Coaching like it's a sport

When advocating for better performance management we ask managers to be a "coach" to their employees, borrowing the term from sports. However, it seems that the sports analogy stops there. For example: 

• Do we allow our employees practice time or does it seem to be always game time? 
• Do we have time-outs and team huddles when we need to get back in the game to do we just keep pushing? 
• Do we make on-the-fly changes to our lineups if people are having an 'off-day' or do we just discount or even discipline that employee?

We likely don't follow sports' lessons, but we should be and here's why.... 

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​Coaching is a 1-on-1 learning and development  intervention using a collaborative, reflective, goal-focused relationship to achieve professional outcomes dictated by the coachee

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Effective coaching can positively change attitudes, knowledge, behaviours, and performance. Organizations that had highly effective coaching were more likely to have:

• 30% stronger business results 
• 33% more engaged employees 
• 42% higher employee productivity
• 75% higher in hiring, developing, and retaining the right people (Bersin, 2012)

​Gallup outlined the essentials of coaching as: frequent, focused, and future-focused. That is, coaching should be continuous, have a specific purpose, and should be positive and constructive. 

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​Now back to the sports analogy...

​Frequency - Where a business leaders may deliver feedback once or twice a year, sports coaches don't even wait until the end of the game (end of the day), they provide feedback before, during, and after the game. 

Focused - During game play, a coach only has seconds to provide feedback. Therefore, they need to be highly skilled in knowing the right message and the right delivery to ensure increased motivation and/or effective behaviour change. 

Future-Focused - Sports focus on the positive. We celebrate the victories, we interview the MVP or the captain. We hardly focus our time on the person with the most errors, and when we do, we ask about how we will change or win the next time. 

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Sports provide us with other potential lessons we, in business, need to learn from:

• We don't choose the best player on the team to be the coach. We choose the person who is best with people. 
• ​If the team fails, the coach is fired, rather than individual team members. 
• ​Coaches don't show up only when there is a loss and a win. They are there continuously. 
• Even though the coach is always there, a coach isn't on the field micro-managing the play nor are they playing the game with the team. 
• Although it's always about the win, it's not about everyone scoring goals. Some people are there to provide assists or defense. 
• Coaches are internal to the team (not external hires). Sometimes a sports consultant comes in to try and help an athlete with the yips, but a truly effective coach really needs to know the individual, the team, the opponents, and the game. Scientific research supports this finding internal coaches are 7x more effective than an external one*. 
• ​Coaches don't work in isolation. There is an equipment manager who is helping ensure equipment/tools is available, effective, and perhaps cutting-edge (IT, supply chain, operations). The special teams coach comes in during rare events or special circumstances (HR, talent management, project managers). GM's and owners (senior leadership) keep track of the bigger picture as well as give them input and coaching of their own. And finally, sometimes there is a junior or assistant coach who is ensuring training is organized and fills in when required (supervisors, team leads). ​

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So if we truly want our managers to be like sports coaches, what do we need to do?

Organizations

• Free up managers' time from administration to be able to coach continuously.
• Surround managers with their own personal support team.
• Hire in external coaches only as 'special teams' or to train internal coaches. 

​Managers

• Ask yourself what tasks are preventing you from coaching. Can you delegate them?
• Determine if you are playing the game or directing the game. If you are playing, shift your coaching goals to make the team more self-sufficient. 
• Be deliberate in what you want the employee to achieve and tailor the message in a way that will best motivate them. 

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Further Reading and References: 

• * The Effectiveness of Workplace Coaching: A Meta-Analysis... https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/joop.12119
• Re-engineering Performance Management... https://www.gallup.com/workplace/238064/re-engineering-performance-management.aspx
• Global Human Capital Trends 2015... https://www2.deloitte.com/insights/us/en/focus/human-capital-trends/2015.html