Why You Should Create a Coaching Culture
Looking back on my life I was born to coach, and it comes natural to me. Whether it’s on the ice, field or in the office, I am always wanting to help people improve. What I did not understand was how this was going to be so vital in my business and building a team to win. If you are not like me and you are not born to coach, it’s ok you can still create a coaching culture in your business.
Let’s start with the why behind coaching. We all can appreciate what athlete’s, musician’s and actors do to entertain us. What some of you may not realize is that it took years of training to be able to deliver what we see and hear on our TV’s and radio’s. When these entertainers train, they rely on a coach to help hone their skills and take them to a high performing level. In your business, you are that coach to help your staff hone their skills and improve so they can reach that high level. If you never coach your staff, they will never improve. In addition, you will immerse yourself into your business and it will be very difficult to have your staff and your business stray down the wrong path.
This process does not need to be complicated at all; you just simply need to allot time to work with your staff to take them to the next level. In my agency this looked as simple as listening to a couple phone calls each week and then scheduling a meeting with my staff members to coach them up on 1 part of that phone call. This all started with me time blocking 1 hour early in the week. This hour was dedicated to listening to phone calls and finding coaching points that I felt could improve my staff’s overall skill level. I would then make notes on what I would cover in the meeting, and I would write down the exact times in the phone call that I wanted to listen to with my staff. I would design an action plan for them to improve and then I was ready for the coaching session with my employee.
The next step was to deliver your education in a matter that will inspire your staff to improve and reach a higher level. My method was a simple 2 to 1 ratio of 2 positives to every 1 improvement. For example, when listening to the call I might hear that the staff member builds incredible report with the customer. I will mark the time on the call, and I will praise the staff member for doing a great job. Your staff will love the praise and it will show that you are aware of the amazing things they are doing with the customers. The praise will also make it easier to point out the areas of improvement that the staff member needs to make. Your employee will be eager to improve because they know that you will praise them when they do. After the 2 positive, praise opportunities that you find in the phone call, you can then move onto the coaching portion. Simply listen to the part of the phone call you would like to be corrected and ask them how they could have delivered this in a different manner. More than likely your employee will already know what they should have done, if not it’s a great opportunity to take them into a new subject. Make sure that they understand the why behind the education you are delivering and then move into the final part of the process.
The last, and maybe the most important part of the process, is to establish a practice plan so your employee can continue to improve that skill. The goal is to have the skill committed to muscle memory which will take practice. Most of the practice in my office came with role playing. This was conducted for 5 to 10 minute every morning. Each staff member had the skill that they were improving that week and they would partner with someone in the office to quickly go through the word track that they were improving. The important part here is the continuous training because we never rise to the occasion we always fall back to our training.
The title to this blog is Why You Should Create a Coaching Culture. Let’s talk culture in your office. First and foremost, you want to employ individuals that have the want and desire to improve. I would always say that if you know everything then it is time to move onto something new. This culture of constantly looking to improve and become better will keep your staff humble and hungry in their jobs. This will manifest into attracting the employees and customers that you want and desire. Your employee’s will appreciate the time that you put into their improvement and the customers will be receiving the product and customers service that they deserve. These 2 factors will allow your business to thrive and reach levels that you can’t imagine.
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