This document discusses effective coaching techniques. It outlines key characteristics of a good coach including being positive, goal-oriented, supportive, focused, and observant. Elements of a good coaching session are establishing purpose and ground rules, keeping focused, developing dialogue, speaking clearly, and discussing one specific issue. Communication skills for coaching include asking open-ended questions, affirming the other person, reflecting understanding, and using silence to listen more.

1. Coaching for
Optimal Performance

2. Contents
1. Characteristics of Good Coach
2. Elements of Good Coaching Session
3. Communication Skills for Effective Coaching

3. Characteristics of
Good Coach

4. Benefits of Good Coaching
Help develop employee‟s competence
Help correct unsatisfactory performance
Help diagnose performance problems
Foster productive working relationship
Improve employee performance

5. Characteristics of Good Coach
Positive
Goal
Oriented
Supportive
Focused
Observant

6. Characteristics of Good Coach
•
Your job is not correcting mistakes,
finding fault, and assessing blame
Positive
•
Instead, your function is achieving
productivity goals by coaching your
staff to peak performance

7. Characteristics of Good Coach
•
Supportive
Your job as coach is to get workers
what they need to do their job well,
including tools, time, instruction,
answers to questions, and protection
from outside interference

8. Characteristics of Good Coach
•
Goal
Oriented
Base your assignments on clear,
definable goals
•
Tie specific tasks to those goals
•
Communicate those goals to the
people who actually have to do the
work

9. Characteristics of Good Coach
•
Effective communication is specific
and focused
Focused
•
You are far more likely to get action if
that employee leaves your office
focused on resolving the issue at
hand

10. Characteristics of Good Coach
•
Being observant means more than
just keeping your eyes and ears open
Observant
•
You need to be aware of what isn‟t
said as well as what is. If you are
paying attention, you won‟t have to
wait for somebody to tell you about a
problem

11. Boss vs. Coach
Boss
Coach
•
Talks a lot
•
Listens a lot
•
Tells
•
Asks
•
Presume
•
Explores
•
Seeks control
•
Seeks commitment
•
Orders
•
Challenges
•
Works on
•
Work with
•
Assign blame
•
Takes responsibility
•
Keeps distant
•
Makes contact

12. Elements of
Good Coaching Session

13. Elements of Good Coaching Session
Establish
a purpose
Establish
ground
rules
Keep
focused
Develop
dialogue
Speak
clearly
Discuss one
specific
issue

14. Elements of Good Coaching Session
Establish
a purpose
•
Having a clear purpose at the
beginning of coaching session will
enable you to conduct focused
and productive discussion

15. Elements of Good Coaching Session
Establish
ground
rules
•
As with any meeting, you and the
employee need to have a common
understanding of certain factors
•
The most important are time and
roles

16. Elements of Good Coaching Session
A few guidelines to keep focused :
Keep
focused
•
Avoid making “noise” – anything
that distracts from the atmosphere
•
Don‟t look at your desktop or PDA
•
Don‟t touch your papers
•
Don‟t answer the telephone

17. Elements of Good Coaching Session
•
Develop
dialogue
A Don‟t launch into a monolog
•
If you‟re coaching effectively, your
employee should probably do most
of the talking

18. Elements of Good Coaching Session
Speak
clearly
•
These tips will help you
communicate more effectively:
•
Use the simplest, most
common terms
•
Avoid the jargon
•
Be specific
•
Use the known to explain the
unknown

19. Elements of Good Coaching Session
Discuss one
specific issue
•
Define the issue and limit the
discussion to something
manageable
•
You‟ll get other chances to discuss
other concerns – but only if you
resolve this specific concern right
now

20. Communication Skills for
Effective Coaching

21. Seven Communication Principles for Coaching
1. Soften the „you‟s or change the into “I” to avoid
sounding pushy
•
Instead of : „You‟ll have to….‟, say „Could you….‟
Or „Would you be able to….‟
2. Focus on the solution, not the problem
•
Instead of „We‟re out of milk….‟, say „We will pop
down the shop for some milk‟.

22. Seven Communication Principles for Coaching
3. Turn can’ts into cans
•
Instead of „We can‟t do that until next week‟, say
„We‟ll be able to do that next week‟.
4. Take responsibility – don‟t lay blame
•
Instead if „It‟s not my fault‟, say „Here‟s what I can
do to fox that‟.

23. Seven Communication Principles for Coaching
5. Say what do you want, not what you don‟t want
•
Instead of „Don‟t drive too fast‟, say „Drive carefully‟
6. Focus on the future, not the past
•
Instead of “I‟ve told you before not to……, say „From
now on…….”
7. Share information rather than argue or accuse
•
Instead of „No, you‟re wrong‟, say „I see it like this….‟

24. E – explore by asking questions
A – affirm to show you are listening
R – reflect your understanding
S – silence, listen some more

25. To listen more effectively…..
Attend physically – the right body language helps us to
focus on the speaker and encourages the speaker to give
us more information.
Attend mentally – follow the speaker‟s flow of thought,
listen to understand, not evaluate; listen first, then assess
Check it verbally – paraphrase, clarify, probe further,
summarize your understanding

26. Good Habits of Effective Listeners
•
Looking at the speaker in order to observe body language
and pick up subtle nuances of speech
•
Asking questions
•
Giving speakers time to articulate their thoughts
•
Letting people finish what they are saying before giving
their opinion
•
Remaining poised, calm, and emotionally controlled
•
Looking alert and interested
•
Responding with nods and „uh-uhms‟

27. An effective question is open and ….
brief
focused
relevant
constructive

28. Asking Questions in Coaching Session
•
An effective
question is
BRIEF
The longer the question, the
more likely you are to louse it up
•
Short sentences aren‟t just easier
to understand, they are also
easier to say.
•
To keep you question brief, think
about two things : 1) what do you
want to learn from then answer?
2) what words will best elicit this
information?

29. Asking Questions in Coaching Session
•
An effective
question is
FOCUSED
Target a single and a particular
aspect of that subject per
question
•
If you don‟t, you may render any
answer meaningless

30. Asking Questions in Coaching Session
•
An effective
question is
RELEVANT
Keep you questions on subject
and on target
•
If an answer strays off the point,
tactfully refocus

31. Asking Questions in Coaching Session
•
An effective
question is
CONSTRUCTIVE
You need to accentuate the
positive in you approach to
questioning, not because it make
you seem nicer, but because
your questions will be more
effective

32. Exploring Questions
Open
Questions
Open questions yield lots of information
because they allow a person to explain what is
most important or interesting and encourage
elaboration.
Probing
Questions
Probing questions are those that relate to the
topic we want to explore further. They
encourage the speaker to flesh out the details.

33. Closed vs. Open Questions
When did that happen?
What led up to that?
Was your trip successful?
What did you manage to
accomplish on your trip?
Did you like the candidate?
In what ways do you think that
candidate meets our need?
Did you have a good meeting?
What happened at the meeting?

34. Some Probing Questions
•
Can you be more specifics?
•
Can you give me an example of that?
•
What happened then?
•
For instance?
•
How does this affect you?
•
What might cause that, do you think?
•
Can you fill me in on the details?