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New Manager GuideGroup 3
Angela Foster, Dorian Herceg, Dave Lambert, Jen Smith, and Alex Beeman
13 Pages Included
Table of Contents
Current Trends and Challenges………………………..Pages 3-6
Trends…............................................................................ Page 3, 5
Challenges………………………………………………………. Pages 4, 6
Best Practices …...........................................................Pages 6-11
Best Practices in Coaching……………………………......Pages 6-8
Best Practices in Feedback…………………………….....Pages 8-9
Coaching Metrics……………………………………………..Pages 9-10
Feedback Metrics……………………………………………Pages 10-11
References……………………………………………………..Pages 12-13
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Coaching Employees and Giving Feedback: Current Trends and Challenges
Trends in Coaching Employees
Coaching has become commonplace in many organizations and firms within the United States.
Often it has become so engrained in business culture that employees expect to be coached (Hunt
58). Some of the current coaching trends include:
Technology
Technology has shaped the communication methods used in coaching employees. Social-
networking sites and online communications have changed the employee-employer relationship
(Garvey 149).
Younger generations of employees seem to adapt well to “virtual” coaching
Older employees may prefer face-to-face interaction.
Centralization
Centralization is another trend in coaching. This occurs when one central office or executive
position determines the coaching agenda, rather than the employees’ direct managers.
Often the agenda focuses on the importance of a strategic partnership with the organization
(Garvey 151).
The buddy system.
The buddy system is third trend found in the workplace. It places a new employee with a seasoned
employee who helps them learn their new position and feel more confident. Some employers
believe that using this system helps the employee become productive faster by making him or her
immediately feel part of the team.
When using the buddy system it is important that the “buddy” realizes his or her
responsibility to create a positive work environment (Lau 27).
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The graph above demonstrates the path employees can take when there is not
proper coaching involved.
Challenges in Coaching Employees
Some of the main coaching challenges include:
Generational differences
When coaching employees, it is difficult to have one strategy that works for employees of varying
ages.
Generational differences are evident in the workplace as younger employees have greater
exposure to technology, have more independence and value work-life balance more than
predecessors (Sujansky).
Employees often struggle if these differences are not identified and integrated into the
coaching strategy.
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Creating personal responsibility
Organizations that use centralization to determine the coaching agenda often have challenges
creating personal responsibility.
Centralized agendas often focus on broad goals that do not always engage the individual
employee (Garvey 58).
Determining if coaching is appropriate
Many organizations provide coaching for every employee. One challenge is determining if this is
the best form of intervention for the employee.
If the employee has specific challenges or performance problems, coaching for the employee
may need to focus on realigning performance (Idaho Division of Human Resources).
Trends in Giving Feedback
Giving feedback to employees is an important part of helping them be more productive. Current
trends focus on:
Overcoming the feedback form
Many organizations limit the ability to give feedback to an employee by using standardized reports.
These forms do not allow for individualized improvements
Some organizations are looking past the form and allowing managers and directors to write
their own comments and give feedback through emails or memos (Imperato).
Providing timely feedback
Some organizations have learned that yearly feedback is not effective.
These organizations have adopted communication methods that provide feedback that is
timely and related to a specific project
This allows for the employee to identify where they can improve while still relevant and
make real changes to enhance their performance (Imperato).
Not substituting a raise for feedback
Organizations have also learned that employees need feedback that is not just in the form of a raise.
A raise is a financial transaction and cannot take the place of a conversation expressing
praise or correction
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Feedback used in connection with a raise provides a clear message to the employee
(Imperato).
Challenges to Giving Feedback
Some of the challenges that come with giving feedback to employees include:
Giving a clear message
When feedback is given to an employee often the manager does not know how helpful that
feedback actually is.
Sometimes there is a disconnect between what managers believe they said and what the
employee hears (Imperato)
The best feedback provides a clear and consistent message to the employee (McGill 160).
Not generalizing
Making generalized statements when giving feedback is another challenge.
If a manager uses words like “all,” “never,” or “always,” the statement made could be false or
place arbitrary limits on the behavior (McGill 160).
Limiting unnecessary advice
Giving unnecessary advice is third challenge to giving feedback. Rarely do people not perform well
because the lack a specific piece of information.
The best feedback helps the employee better understand the issue, realize how the issue
developed and identify actions to be more effective (McGill 160)
Coaching Employees and Giving Feedback: Best Practices and HR Metrics
Best Practices in Coaching Employees
According to an article written by Ridge Associates, “coaching is individualized instruction that’s
mutually desired.” It is important that manager’s have a constructive approach to the development
of their employee’s merit and view coaching as a noble venture.
This is necessary for manager’s to promote growth and development in their employee’s
In order to train their employees effectively
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Managers must recognize that every employee has their own unique talents, skill sets, and
potential
Managers must have a belief in their employee’s capabilities, as this is vital to establish a
high-performance expectation for them to achieve.
There are several coaching techniques companies have implemented to equip their employee’s with
the tools necessary to enhance performance. Some of these techniques include:
Creating an environment in which employee’s feel their jobs are important, focusing on
behavior not traits, and promoting the full potential of all employees (Ridge Associates).
A manager that is able to recognize an employee’s weaknesses, as well as their strengths,
can help that employee understand what obstacles may need to be conquered in order to
excel in overall performance.
Feedback from a manager directly following a behavior is very effective for the employee,
right or wrong, thereby enabling them to continue the good work or to look for ways to
improve upon their work.
By observing employees periodically, managers are better able to determine which areas of
performance offer an opportunity for coaching.
Above is a graph depicting the core coaching skills and process. As you can see,
things such as listening, inquiring, connecting, and reviewing play a critical role.
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This graph demonstrates the important of inquiring and listening while coaching
and giving feedback. It shows the process by which they travel.
Best Practices in Giving Feedback to Employees
Coaching, counseling, and mentoring are useful techniques for managers to use with employees
(Stone).
It’s important the managers know the difference between all three techniques, as well as,
how and when to use each technique
Continuously encouraging employees to do their jobs is a key aspect of coaching and
mentoring (Stone)
In order to give meaningful and effective feedback, managers should be aware of the
elements of feedback and feedback should be common practice.
The elements of feedback include the manager’s willingness to give feedback, ability
to provide concrete information, and to include relevant elements of performance
that contribute to task success and that are under the recipient’s control (London).
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The graphs above shows survey results from employees and their thoughts on
coaching and feedback
HR Metrics in Coaching Employees
Most metrics will be used in feedback; however there is one application for coaching:
An online assessment of managers, specific employees, and even executives can be used to develop
a “coaching profile”
The assessment covers work priorities and current coaching activities
Each coaching profile can then be used to develop a personalized coaching strategy and
potential coaching development opportunity (Earley, 96).
“Effective feedback is possible only when it is based on accurate observation (or other kinds of
performance data)” (Hunt and Weintraub, 124).
Other areas of business commonly use quantifiable data in decision-making and HR should
be no different (Thomas)
It is widely believed that metrics in HR should be taken with a grain of salt, because nothing
compares to actual observation or face-to-face interaction. Essentially, there are three feedback
mechanisms to analyze coaching:
Performance feedback
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Performance feedback can be used in coaching to pinpoint areas where it might be utilized
best
This measurement includes a list of things the employee has exceeded and criticisms of
those they have not
Time series feedback shows the progression and influence of coaching on performance over
a period of time.
Employee feedback
Employee feedback measures how well the manager is coaching
Here the employee appraises the ability of his manager, which can include how well a
coaching experience is functioning
The 360 degree report
The 360 degree feedback report involves managers, peers, and other employees in the
creation a performance report
These reports can focus on specific areas such as coaching and development (Wright).
Metrics can be used to gauge the importance of coaching on the company’s financial statements and
performance. The idea is that a “coached employee is a more engaged employee and that the
improvements in engagement trickle down to others on the coachee’s team making coaching a great
way to impact employee engagement” (Marcus). In fact there is one example where a financial
firm’s common stock was devalued mainly because of the lack of “employee engagement” (Marcus).
HR Metrics in Giving Feedback to Employees
Most companies have the basic idea of HR metrics, which include employee engagement and
workforce productivity. Currently companies are measuring the return on investment (ROI) of
individual employees.
This makes it possible for an organization to measure the effectiveness of feedback and if
coaching employees makes a difference in productivity (Bates, 51).
By understanding what is being done and what is possible in the next few years may encourage
organizations in adopting metrics and an analytical–based approach to human capital management
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“The value of metrics, the report concludes, is undeniable: metrics can bring both “hard-
dollar” and strategic savings, as well as significantly higher operating income growth for
organizations that use workforce measurement approaches and technologies.” (HRfocus, 6).
Learning management, performance management, talent management, and workforce analytics are
all tools used for metrics related to coaching and giving feedback (HRfocus, 7).
Other measures include:
Employee engagement, personal and professional development, and turnovers (which could
relate to feedback and coaching).
The key to success is the organization’s strategy.
It’s important that the organization standardizes and agrees upon a set of metrics
The metrics value produces measurable outcomes related to the impact they have on
organizational performance (HRfocus, 10).
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Works Cited and Consulted
Garvey, B., P. Stokes, and D. Megginson. Coaching and mentoring: theory and practice. London: Sage, 2009.
Hunt, J.M. and J.R. Weintraub. The coaching manager: developing top talent in business. London: Sage, 2009.
Idaho Division of Human Resources: Performance Management. 10 Sept. 2009 <http://www.dhr.idaho.gov/dhrapp/training.PerformanceManagement/Coaching.htm>.
Imperato, Gina. “How to Give Good Feedback.” Fast Company 18 Dec. 2007.
Lau, Shari and Vicki Neal. “Economic Trends, Buddy Systems, Receiving Criticism.” HR Magazine 54 (2009): 26-29.
McGill, Ian and Liz Beatty. Action learning: A practitioner’s guide. London: Kogan Page, 1994. 159-163.
Sujansky, Joanne G. The Private Sector: Energetic Generation Y bores easily, needs coaching. 8 Sept. 2009 <http://www.keygrp.com/about.php>.
Bassi, L. and D. McMurrer. (2007, March). Maximizing Your Return on People. Retrieved September, 27, 2009, from Harvard Business Review - Current Business Articles and Case Studies web site: http://harvardbusiness.org/product/maximizing-your-return-on-people/an/R0703H-PDF-ENG.
Bates, S. (2003). The Metrics Maze. HR Magazine, 48, 50-55.
Ridge Associates. Coaching at Work. Retrieved September 27, 2009, from Ridge Associates’s website: http://www.ridge.com/downloads/Coaching_At_Work.pdf.
Earley, C. (2009, May). Coaching for High Performance: A medical supply company learns that being nice only gets you so far. T+D, 96.
Homan, Madeleine and Miller J. Linda (2008). Coaching In Organizations. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons Inc.
Hunt, J.M. and J.R. Weintraub. (2002). The coaching manager: developing top talent in business. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
London, M. (2003). Job Feedback Giving, Seeking, and Using Feedback for Performance Improvement. 2nd ed. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum.
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Marcus, M. (2006, January 12). Defining Executive Coaching. HR.com. Retrieved September 25, 2009, from http://www.hr.com/sfs?t=/blogs/blog.show&e=UTF-8&i=1116423256281&l=0&blogid=1137096243688&highlight=1&keys=coaching+%2Band+%2Bfeedback&active=/blogs/index.
Schlosser, B. et al. (2006). The Coaching Impact Study: Measuring the Value of Executive Coaching. International Journal of Coaching in Organizations, 4, 3, 8-26.
Stone, F.M. (2007). Coaching, Counseling & Mentoring How to Choose & Use the Right Technique to Boost Employee Performance. 2nd ed. New York: AMACOM/American Management Association.
Thomas, Z. (2009, January 9). HR Analytics Drive Sound Decision Making in Turbulent Times. HR.com. Retrieved September 25, 2009, from http://www.hr.com/SITEFORUM?t=/contentManager/onStory&e=UTF-8&i=1116423256281&l=0&active=no&ParentID=1119278070334&StoryID=1231298604512.
What Companies Are Measuring, and Why There Is More Metrics Work to be Done. (2007, May). HRfocus, 84.5, 1-15.
Wright, T. (2008, November 4). The 3 Feedbacks That (Can) Matter to Employee Engagement. HR.com. Retrieved September 25, 2009, from http://www.hr.com/SITEFORUM?t=/blogs/blog.show&e=UTF-8&i=1116423256281&l=0&blogid=1225826514049&highlight=1&keys=coaching+%2Band+%2Bfeedback&active=/blogs/index.
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