Employee coaching is the business art of helping each individual employee not only fulfill their responsibilities, but also be able to master their role within the organization. It may also be the most effective way to ensure that each employee is progressing in their role and are not becoming stagnant in the workplace.

Coaching is often an afterthought in the work place as many managers either don’t see the value in it, or fail to make the time commitments to following through with their coaching plans. It’s crucial that when managers begin to implement one-on-one coaching with their employees, that they understand that effective coaching requires a commitment to following through with each employee in order to see the maximum return.

Do It

Just staying committed to regular sessions with each employee will ensure that the employee knows that his or her manager is following up on the coaching items and that improvement will need to be demonstrated. Regular coaching sessions also allow for the making of minor corrections and adjustments in the work being done, which is much easier than trying to correct big mistakes that have been taking place for a long period of time.

Focus on the Positive

Much too often, coaching focuses on the negative things being done. Although correction needs to be done when appropriate, the key is “when appropriate”. Don’t let the individual management idiosyncrasies or personal styles force others to have to do things a certain way. Each employee may develop a pattern that is easiest or fastest for them, and this is ok. As long as the work is being done and in a timely manner, one man’s chaos, is another’s controlled pattern.

Guide Towards Empowerment

Too often managers want to exercise control, it’s the natural human tendency. You should build up your employees so that they can do their work almost without their managers intervention in day to day things. That’s the key to employee coaching, developing a master at their specific role in the organization, not drones that need to come for instruction every few minutes and with each individual task. As much as it may satisfy our ego as a manager, it’s poor management and furthermore, you’re not doing the employee any favors. In the end, you will find frustration with long-time employees who never seem to be able to take ownership of their day-to-day tasks and who never become fully comfortable with their roles.

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I think one of the most worrisome things to senior managers is bringing up a new manager in the company. This is especially true when you convert a professional into a manager in a company. When you hire a new manager from the outside, I think you can generally learn a lot about the candidate, their personality, management style, etc. A new manager, however, can be difficult to figure. You have little or no example of their body of work, just the hunch or the signs that the individual will be a good manager. It’s not until the new manager has begun to work and exercise his managerial influence that you can really come to understand if that person may truly be a good manager.

There are, however, some tell-tale signs that the new manager may not be up to par in the new role:

1) Is Not Original

Managers need to motivate their employees and need to generate action from those underneath them in the company. If their style of work is one that does not rouse the base, work can never improve. The organization will continue to trod along as it always has before, never reaching new, higher limits of success.

2) Blends In

Managers who do specific things to blend in and seem like “one of the guys” generally don’t muster enough respect to generate action from his employees. Simply put, when it comes down to it and decisions need to be made, employees will always second-guess the manager and chaos will reign in the organization.

3) Gets Desperate

I believe that the outward feelings and demeanor of a manager is magnified in the employees. Managers who are frustrated, desperate, disenfranchised, etc. will cause employees to feel the same way, often 10 fold. This then becomes the face of your organization.

4) Ignores Peers/Employees

While earning respect, managers also have to ensure that employees, the cogs of the organization’s machine are well-oiled and that each specific piece of the organization is working at its best. When individuals in the organization feel disconnected, not cared-for, or that they don’t have an advocate on their side, the entire organization begins to suffer.

7) Doesn’t Sweat Failures

Even though much of what will determine the organization’s success may be beyond the manager’s control. A manager who simply dismisses failures as “being their control” doesn’t have enough motivation and drive to make themselves better. Successful people often shoot to make everything work in their favor, those in their control and not. Additionally, when mistakes are made, successful people own up and take responsibility and use it as bitter lessons learned which are never to be repeated again.

Doesn’t Ask Too Much

There’s a myth that in order to get the most from people you have to leave them alone and not be demanding. Success is quite the opposite, it comes from setting a high bar for each individual in the organization and ensuring that each individual sees that their specific work is being measured and success is expected in their assigned tasks. Managers who demand the most, will in the end, end up getting the most. They may not get all they wanted from their team, but they will certainly be a factor in helping the team understand how critical they are and that they need to get the job done.

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Doing more with less is important in business, and even more important when times are tough. Managers, however, need to carefully evaluate every cost cutting decision to ensure that the costs being cut will not have too great of an adverse effect in the organization’s ability to do business, in the morale of its employees, and in leaving its customers and clients feeling cheated. If careful consideration is not made companies will end up spending less and getting less, or spending less but increasing its costs in other areas in order to operate its business.

3 Cost Cutting Traps

1) Focusing cost reduction on areas with highly variable costs. Advertising, training and recruitment are often hit simply because they are easy to switch on and off.

2) Seeking to give all areas of the business an equal share of the pain. For example, all departments may be required to find 20 per cent cost savings regardless of their relative importance.

3) Enabling a political power struggle. Departmental leaders many times use their influence with the CEO to campaign to protect their area, whatever the cost elsewhere.

3 Correct Cost Cutting Principles

1) Identify and protect your key profit generators. A profit generator is a business activity that has a disproportionately large impact on the profit and value of the organization. These business activities should have a focus of ensuring that they maximize their revenue potential for the long run and not just minimizing their costs. Not in check, this creates the cooking the “goose that lays the golden egg” syndrome. You, in your cost cutting efforts, cut back on the necessary resources your main income generator requires.

2) Understand where you are competitively disadvantaged on cost. Don’t just review your own costs to drive profits, you should also critically review and understand your competitors’ costs. If your competitor can cut costs in certain areas, can you do the same? If so, do it. If not, you will need to come up with an alternative area where you can cut costs to offset what your competitor is doing.

3) Determine where you make and lose money. A good starting point for increasing profit is to stop losing money. In most businesses there are areas of high profitability and areas of low returns or losses. Poor-performing businesses cannot be switched off overnight, but focusing your resources and effort where you deliver the greatest returns is likely to raise profits. Each of these areas, however, need to be carefully evaluated as to what the costs, in the end, bring to the company. Some costs can be cut with relatively little effect on the company. Other costs can minimize business potential, decrease morale, or even increase costs in other areas of the business.

Cost cutting initiatives in business are not easy or simple decisions. Managers who face the requirement to cut costs should carefully weight their options, seek for input from those directly related to the areas where costs will be cut. Most often, by involving others and explaining the reality of the situation, managers can seek for insight on areas where costs can be cut. Those employees who work in those specific areas day-to-day often have a wealth of insight into the business and can, many times, offer solutions to make the decision process more informed and better for the business.

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