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How to 'Coach' the Corporate Athlete

  • Writer: FitPros Workplace Wellbeing
    FitPros Workplace Wellbeing
  • May 31, 2023
  • 4 min read

In The Healthy Workplace, Leigh Stringer a Workplace Strategy expert, discusses techniques companies such as Under Armour use to, inspire Health and Wellness among their employees. One example Stringer finds especially effective, is the verbiage Under Armour uses throughout their workplace. Managers at Under Armour are called "Coaches," and group tasks require, "teamwork from ones teammates." Being an athletic brand, it is essential that Under Armour remains "on brand" internally, and that all they do directly reflects their external messaging. However, it is just as important for companies whom are NOT a Health & Fitness brand, to take notes from the sports community, and implement fitness terms into their day-to-day. Why? Because in doing so, you speak to the subconscious of your employees, letting them know they are supported and 'we are all in this together.'

*Below you will find an article from FitPro Heather Arora, who pulls from her days of being a Division 1 student athlete, to ‘Coach’ the FitPros community on how to effectively work with their employees (aka corporate athletes)*

Coaching 101

Coaching is a key part of your core responsibilities as an effective manager and leader on your teams. And just because you may have coached a high school soccer team does not mean that you are equipped to coach your direct reports in the office. Coaching takes practice and constant checking in with yourself and your coachees. Here are some ways to improve your coaching skills in the work environment.

1. Create a safe environment

In order to coach someone you need them to trust you. If you haven’t had a good rapport with this person in the past, you have some catching up to do. Start learning more about them, asking about their interests outside of work, and looking for commonalities between the two of you that you can see eye-to-eye on.

2. Set up an informal routine

Coaching is about conversations and setting up regular communication with your coachees. This shouldn’t only consist of a formal weekly check-in, although that can help. Find informal ways to connect such as getting coffee together, taking breaks, going for walks, or connecting over happy hour.

3. Align interests to goals & objectives

It is important to guide your coachees in identifying their strengths and genuine interests, when it comes to being successful at their job. The end goal for you is to get them to be highly engaged in delivering great services and products. Learn more about what motivates your coachee at work (new projects, perfecting a new process, visibility from higher ups, etc.). Then offer them opportunities that connect their interests to their core role and responsibilities.

4. Listen and observe

This is the most important part--when you are in conversation with your coachees, you should be doing less than 20% of the talking! Things to keep in mind - avoid multi-tasking, show engaged body language (eye contact, nodding your head, smiling...etc.), try to see it from their perspective, and clear your own objectives. Avoid the temptation to steer the conversation in one direction of the other. Give your coachee full freedom to drive the conversation. If you find they are not talking, try step 5.

5. Ask the HOW and WHAT questions

Your job is to ask open ended questions and get them to solve their own problems and come up with new ideas. Questions such as, “How will you deal with the next client?” “What is your thinking process when you don’t know the answer right away.” “What steps will you take to prepare for this upcoming presentation?” If your coachee says, “I don’t know…” don’t take that as their final word. Ask them, “What would you say if you knew?” or ask them to think of a few options before you put in your two cents.

6. Appreciate good work

A sad statistic: over 60% of employees don’t remember being appreciated for their work. It is not enough to say, “Good job on that presentation!” What a good coach will do is focus on a trait/skill that the coachee implemented and how it helped achieve a better result. For example, “Thank you for your persistence in working with that difficult client. Because of your hard work, you were able to come up with a mutually beneficial solution for our team and the client, and we gained another loyal customer.”

7. Prepare for constructive feedback

Building regular informal conversations into your coaching strategy will pay off when/if you have to provide feedback that is focused on getting someone to improve something. Because your coachee will be used to you providing regular feedback (usually appreciative feedback) the difficult conversations should not seem so hard. Remember that when you provide critical feedback:

State the issue clearly; state the facts; avoid pointing fingers by using "you" statements; provide specific examples; and state your recommendation with specific follow-up steps. If possible, create success metrics with your coachee so that you both will know when the goal is reached

8. Be open to feedback yourself

Have you encouraged your coachee to provide you feedback on your managerial style? If not, give it a try and check yourself. Are you likely to get defensive? Are you able to ask for clarification if something is not clear. What is your body language saying when someone gives you feedback? Can you coach your direct report into becoming an excellent coach as well?

This is just the beginning of developing yourself into an effective coach.

Heather Arora is a seasoned leader with experience scaling businesses, building and managing teams, and operating in various organization development capacities. She was CEO and Founder of Purple Plant, served as Head of People for Carta and is now currently a Strategic People Partner at Learn iT!, running the Learn iT! Forward division. Learn iT! Forward works with companies as an organization development partner, specializing in ongoing professional development training, new manager/leader assimilation programs, management and performance based coaching, and organizational health assessments.

She is also currently earning a PsyD in Organization Development and is a certified Master Practitioner in NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming).


 
 
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