The four-step coaching process includes several steps that include measuring organizational performance, establishing an education and training process, implementing acquired skills, and monitoring performance after training. The growth of coaching, the growth of people, the growth of results and the growth of sales: this is what our clients are looking for when they embark on a process to improve coaching in their company. Their growth is also of the utmost importance to us, so measurement is the first essential step in our four-step coaching process. Most of the time, our clients' organizations haven't even evaluated coaching before, so they have no idea if it's taking place or how well team members are receiving it.
Having this information gives them clarity about their current effectiveness as a coach and how they should improve. Education and training, the second step in the growth coaching process, are a crucial component of a coach's growth process. Unfortunately, too many companies view education and training as independent events that, on their own, provide what is needed to generate behavioral change and growth results. However, often, despite what you learn at an educational event, that knowledge is not applied or implemented the change.
It's easy to say, “Move forward and execute,” but by default, most coaches return to their old habits and behaviors. The best way to combat this trend is to create a collaborative implementation environment that is based on bringing together people who are trying to improve their behavior as a coach. We refer to these meetings as implementation meetings. These meetings focus on the continuous exchange of best training practices and on open debate about the challenges that need to be overcome.
Implementation meetings give coaches the chance to collaborate with each other on what works and what doesn't. They also create responsibility when implementing training activities, as trainers find it difficult to participate if they haven't done the work. In addition, they reinforce the importance of the coaching process. Unfortunately, too many companies have a reputation for starting something and not delivering on it.
Without a continuous approach, coaches can adopt a “wait, this too will pass” attitude. Analyzing this type of information about coaches not only allows a story to emerge, but it also solves a long-standing mystery about improving performance that, until now, has never been understood. That is, organizations would see different levels of performance than teams, but the only data they could examine to explain this difference was that of front-line players. This information may answer the question in some cases, but without measuring the performance of the coaches, there was a huge unknown variable.
This circular model can be easily used in any training environment. It can also be said that this pattern can flow in both directions. The most important thing is that it is a model without a clear beginning or end and is by no means linear. This four-step process includes objectives, planning, instruction, and evaluation.
