Positive Motivation:
Good Managers Have Coaching Skills
Contributed by Sheri Graves
It isn’t enough to hire talented people. To get the best and most out of those talented people, managers also must devote time and energy to the “care and feeding” of employees.
“Care” refers to simple things such as the physical layout of the workplace and the organization of individual work stations. It also can refer to workplace temperature, drafts, noise and other factors. Employees who suffer physical discomfort on the job are not top producers and often burn out early.
“Feeding” refers to the workplace culture in general as well as the psychological reward system and the individual attention given to each employee’s needs and concerns. A worker who feels powerless tends to reflect that sense of isolation and frustration in his or her performance and production.
Enter the “Job Coach.” This is yet another hat that must be worn by today’s manager. The job coach is concerned with tasks and behaviors as they relate to performance and productivity. The goal of the job coach is develop a basic sense of mutual trust and respect with each individual employee.
The problem is, dog trainers know a lot more about positive motivation than most managers do. Some managers are so bad at job coaching that the company must hire an independent job coach to assist the manager. This cop-out usually doesn’t work because, at its core, job coaching relies on the ongoing relationship between the manager and the employee – not the brief relationship between the employee and some third party who has been hired on a contract basis.
It is only from a foundation of mutual trust and respect that the job coach is able to observe – without judgment – each individual employee’s on-the-job behaviors and then cultivate those behaviors that lead to the desired performance and productivity.
Easier said than done. Job coaching takes time. It takes dedication and commitment. It requires that the manager focus on long-range goals. It is a responsibility that doesn’t come easily to impatient, performance-oriented managers who prefer to focus on results rather than how those results were obtained.
Enlightened executives send their managers to job coaching classes, workshops and seminars. However, even those managers who work for unenlightened executives can become effective job coaches by taking an online training course. To find such a course, simply do an online search of the key words “job coach.” During such a search, the manager will discover many different aspects to job coaching as well as the various organizations and colleges that offer certifications in this arena.
Truth be told, however, a dog training class sometimes is more effective at training managers to be job coaches. Think about it.
- By nature, dogs are pack animals functioning within a clearly defined social structure. So are humans. It is the manager’s duty as a job coach to establish an organizational culture within the workplace that is easily recognized by individual employees.
- Dogs simply will not follow a leader that does not command respect or appropriately bestow respect. People are the same way. Since respect must be earned, and mutual respect is the cornerstone to implementing a behavioral change, it is the duty of a manager/job coach to honor the dignity of each individual employee.
- Dogs are happiest when they have a job to do. So are people. The doing of the work itself provides a sense of achievement – “I did it!” – and, for both dogs and humans, eventually can become self-rewarding. The manager/job coach must make certain that the employee feels that the assigned task is worthwhile, that it serves a broader and, perhaps, higher purpose.
- The goal of dog training is to deepen the bond between dog and owner so that each can attain enjoyment, companionship and satisfaction from the relationship. A worker who “doesn’t get it” is not likely to excel in either performance or productivity. The manager/job coach, therefore, must nurture a bond with the employee, a bond wherein a relationship of trust can flourish.
Dog trainers rely on multiple forms of positive reinforcement, including head pats, vocalizations (Good Dog!), facial expressions, hand gestures, body language and edible treats. If the only things your employees have to look forward to are quitting time and payday, it’s a good idea to take a serious look at workplace morale.
About the Author:
Sheri Graves is a freelance writer who lives in Santa Rosa, California.
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