Why Coaching is Important in the Workplace

Coaching a team may that be a sports team or coaching your team in the workplace, is one of the most demanding yet rewarding jobs you will ever attempt.

When it comes to the sports world, coaches assist athletes in developing and getting to their full potential. Coaches are responsible for training athletes by analyzing their performances, instructing them to gain relevant skills and by providing encouragement.

To be a good coach, you must understand how to manage the individuals on your team. Different players will respond differently to coaching methods. Because of this, it’s essential to understand how to best motivate and train each player to maximize the team’s performance.
Now, doesn’t this sound familiar? Wouldn’t this be important in the world of business as well? Isn’t this precisely what we need in the workplace?

Coaching is an essential tool for achieving business goals.

There are managers who coach and ones who don’t. Leaders in the latter category are not necessarily bad managers, but they are neglecting an effective tool to develop talent.

Managers that do coach their people; they aren’t just because they feel like it. They do it because they care about the growth of the individuals but also because they see a personal involvement in the development of talent as an essential activity for business success.

A recent study of Executive Coaching in a Fortune 500 firm by MetrixGlobal reported a 529% return on investment and significant intangible benefits to the business.

When organizations coach employees, benefits to the company include:

• Overcome costly and time-consuming performance problems
• Strengthening employees’ skills which boosts productivity by helping employees work smarter
• Improve retention; employees are more loyal and motivated when their bosses take time to help them improve their skills
• Make more effective use of company resources; coaching costs less than formal training

When employees are coached, they:

• Build valuable skills and knowledge which they can use to advance in their careers
• Feel supported and encouraged by their manager and the company
• Have pride and satisfaction that come with and from new challenges

“Coaching is about connecting with people, inspiring them to do their best and helping them to grow. It’s also about challenging people to come up with the answers they require on their own.” Ed Batista

Sales Coaching

Sales coaching is not merely a function of giving a salesperson help or guidance. Nor is it only about reminding, or teaching salespeople about skills learned. Just like when you are coaching a sports team, there are various factors that you need to take into account that go deeper than just the basics.

Sales coaching is a process that starts with the development of an effective, focused sales strategy, creating and developing salespeople’s talent, then introducing disciplines that are understood by the sales team. It is best delivered by someone who understands selling; someone who has carried a sales bag, knows the secret handshake and languages of sales. Because of this, sales coaching is usually left to the sales manager or other sales leaders within the organization.

“Companies with dynamic coaching programs achieve 28 percent higher win rates.” – CSO Insights 2016 Sales Enablement Study

Sales coaching and mentoring are about equalizing the playing field. It’s about ensuring every member of the team has the appropriate level of support, guidance, and reinforcement to ensure optimal effectiveness in contributing to the realization of the vision for the sales team.

Using coaching does not mean that managers should no longer direct and supervise their teams, but rather that their management style becomes more adapted to a given situation and responds better to the needs of their team members.

Guiding and empowering employees rather than just telling them what to do, providing opportunities for growth, development, and autonomy, is not only much more rewarding but far more productive.

Coaching should be a vital component of any organization’s culture and strategy because it can impact performance at every level. The purpose of coaching within the workplace is to help improve an individual’s job performance while enhancing their current skills or helping them acquire new ones.

Always remember the core principle: coaching is about them, not about you.

At The Core Results, we have developed our a Coaching App designed to help your sales manager set goals, evaluate performance, provide feedback, and measure results – all from one, friendly user portal.

Sources:
The Benefits of Coaching Employees
https://www.smartcompany.com.au/marketing/sales/high-performance-sales-coaches/
https://www.csoinsights.com/blog/sales-managers-overwhelmed-underdeveloped-first-2017-sales-manager-enablement-report/