Week 8: Coaching and performance management: Managing to standards

Description

This extensive module brings together all that you have learned so far in this course. Coaching and performance management are what you do with all that you have learned. The rest of the material forms a foundation for the way you lead and manage in your role here at (Sample Company). As you study this material, reflect on what you have learned in the prior modules and consider how what you have learned is shaping you as a leader. It is your beliefs that mold your behavior and it is your behavior that will make you a great leader. Coaching is the path that we would like you to choose.

Outcomes

• As a manager you will coach and develop you team members. You efforts will help you build a loyal and effective team dedicated to delivering the value your department delivers.
• You will be confident in your ability to guide and mentor your team.

Performance tasks

• Ask your team members either in a group setting or one on one what coaching means to them. Does not have to be formal, simply ask and listen. Ask clarifying questions if you need to. The more people you ask, the more perspectives you will get.
• Based on what you have read in this module and what you have heard from others, write the characteristics of the coach you want to be. Does not need to be more than a page unless you would like to write more. Take some time and reflect on this as you will be painting a picture of who you want to be as a manager.

Week 8 assignment

  Read the following articles on coaching. Several are a page so do not be overwhelmed about the number that I have posted. As you read, keep in mind your management style and consider what you can personally do and commit to, that might move you forward to a more effective management style. I have also provided several different looks at the field of employee coaching to provide you with different points of view.

• To gain an overview of coaching and your role as a coach, read Coaching Employees. There is also a coaching template at the end of the article to use with your employees.
• Read Ten Keys for Successfully Coaching Employees.
• Read this article on coaching guidelines which provides you with some clear guidelines for successfully becoming a coach and becoming more effective as a manager and leader.
• Read Employee Coaching: When To Step In.
• Read this one page on the benefits and pitfalls of coaching employees.
• One of the intents of coaching is to teach your team to solve problems. In the short article Coach Employees To Solve Their Own Conflicts with Co-Workers, you will find out how to do this.

  If you have time during the week to add to your understanding of coaching, read the following but not before you read the materials on performance appraisals:

• This coaching PowerPoint is one that was drafted for a coaching class here at (Sample Company). It is a good overview of the models used for coaching and will provide more direction to you after you have read the above materials.
• For those of you who are sports fanatics, here is a great metaphor for coaching that is sports based; Inside Baseball. Read and enjoy.

Performance appraisals and the whole process of managing performance is tightly interwoven with coaching so even though you have a lot to read in the module, we can not proceed without providing you with a foundation in this area of team member development. Please review the following documents and reflect on how performance management complements coaching.

• Read Performance Appraisal as an Employee Development Tool to give you a good foundation in this field. 
• Review sample performance standards and fill out for yourself. Are these standards that you can manage to?
• Read Forced Ranking: Making Performance Management Work and reflect on this controversial article. Bell curve grading anyone? Does it have a place. Be ready to talk about this.

  The ten steps for giving feedback will help you determine what to ask and how to go about starting a coaching conversation.

  I would like you to reflect on this question and be ready to share your thoughts during the next workshop, "In what ways does your supervisors ability to coach or not to coach impact your ability to coach?"

  "The boss drives his men; the leader coaches them. The boss depends upon authority; the leader on good will. The boss inspires fear; the leader inspires enthusiasm. The boss says "I"; the leader "we." The boss fixes the blame for the breakdown; the leader fixes the breakdown. The boss says "go"; the leader says "let's go!""
~ Gordon Selfridge

Are you ready to move on?

When you are finished with the assignment from the week eight self-study learning assignment, please go onto the self-study learning assignment page to confirm the date of workshop four and pick up the assignment for week nine. If you have any questions, please contact your instructor. 

We recommend that you build ongoing conversations with our fellow learners via the discussion board. 

 
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