Coaching Your Team Member

 One of the roles of HR is to guide managers on how to coach and mentor their team members. In order for us to do this, however, we also need to understand some basic things about coaching and mentoring.

Coaching vs. Mentoring

While most people use "coaching" and "mentoring" interchangeably, the two concepts are actually different. According to the International Coach Federation, coaching is “..partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.” On the other hand, mentoring has been defined by the Association for Talent Development an at-will relationship between a "senior and junior employee fr the purpose of the mentee's (Read: Junior employee) growth, learning and development.

When it comes to coaching, your purpose is to get the employee to realize why the behavior needs to be modified. Along the way, you also need the employee to understand the importance of taking responsibility and focusing on finding a solution. One can actually state that the end goal of coaching is two things - (1) Awareness, and (2) Action.

The Kent State University has made a good comparison between coaching and mentoring:

Topic	Coaching	Mentoring
Timeframe	Relationship is more likely to be short-term (up to 6 months or 1 year) with a specific outcome in mind. However, some coaching relationships can last longer, depending on goals achieved.	Relationship tends to be more long-term, lasting a year or two, and even longer.
Focus	Coaching is more performance driven, designed to improve the professional’s on-the-job performance.	Mentoring is more development driven, looking not just at the professional’s current job function but beyond, taking a more holistic approach to career development.
Structure	Traditionally more structured, with regularly scheduled meetings, like weekly, bi-weekly or monthly.	Generally meetings tend to be more informal, on an as need basis required by the mentee.
Expertise	Coaches are hired for their expertise in a given area, one in which the coachee desires improvement. Examples: Presentation skills, leadership, interpersonal communication, sales.	Within organization mentoring programs, mentors have more seniority and expertise in a specific area than mentees. The mentee learns from and is inspired by the mentor’s experience.
Agenda	The coaching agenda is co-created by the coach and the coachee in order to meet the specific needs of the coachee.	The mentoring agenda is set by the mentee. The mentor supports that agenda.
Questioning	Asking thought-provoking questions is a top tool of the coach, which helps the coachee make important decisions, recognize behavioral changes and take action.	In the mentoring relationship, the mentee is more likely to ask more questions, tapping into the mentor’s expertise.
Outcome	Outcome from a coaching agreement is specific and measurable, showing signs of improvement or positive change in the desired performance area.	Outcome from a mentoring relationship can shift and change over time. There is less interest in specific, measurable results or changed behavior and more interest in the overall development of the mentee.

Source: https://www.kent.edu/yourtrainingpartner/know-difference-between-coaching-and-mentoring

When Do You Do Coaching?

The best way to determine whether you should do coaching is to ask yourself whether the problem is related to attitude, to aptitude (skills), or to resources. Coaching generally works for those problems that are related to the attitude which gets in the way of productivity. At the same time, the Kent State University has also enumerated the following as great opportunities for coaching:

• Developing a raw talent into a specific skill
• Helping individuals who are not meeting their goals or performance expectations
• Improving behavior over a short period of time

During the Session

1. Share your observations and concerns. This would usually entail the use of positive statements as well as using a friendly and clear tone to get the employee at ease. You start this step by focusing first on what the employee is doing right before proceeding to what your concerns and observation are.
2. Ask questions without being disrespectful. Guide the employee in realizing what he thinks is happening and why is that happening. Ask if there is anything you can help him/ her with?
3. Allow the employee to speak his mind. Focus on a free-flowing two-way conversation. An important part in this step is active listening. You have to listen to what the employee has to say, and ask appropriate questions so that you get the whole picture. Patience and persistence is needed at this point.
4. Ask questions and help the employee come up with ideas of what could be causing his behavior and what he thinks is the best way to resolve it. Keep in mind that, when it comes to coaching, asking questions is the key.
5. Guide the employee to choose directions based on his priorities and targets. Turn the ideas he/ she is giving you into actionable items that the employee can follow through. It is very important that the solutions and ideas come from the employee him/herself. This will allow for easy commitment. Make sure that you also help the employee come up with timelines. 
6. Summarize what you have discussed and ensure that both of you are on the same page. Make sure that you end the conversation on a positive note. This is also a good time to set up the next date when you would meet to check the updates and status of the actionable items that you have listed.

At The End of the Day...

As an HR professional or as a manager/ supervisor, you have to keep in mind that coaching is not an easy task. No one is born a coach or a mentor but each one of us can learn how to be along the way. If you want to get better at coaching people, you need to develop on the following competencies:

Source: https://www.knolskape.com/blog-everything-you-need-to-know-for-becoming-an-effective-coach/