Meeting the Coaching Challenge

Name: Meeting the Coaching Challenge
Author: David Walker

How to acknowledge, address, and resolve employee issues

Preview the first lesson free — get full access to all 3 lessons.

Course: On-Demand

(lively music) Being in the right mindset to be an effective coach who can produce positive results can be challenging. Let's discuss some items that will help put you and the person you are coaching into the right mindset. We'll also go over arranging the coaching meeting, maintaining a positive and productive outlook. Keeping the coaching session productive. Building trust and refining the process. As a coach, you may need to determine whether to hold one-on-one meetings or a joint meeting with both the complainant and person being complained about. Take Cathy who's not having positive interactions with her colleagues in an environment where there are overarching organizational cultural issues that need to be addressed. While the organizational issues won't have a quick fix, there is still an immediate need to hold a meeting. In an instance like this, it's recommended that the meeting take place on a one-on-one basis. So you'll meet separately with both the complainant and person being complained about. In that case, they will need to meet with you at different times. The first meeting will be with Cathy. Her coach, Margan, recognizes that there are overarching issues that lie more with the organization than with Cathy. She wants to make Cathy feel comfortable with attending the meeting. So she broaches the meeting in an informal one-on-one conversation and establishes the meeting time in person. This is more effective than initiating the meeting by simply sending an email or calendar request as Margan has the opportunity to let Cathy know this will be a productive session. After an agreed-upon meeting time has been established, Margan goes ahead and sends the email and calendar request. The same tactics should be used with the person making the complaint. Acknowledge them in person. Let them know their concerns have been heard and will be addressed. Emails can provide good summaries for conversations but when possible, don't use them to initiate the conversation. Email carries little tonality and people will often read messages differently than how they were intended. It's recommended that you use email and calendar requests as a form of follow-up to reduce the level of anxiety accompanied by dealing with difficult situations. It's now time for the meeting. You can start things off by informing the employee being coached that you deal with difficult situations all the time. Emphasize that the coaching session's intention is to take a look at the situation, the organization, and the facts. Let the employee know that the coaching session's end result is to resolve the situation. Make sure it doesn't happen again and to get everybody back to work as soon as possible. Being empathetic as a coach means caring for the organization as a whole and for the person as an individual. Demonstrating empathy sets the stage for a positive meeting and a productive outlook in response to a difficult situation. It also builds trust, which is an important step to getting things resolved in a positive manner. Just because the issue likely stem from a seemingly negative situation doesn't mean the coaching session needs to be negative as well. It's quite the opposite as starting on a good note will help things remain positive throughout the coaching session.

Intermediate Provider : David Walker 3 Lessons · 8m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese

Course Description

In this course, you’ll examine various strategies for recognizing and resolving employee issues through coaching, and for fostering a mutually constructive mindset for you and the employees you coach in the process. These lessons will explore different ways to arrange a coaching session, and how to maintain a positive and productive outlook to ensure the employee finds the session useful, productive, and builds trust. In addition, you’ll review techniques to reach agreement with employees on the root cause of the problem, in question, what caused it, and develop ways to address it going forward. You’ll also learn the advantages of working collaboratively with the employee on determining the most appropriate next steps.

What You'll Learn

Acknowledge and address workplace issues through coaching
Arrange and structure an effective coaching session
Maintain a positive, productive outlook to build employee trust
Reach agreement with employees on an issue and its root causes
Collaborate with the employee to determine appropriate next steps

Key Takeaways

Coaching can be used to recognize and resolve employee issues while fostering a mutually constructive mindset.
How a coaching session is arranged, along with a positive and productive outlook, helps ensure the employee finds it useful and builds trust.
Reaching agreement with the employee on the root cause of a problem and what caused it supports developing ways to address it going forward.
Working collaboratively with the employee on next steps offers advantages in determining the most appropriate path forward.

Frequently Asked Questions

What will I learn in this course?

You'll examine strategies for recognizing and resolving employee issues through coaching, learn how to arrange a coaching session and maintain a positive, productive outlook, reach agreement with employees on the root cause of a problem, and collaborate on the most appropriate next steps.

Who is this course for?

It is designed for those who coach employees and want to recognize and resolve workplace issues through coaching while fostering a mutually constructive mindset for themselves and the employees they coach.

What topics or lessons does the course cover?

The course covers three lessons: Acknowledging the Issue and Arranging the Meeting; Reaching Agreement on the Issue and its Causes; and Collaborate on a Solution and Determine Next Steps.

What are the learning objectives?

The objectives are to acknowledge and address workplace issues, maintain a positive and productive outlook, and collaborate with parties involved to achieve resolution.