Training Manual (cts1)

Current Trends and Challenges Group 3 Angela Foster, Dorian Herceg, Dave Lambert, Jen Smith, and Alex Beeman 5 Pages Included

Coaching Employees and Giving Feedback: Current Trends and Challenges Trends in Coaching Employees Coaching has become commonplace in many organizations and firms within the United States. Often it has become so engrained in business culture that employees expect to be coached (Hunt 58). Some of the current coaching trends include: Technology Technology has shaped the communication methods used in coaching employees. Social-networking sites and online communications have changed the employeeemployer relationship (Garvey 149).  Younger generations of employees seem to adapt well to “virtual” coaching  Older employees may prefer face-to-face interaction.

Centralization Centralization is another trend in coaching. This occurs when one central office or executive position determines the coaching agenda, rather than the employees’ direct managers.  Often the agenda focuses on the importance of a strategic partnership with the organization (Garvey 151).

The buddy system. The buddy system is third trend found in the workplace. It places a new employee with a seasoned employee who helps them learn their new position and feel more confident. Some employers believe that using this system helps the employee become productive faster by making him or her immediately feel part of the team.  When using the buddy system it is important that the “buddy” realizes his or her responsibility to create a positive work environment (Lau 27).

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 The graph above demonstrates the path employees can take when there is not proper coaching involved.

Challenges in Coaching Employees Some of the main coaching challenges include: Generational differences When coaching employees, it is difficult to have one strategy that works for employees of varying ages.  Generational differences are evident in the workplace as younger employees have greater exposure to technology, have more independence and value work-life balance more than predecessors (Sujansky).  Employees often struggle if these differences are not identified and integrated into the coaching strategy.

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Creating personal responsibility Organizations that use centralization to determine the coaching agenda often have challenges creating personal responsibility.  Centralized agendas often focus on broad goals that do not always engage the individual employee (Garvey 58).

Determining if coaching is appropriate Many organizations provide coaching for every employee. One challenge is determining if this is the best form of intervention for the employee.  If the employee has specific challenges or performance problems, coaching for the employee may need to focus on realigning performance (Idaho Division of Human Resources).

Trends in Giving Feedback Giving feedback to employees is an important part of helping them be more productive. Current trends focus on:

Overcoming the feedback form Many organizations limit the ability to give feedback to an employee by using standardized reports.  These forms do not allow for individualized improvements  Some organizations are looking past the form and allowing managers and directors to write their own comments and give feedback through emails or memos (Imperato).

Providing timely feedback Some organizations have learned that yearly feedback is not effective.  These organizations have adopted communication methods that provide feedback that is timely and related to a specific project  This allows for the employee to identify where they can improve while still relevant and make real changes to enhance their performance (Imperato).

Not substituting a raise for feedback

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Organizations have also learned that employees need feedback that is not just in the form of a raise.  A raise is a financial transaction and cannot take the place of a conversation expressing praise or correction  Feedback used in connection with a raise provides a clear message to the employee (Imperato).

Challenges to Giving Feedback Some of the challenges that come with giving feedback to employees include:

Giving a clear message When feedback is given to an employee often the manager does not know how helpful that feedback actually is.  Sometimes there is a disconnect between what managers believe they said and what the employee hears (Imperato)  The best feedback provides a clear and consistent message to the employee (McGill 160).

Not generalizing Making generalized statements when giving feedback is another challenge.  If a manager uses words like “all,” “never,” or “always,” the statement made could be false or place arbitrary limits on the behavior (McGill 160).

Limiting unnecessary advice Giving unnecessary advice is third challenge to giving feedback. Rarely do people not perform well because the lack a specific piece of information.  The best feedback helps the employee better understand the issue, realize how the issue developed and identify actions to be more effective (McGill 160)

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