close Clarify

Agree Develop
Opening or asking
You clearly communicate
Open/Ask
the purpose and
importance of the
Close Clarify
discussion or a specific or
new topic.

Agree Develop
Clarify
You present and explain all
Open/Ask
relevant information, issues, and
concerns as well as related facts
Close Clarify
and figures.

Agree Develop
Develop
You get the employee (more)
Open/Ask
involved by collaborating to
create solutions and create
Close Clarify
buy-in.

Agree Develop
Agree
You specify next steps, actions,
Open/Ask
timelines and resources to
achieve the solutions
Close Clarify

Agree Develop
Close
Final chance to check that
Open/Ask
both you and the employee
are clear on agreements, next
Close Clarify
steps and commitments.
Good time for the manager to
voice his/her confidence in the
Agree Develop
employee.
Re-Cycling

• Ask/Open, Clarify, Develop, and Agree/close form a

cycle that can be repeated as often as necessary to
meet the outcomes of the discussion
 Insight Exercise

• When are you going to practice to use this cycle

in a real business situation?
• After the meeting:
How did it go? What could you do better?
Cultural and Individual
Coaching Differences
All over the world

Everyone wants to
feel valued and involved.

Basic psychology tells us that:

People’s needs evolve as their
life changes.
Human needs
After basic needs are met….
Psychological and Self-
fulfillment needs become more
important, like:
• Accomplishment
• achieving one’s potential
• being creative.

Exactly the issues we talked

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
about in the beginning
Cultural Differences

There are cultural

differences and that’s
where the adaptation of
coaching lies
Power Distance (PDI):
• USA is quite low
• China quite high

This has influence on

how employees interact
with you.
 How to deal with
different knowledge
and abilities
Adapt to the level of
freedom they can handle

Over a longer period of

time move more to the
right

Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum

In conclusion
• Coaching is not “one size fits all”
• Personal needs, cultural background, character,
knowledge and abilities are all in play
• You as a manager-coach can adapt to this
• Sounds difficult? The more you put it into action the
better you become…
 Insight Exercise
• For each of your employees write down how much
freedom can he or she handle?
(Tell, Sell, Consult, Share, Delegate or even more.)
• How can you get them to the next level?