What does successful coaching look like?

Effective coaching is more than just teaching how to do a job. It's also teaching someone how to think and strategize. Asking open-ended questions and allowing employees the necessary autonomy to take some reasonable risks will help them increase their self-confidence so that they can find alternative solutions to work problems. Coaching focuses on helping another person learn in a way that allows them to continue to grow later.

It is based on asking rather than on saying, on provoking reflection instead of giving instructions and on holding the person accountable for their objectives. Coaching is there to help everyone succeed. They build strong trusting relationships based on knowing their people and good communication skills. Director of Operations at N2 Publishing.

The most effective trainers divide the training process into smaller goals and then focus on sequencing them strategically. Leaders and organizations have understood how valuable it can be, and they are adding the ability to train and develop others to the growing list of skills they require in all their managers. For coaching to be effective, they need to understand why they are training and what specific actions they should take. When you select the right people and invest in their development and position them as promoters of coaching, the seeds are sown to expand coaching far beyond the individual relationship between the manager and the direct reports.

To improve the quality and impact of your training efforts, start by providing your individual managers with tangible information on how to train their direct reports. All managers need some guidance on the whys and how of coaching, but most organizations can't afford to train them on a large scale, so the least they can do is strive to create a coaching culture. If, on the other hand, the coach appeals to the player's background, he could speak the player's language and, therefore, motivate him better. This way, your coaching focuses less on what you think and reinforces the culture you want in your organization.

However, as your training processes and objectives become more consistent and more valued, internal coaching will take hold. Either you're teaching them to improve (or because they're doing something wrong); or you're teaching them about a new process or topic that requires training. Their role models demonstrate effective training both formally and informally, and help motivate others to use and improve their own training capabilities.