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Coaching for High Performance

Saturday, May 23, 2009 - by ASTD Staff

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The following story was described by Cathy Earley, a San Francisco–based consultant and coaching practice leader.

Client: A global cardiac care products manufacturer.

Problem: The organization struggled to remain competitive in the industry, as large pharmaceutical companies began encroaching upon the manufacturer's market share. In addition, performance feedback was ineffective, therefore stifling optimum performance improvement.

Cause: The organization's culture was friendly, supportive, and collegial; these positive qualities unfortunately inhibited managers from offering candid, explicit feedback and confronting low or mediocre performers.

Method/Tools: Earley encouraged the company to focus its efforts on strengthening coaching relationships. She equipped managers to engage in honest and frequent coaching by implementing a process that transformed coaching-for-high-performance from a "good idea" to an organizational reality.

First, managers and selected employees completed online assessments of work priorities and coaching actions. After completing the assessment, each individual received a coaching profile report that allowed him to develop a unique personal coaching strategy. Next, participants received specific training on how to best coach each employee (depending on his coaching profile). The training also taught coaching best practices and effective coaching conversations that encourage high performance. Each participant left the training armed with a customized action plan and coaching strategy.

The organization tied monetary incentives to each employee's action plan, with a portion of an employee's annual bonus being reserved for completion of the plan. For example, when a manager engaged in coaching conversations that elicited specific feedback from each of her direct reports, she received the bonus as a reward.

End Result/Solution: Senior leaders bought into the coaching process and ensured that the assessments, training, action plans, and rewards were implemented throughout the organization.