Business Coaching is the process of developing individuals and teams within the organization. During the coaching process, an employee interacts with the manager on a regular basis in order to enhance the employee’s performance. Learning to become an effective coach often takes a lot of time and effort, in order to develop the skills and knowledge required.
Many businesses today are led by business coaches who focus on boosting employee morale, facilitate the teaching of new skills, enhance team building and implement positive change within the organization.
The Business Coaching Process
Before coaching takes place, it is important for the employee, manager and coach to reach an agreement regarding the desired outcome of the coaching relationship.
Once the employee is confident enough and believes that he will benefit from the coaching process, then a meeting is arranged for the employee to complete a preference guide, which is designed to help identify the best learning option suited to meet the employee’s developmental needs.
Based on the information provided during the meeting, the employee is then presented with a number of different coaches. The employee will then assess the coaches through interviews and select the one that suits him the most. Selecting the appropriate coach is a crucial step in the coaching engagement.
When the coaching process begins, the coach will gather information about the employee’s values, interests, behaviour, goals and opportunities to enhance development. This could be in the form of a questionnaire or face-to-face conversation. The coach will then decide on the appropriate coaching process.
A midpoint employee assessment is then conducted to track the progress of the employee as he goes through the coaching process. This will determine whether to suspend or continue the coaching relationship.
The employee is then given a final assessment form. This information is made confidential and only general data is sent to the coach.
The last step in the business coaching process is a follow-up assessment, which is normally introduced six months to a year after the coaching contract has lapsed.
Benefits of Business Coaching
There are several benefits that an individual would consider when deciding to work with a business coach. These include the desire to enhance performance, to balance priorities and to increase awareness.
Business coaching encourages employees to learn a lot more about their job roles and improve their performance. Through the business coaching process, employees will develop a great sense of loyalty to both the management and the organization. This will ultimately improve the working conditions and enhance productivity of the employees.
Through business coaching, it is possible to transform a difficult, negative employee into a productive and useful asset for the organization. However, this will not happen overnight, there is a need to put in place measures that will facilitate employee engagement and participation by allocating tasks to the employee that he is knowledgeable and skilled in.
Business coaching makes it possible for team members to identify ways of solving problems to enhance productivity. This process will also encourage team building, which will reduce to possibility of conflict within the organization.
Business coaching is a way of preventing employee termination that may be costly to the organization in terms of funds to recruit new staff, and training an employee replacement. Business coaching will enable the organization to make the best of the problematic staff and enhancing their performance.
