As a leader, one of my main struggles has been keeping my employees motivated; maybe you have also felt the team could be more engaged with work. One tool I have found to be highly effective when building motivated teams is coaching. Through effective coaching, leaders assist their employees in developing their knowledge and skills and provide them with opportunities to gain more relevant experience in their field.
You can use the power of coaching to motivate your employees by clearly identifying your objectives and discussing your action plans with them. Highlight that the goal is for their self-improvement and career advancement. Provide regular feedback so they’re aware of their progress and direction.
In this article, I’ll discuss how coaching can further motivate employees, help them advance in their careers, and achieve their full potential. I’ll also discuss other benefits linked to proper employee coaching and how to go about it so your team will always be aligned with the organization’s short and long-term goals.
How Should Coaching Be Used To Enhance Employee Motivation?
You can use coaching to enhance employee motivation by assuring your employees that you are on their side and want their careers to grow. Set high goals with them and expect them to succeed, and remain supportive when mistakes or failures occur. Be aligned with your values and allow them to develop their own.
Additional Benefits of Coaching Employees
Leading and managing a team in a highly dynamic environment can be challenging.
Innovative leaders know that their greatest assets are their teams — and they are valuable resources with significant economic value to the company.
Depending on how you treat them, they bring (or don’t) talents, skills, and experiences to the business, so they considerably affect the organization’s growth.
Aside from enhancing employee engagement and motivation, leaders who emphasize coaching their team can look forward to many other benefits. Here are some of them:
- Improved performance. Employees who are motivated tend to be more productive. They are always inspired to put their best foot forward and can be counted on to deliver quality work consistently.
- Higher job satisfaction. Having a leader who is effective at coaching can help employees feel happier with their job. They feel appreciated and valued. They know they will be given opportunities to grow their skills and know-how.
- Encourages employees to take ownership of tasks. Motivated employees are more likely to always aim for excellence. Hence, they take pride in their work and are eager to take full responsibility for tasks. They rarely blame others when faced with failure, errors, or difficulties.
- Identifies high performers. Coaching provides leaders with opportunities to monitor their team members’ progress closely. They can quickly identify high performers fit for more responsibilities and promotion.
How To Maximize the Power of Coaching in Your Team
There are no set guidelines for training, leading, and managing employees. Each person, circumstance, and purpose is different, and it is up to you as the leader to determine the best approach for each of your team members.
Consider the below tips to help you determine the best route to take so you can take full advantage of the benefits that good coaching offers:
Be Clear About Your Intentions
Most employees want opportunities to showcase and improve their skills and career development possibilities. If you’re considering these for your employees, let them know and be clear about your intentions. Generally, employees given growth opportunities feel grateful, seen, and valued, so they’re more engaged with the company and motivated to succeed.
Coaching is a great way to start their journey to career development. Use this critical time to hone your team members into highly-functional, driven, and efficient assets for the company. Address deficiencies in knowledge and skills. Work together on how to become better in their chosen field. The key is to be aligned and work together toward a common objective.
Discuss the Plan of Action
Discuss your plans and timelines with your employees. Ensure they are amenable to your schemes and the direction you want to take with them. Uncover their career goals so you can work together toward achieving them.
Remember that coaching will only work if your team members are primed and eager to work with you on their self-development.
Make sure to push your team members to go beyond their comfort zone. Motivated employees love being challenged, but see to it that the goals you set for them are realistic and attainable. Impractical and irrational targets might make your employees feel overwhelmed and disengaged.
Give Regular Feedback
Provide regular feedback to let your employees know you are tracking their progress and consider their development one of your priorities.
When leaders give feedback, employees feel validated and more intensely motivated to excel.
They will appreciate your views on what aspects they’ve been performing well in and which ones they need to develop.
Give recognition when you see improvements in your team members. Be constructive when offering tips and advice for areas they need to improve. Constantly remind your team that you are allies, not adversaries, so they can approach you if they need additional guidance, have questions, or harbor any misgivings about the coaching process.
Be Your Employees’ Number One Fan
Make sure your team members know that you are rooting for them. Tell them they’re part of your team for the skill set, know-how, and career experiences they bring to the table.
Employees need to feel that they’re invaluable assets to the team and perform a specific role that the team can’t do without.
However, coach when handling employee mistakes and failures. Remember that your team members are watching you when things don’t go as planned.
How you react will define the culture of your team. Do not crush their trust in you by responding with anger and resentment.
Leading and managing a team means being supportive when they encounter challenges and failure. Brainstorm what factors were handled incorrectly and how these mistakes could have been avoided. Most importantly, discuss how to address these pressing concerns so you can start moving forward again.
The key is to lead by example and remain relevant and solution-driven. Soon, your team members will adopt the same positive mindset and follow your lead.
Final Thoughts
Leaders are often viewed as overseers and managers of a team. In reality, it is also a critical part of their job to effectively coach and mentor their team members to help them achieve their full potential. Employee coaching is crucial for team growth and ensuring the organization’s success.
Coaching employees is tricky, but the key is consistency and knowing when to keep pushing and when to step back. Provide employees with plenty of opportunities to make their own decisions and own up to any mistakes. Let them know you’re on their side and rooting for their success.
