Plan for Addressing a Key Employee Behavior - Term Paper Example

?Coaching Plan for Addressing a Key Employee Behaviour Introduction Most employees particularly the managers fail to realize the reasons behind theiremployees’ underperformance and think that they can resolve the issue by firing such employees. However, the cost of substituting human resource ends up being high thus, managers are advised to adopt other options such as coaching to locate the actual problem and solve it. Opting to fire unproductive employee results in losses since other employees are forced to cover up for him or her while awaiting replacement, the cost of searching and hiring new employees is also high and training new employees adds to the cost. The firing process also results in wastage of the manager’s time. In addition, it is never obvious that the new employee will turn out to be more productive and thus the manager might have to go through the same expensive process severally before obtaining a productive workforce. On the other hand, coaching enables a company to utilize the resources for its betterment since the productivity of the employee is increased without having to undergo costs of hiring and training new employees. In most instances, the employees only require minimal coaching to realize their faults or weaknesses. Adopting the option of coaching employees other than firing also increases the job satisfaction and loyalty of employees towards the employer. There are several coaching strategies, but they all aim at improving the performance of employee both qualitatively and quantitatively hence overall organization success (Emerson and Loehr 5-10). This paper is a case study of Joan, an employee in research institute, who has a problem with her productivity but is adamant about her performance. She does not appear to be well organized and constantly misses meeting deadlines. The paper seeks to establish a five step coaching process that can be used to assist Joan improve her performance. Joan is a research assistant in a medical research institute and has been working with the institute for the last one year. Joan was employed immediately after graduating and received minimal training since she was academically qualified. She also had some experience in medical research as she had attended a three months attachment in a different medical research institute during her college training. Her roles include visiting hospitals to collect samples for laboratory tests, recording the results, and writing the reports on the research experiments. Some reports are required for publishing thus strict deadlines are occasionally set. From the start, Joan has never been prompt enough in forwarding the reports, which has resulted in delaying the publishing process hence lowering the overall performance of the institute. Another problem is that her reports are disorganized at times such that the chief technician has to correct several errors before publishing. The chief technician realized Joan’s problem and wanted her sacked by the management. However, the manager felt that the poor performance was because Joan was new in the company and thus suggested they give her some time to get oriented after which they would asses her productivity. Seven month later, Joan’s performance improved slightly but she was still disorganized and failed to meet deadlines quite often, which worried the manager. At one time, the manager had moved her to a different position but he noticed she disliked the position, seemed unsatisfied and her performance had not changed. The manager realized that sacking Joan would not be the appropriate solution since he has used this strategy severally while attempting to replace underperforming employees, but he keeps encountering the same problem or a different problem with new employees. The Manager thus decided to try a different approach of coaching which had been suggested to him some time back but he had ignored it thinking it was time consuming and expensive. When he first requested Joan to see him, she gladly accepted. However, when the manager told her of his observation, Joan stubbornly refused to accept that there was any problem in her performance and even tried to insinuate that if there was any problem, it was created by her immediate supervisor who did not like her. After the manager pestered her, she acknowledged minimal delays in completion of her reports but insisted that it was due to the irrelevant details she was required to provide in some reports. However, she completely refused to admit that she was in any way to blame for the delays. In resolving such a case, the manager must make Joan admit her inadequate performance through coaching and come up with possible solutions that can benefit both the institute as well as Joan. In the appendix, I have provided a coaching analysis chart on how the manager can use to identify and deal with the causes of Joan’s underperformance. A five step coaching strategy suggested by Fournies (67) for improving work performance can be followed and entails making Joan admit presence of the problem after which a solution can be obtained. Throughout the coaching process, the manager should actively involve Joan since she is the one who understands the problem better (Emerson and Loehr 85; Fournies 67, 107-110). The first and very vital step is getting Joan to accept that a problem exists and is leading to her underperformance. This step determines the significance of the coaching discussion. The manager can help her realize this by providing any evidence of delays or disorganization, which will prompt Joan admit her inefficiency. Secondly, the manager together with Joan should examine the alternative solutions. The manager can leave Joan to reflect on the most suitable of the available solutions. (Emerson and Loehr 17-20; Fournies 154). A summary of the coaching steps (Consulting Potentia Web). Thirdly, the manager and Joan should mutually agree on the most appropriate action in resolving the problem. In this step the manager should allow Joan choosing the appropriate action since employees are more likely to acclimatize their own suggestions as opposed to those made by others. Joan should also state the approprite time to start implementing the changes (Fournies 155; Coe, Zehnder and Kinlaw 4-5). The fourth step entails follow up by the manager on Joans perfomance to measure the results and thus etablish the effectiveness of the coaching. The manager should set a follow up meeting to ensure Joan applies the proposed changes. During such meeting the manager should establish way to eliminate any other contributing obstacles or any recommended changes (Fournies 155). The fifth step requires the manager to highlight and acknowledge any achievements by Joan. Recognizing and rewarding any improvements will motivate her to improve more on her perfomance. If the coaching appears to yield no significant results, another coaching discussion entailing the second to fifth step can be done (Emerson and Loehr 141; Fournies 156). Coaching should be a continous process for improved perfomance. A nine week coaching strategy that employers can apply for continous employee coaching (Integrity Solutions Web). Conclusion Coaching helps improve employees perfomance and it is thus important that managers be equipped with the appropriate coaching strategies. Coaching involves making the employee admit the problem in her perfomance, coming up with posible solution, deciding on how to apply the solution, doing follow up to attest the suitability of the coaching and rewarding the employee for any improvements in perfomance. Face to face coaching approach helps employees start directing their efforts towards improved perfomance hence the success of both employee and organization Works Cited Coe, Cindy, Amy Zehnder and Dennis Kinlaw. Coaching for Commitment: Coaching Skills Inventory (Csi) Observer. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2007. Print. Consulting Potentia. Coaching for Performance Improvement. 2004. Web. 7 June 2012. Emerson, Brian and Ann Loehr. A Manager's Guide to Coaching: Simple and Effective Ways to Get the Best Out of Your Employees. New York: AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn, 2008. Print Fournies, Ferdinand. Coaching for Improved Work Performance. New York: McGraw Hill, 1999. Print Integrity Solutions. Managing Goal Achievement. 2012.Web. 7th June 2012 . Appendix; a Coaching Analysis the Manager Can Use to identify and Resolve Joan’s Problems Identify Joan’s behaviour incongruity and establish the effects of such behaviour. Ў Yes Does she know her performance is inadequate? No > Give her your views. Ў Yes Does Joan understand her roles appropriately? No > Inform her or even train her. Ў Yes Does she know the significance of her duties? No > Advise her. Ў Yes Are there hindrances beyond her control? Yes > Get rid of such obstacles. Ў Yes Does she think coaching will not resolve her problem? Yes > Convince her. Ў Yes Does she believe something else is more important than her duties? Yes > Clarify on the priorities. Ў Yes Are there rewards she gets for excellent or appropriate performance? No > Offer positive fortification. Ў Yes Are there negative consequences for her performing properly? Yes > Eliminate unenthusiastic consequences or balance with optimistic ones. Ў Yes Are there potential negative consequences if she performs suitably? Yes > Correct her perception. Ў Yes Are there positive consequences for her inappropriate performance? Yes > Alter such consequences. Ў Yes Has she been performing inappropriately with no negative consequences? Yes > Convey negative consequences for unsuitable performance. Ў Yes Are there any personal problems contributing to her under productivity? Yes > Make her working environment accommodative to the problem or resolve it. Ў Yes Can Joan perform better than she is doing? No > Transfer, demote, or terminate her services? Ў Yes Employ the coaching dialogue to change her behavior preferences. Read More