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Progress! Manager as Coach E-Zine - Issue No. 4/ April 2006

Dear Reader,

Do you have any new staff? Or maybe you are in a new management position to start the year of the dog? Since Chinese New Year has passed recently, this is the most likely time of the year for you to have new team members. So this month's article gives some tips on how to use coaching skills to bring them up to speed quickly and make sure they are successful in their new roles.

Cheers,

Angela Spaxman

Alliance Partner of Progress-U Limited

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Coaching Your New Staff in the First 90 Days

By Angela Spaxman, Business and Career Coach, Director of Spaxman Limited,
Coach Training Expert for Progress-U Ltd.

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"The beginning is the most important part of the work."

-- Plato, Greek Author and Philosopher, (427 BC to 347 BC)

Role transitions are critical times for employees and for organizations. Regardless of the situation into which new staff members arrive, they are faced with the additional challenges and time pressures of quickly learning how to do their new jobs. Collecting and absorbing information about a new job takes time. And the forming of new relationships is often challenging and critical to success. An effective Coach Manager can speed and ease this process.

The First 90 Days , by Michael Watkins, is an excellent book specifically about the increasingly frequent challenge of job changes and how to navigate them to ensure success. Although the book is written for anyone taking up a new leadership role, the advice in the book is also relevant for the supervisors of any new employees, particularly those new staff who have a leadership role. This article explains some of the key strategies in this book as they relate to the Coach Manager's role.

Take the Time You Need

Be sure to set aside some time to spend with your new people. Times of transition are often action-packed as many organizations find themselves short-staffed such that everyone is over-worked by the time the new staff member arrives. So it is tempting to let them work in a flurry with the rest of you, rather than stopping to tell them what is going on.

By nature we humans like to be in action even if it is the wrong action. We say to ourselves " Don't just sit there, do something! " The more stress we are under, the more likely we are to do that. So instead you can remind yourself to " Don't just do something, sit there ! "

It's much more efficient to spend some one-on-one focused time with your new staff early on rather than have to fix misunderstandings, poor habits or mishandled relationships later on.

Focus on Creating Strong Relationships

Inducting your new staff is much more than just telling them what to do. It is the beginning of a trusting, collaborative relationship where you will be guiding and supporting this person to reach organizational goals in alignment with his or her personal strengths and aspirations. Consider it the beginning of the best manager-employee relationship you have ever had.

You can build all aspects of this relationship through the following five conversations.

Tell Them What They Need to Know

Your new employees need a lot of specific information in order to understand how to do their jobs well. What follows is a checklist of the types of conversations that are needed in the first few days and weeks. Initially you will be the one talking most in these conversations as you have a lot to tell them. But make sure you also listen to their responses and check their understanding.

1. Diagnose the situation

In addition to providing all the background information about the new employee's job, give him or her an analysis of the type of situation he or she is facing.   The current situation may fall into one of 4 categories as follows:

•  Start-up -Systems and structures must be created from scratch.

•  Turnaround -Rapid and decisive action is required to pull out of a critical situation

•  Realignment - An established system needs to be adjusted through building on strengths and tearing down what is no longer working.

•  Sustaining Success -A well-established system must be maintained while finding ways to take the business to the next level.

2. Clarify your expectations

Be as specific as you can in relating your expectations to your new team member. Your expectations will include the outcomes that you want to see as well as any expectations you have about the way the work is to be done. While being clear about your process expectations, you can also be open to negotiate in order to allow your new employee to be successful in using his or her own strengths and style.

Take the opportunity to elicit the new employee's expectations to ensure you are in alignment.

3. Discuss your working style

Your style includes things like the format, frequency and level of detail of your communications, your working hours, your moods, your hot buttons and your preferences for their communications with you. Elicit their preferences as well so you know what to expect from them and how to get the best from them.

Understand Their Needs and Negotiate Support

As the new team member gets familiar with you and the work requirements, you can both benefit from some deeper conversations to understand his or her unfolding plans and future needs.

4. Agree on what resources and support will be provided

•  Discuss your new employee's budgets, manpower and level of authority, and be ready to negotiate.

•  You may choose to offer your support for brainstorming and sharing experience while leaving the new leader with the final decisions on issues within his or her control. Be open to understanding what kind of support would most help this person. This is how a true coach works.

•  Finally, you may be asked to provide protection, advocacy or other kinds of political support for ideas and decisions.

By agreeing on all these issues, you form a strong alliance with your new staff.

5. Plan for personal development

In the long run, your new staff members will not remain motivated unless you understand and provide for their development needs. Discuss these plans early in your relationships to leverage on their strengths, weaknesses and ambitions.

Conclusion

If you take the time to properly induct your new staff members, you can quickly build trusting and collaborative relationships which are the catalysts for success in business. Focus on building the relationship through five conversations covering both immediate and longer term needs.

For more information related to Progress-U Leadership Training and Coaching, please click here.

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