To create lasting performance change it is necessary to first understand the positive and negative influence that a person’s personal behaviors has on their execution and what impact these have on their ability to achieve success. Only when we fully understand a person’s behavioral patterns and create positive self-managing coaching strategies, we can assist a person to create lasting performance change.
I have a friend in chennai, who is about 10 years senior to me – a well accomplished practitioner of Neuro-linguistic Programming(NLP) – the latest fad in today’s corporate training world! She runs a performance management firm. Initially, I did wonder the scope of such training but as I came to know more about it, I realize the importance of managing performance through coaching. NLP class rooms are small and the trainer’s effort is to interact personally with each participant!
“Vast majority of employers believe coaching can deliver significant benefits to both individuals and organizations. The majority of employers plan to increase the use of coaching over the next few years, according to a new survey by the Institute of Personnel and Development. Nearly nine out of ten interviewed companies expect their managers and supervisors to deliver ‘performance coaching’ as part of their day-to-day work.”
Many recent studies have shown that technical skills/ Knowledge/IQ only represent at best 20% of the contribution into our performance. The remaining 80% comes from our ability to choose or make a decision, assertiveness, commitment to grow, ability to concentrate, honesty, optimism, persistence, ability to perform well under stress and so on. These traits are commonly called our soft skills or commonly referred to as attitude. Few managers understand just how deeply rooted their own behavior patterns are, let alone how to positively change them in other people. I suggest reading the best-selling book written by Daniel Coleman – ‘Working with Emotional Intelligence’ – to know how EQ super-cedes everything else including IQ to perform better!
In progressive & learning organizations, the importance of Performance coaching is well acknowledged. In companies selling insurance policies – Performance coaching is found to be the most suitable method in ensuring lasting performance among their sales force. Here, teams are small and many – led by ‘unit’ sales managers who act as coaches most of the time. Person to Person interaction plays important role in developing subordinates to perform better. Most of us do this at home as parents – coaching our kids during their formative years but little do we realize that such coaching is becoming significant at the work place too!
(The Author is Director/Proprietor, Rambuna Consultants, specializing in recruitment services, corporate training and new business start ups assistance)
Blog: Rambuna 