{"id":345,"date":"2019-12-05T07:15:10","date_gmt":"2019-12-05T12:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cmainc.com\/?p=345"},"modified":"2022-08-26T07:48:45","modified_gmt":"2022-08-26T11:48:45","slug":"coach-them-up-or-coach-them-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cmainc.com\/coach-them-up-or-coach-them-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Coach them up or Coach them out"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cThe strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>\u2013 Phil Jackson<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s entirely appropriate to begin this blog with a quote from former coach Phil Jackson. It\u2019s never hard to see that sports teams provide a perfect metaphorical framework for business teams. And similar to a sports team the most important strength and often a single point of failure is the individual team player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether you are an Executive or Manager in an established company or an entrepreneurial leader at the start of the company, one of the most challenging parts of your business is and will be dealing with staff. Unlike so many other challenges you may be faced with employees are the most volatile ingredient in your business. There is an emotional component that can be, at times uncertain and precarious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his 2001 world-renowned book, Good to Great, Jim Collins outlines the strategy of success and, surprise, it involves the human element. The appropriate employees in the correct positions within your company. As he states, \u201c\u2026leaders of companies that go from good to great start not with \u2018where\u2019 but with \u2018who.\u2019 They start by getting the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats.\u201d \u2013 Jim Collins<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, when examining your team, regardless of size, you are faced with the question \u2013 Do you coach them up or coach them out?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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No alt text provided for this image
INC magazine published a recent article wherein they outlined the top fourteen fears that most entrepreneurs face and up on the top of that list was hiring and firing people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you are faced with having to coach a person and deciding whether they are going to stay on the bus or get off on the next stop, it can be overwhelming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my experience, it\u2019s best to make the talk a two-way discussion. I believe in taking a seven-step approach to your review.<\/p>

1) Create a positive tone for your coaching session<\/strong><\/p>

2) Describe the behavior in factual and neutral terms<\/strong><\/p>

3) Obtain the employee\u2019s agreement that the problem actually exists<\/strong><\/p>

4) Determine reasons for the employee\u2019s performance issues<\/strong><\/p>

5) Require the employee to \u201cown the solution\u201d to their problem<\/strong><\/p>

6) Gain support by appealing to the employee\u2019s self-interests<\/strong><\/p>

7) Summarize the meeting and define next steps<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By my own estimation and experience, steps four and six are very closely related. There are typically some tough questions that no employer really wants to ask, even fewer employees are usually comfortable answering. It\u2019s important to set an environment of trust that the answers, whatever they may be, will not result in an end to their employment. One of the questions is NOT, \u2018where do you see yourself in five years?\u2019 you\u2019ll never get a truthful answer out of that question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tough questions to ask are more along the lines of\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • \u201cIf money were not an issue, what would you be doing?\u201d<\/li>
  • \u201cWhat are your aspirations?\u201d<\/li>
  • \u201cWhat makes you most happy?\u201d<\/li>
  • \u201cWhat do you want to do with your career?\u201d<\/li>
  • \u201cWho was the most influential person or persons in your life?\u201d<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    The answers to these questions will not mean that the person who is in accounting and dreams of being an actress is in the wrong role, but it will determine their passion. Opening up the discussion to see what they enjoy. It will help you to discover what things fire them up. You want engaged employees. Someone who is involved will do the job before they are told to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I will grant you, that for every success story there are plenty of times when just such an endeavor fails, but it\u2019s time to change perspectives. Though it may be a clich\u00e9, sometimes letting that person go is the best thing for them. When this is what has to occur, and you are left with the difficult decision of coaching them out, it\u2019s best to work from a set script.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This should be a straightforward solution divided into three sections:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The demands of the role have changed, and you may not be a good fit for it anymore;
    You can choose to pursue the progressive discipline process route; but
    I think the alternative route makes the most sense.
    We are all on a journey in this life, sometimes it\u2019s finding your team members the best spot on the bus at your company, while other times it\u2019s just to shepherd that person onto their next adventure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In either case, handling the individual with grace and dignity will win every time. Even in those tough moments when it doesn\u2019t feel comfortable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u201cThe strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.\u201d\u2013 Phil Jackson It\u2019s entirely appropriate to begin this blog with a quote from former coach Phil Jackson. It\u2019s never hard to see that sports teams provide a perfect metaphorical framework for business teams. And similar to a sports […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":348,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cmainc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cmainc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cmainc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmainc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmainc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cmainc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":349,"href":"https:\/\/cmainc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345\/revisions\/349"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmainc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cmainc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmainc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmainc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}