In addition to being an active participant in training and coaching, managers need to have trusting relationships with employees in order for coaching to be effective, the Merit Systems Protection board has said.
Coaching goes beyond performance management and plays to the finer points of interpersonal relationships and helping someone reach his or her potential. It could take on greater importance with scarce budgetary resources for training, often the first area to get cut.
An employee’s trust in a manager is critical for an effective coaching relationship, and one way trust can be built is through a uniform application of merit-based values, engaging in solid performance management practices, and encouraging open two-way communication, MSPB said.
It said if a manager can build trust, he or she can focus on fostering a learning environment where employees are encouraged to try new approaches to work products or processes and to offer suggestions for improvement, empower employees by implementing suggestions and crediting their ideas.
Additional aspects of coaching include providing timely, ongoing, and specific behavior-based feedback on relevant work behaviors, recognizing and rewarding good performance, discussing less-than-optimal performance and coming up with ways to make improvements.
