Coaching Skills: A Guide for Supervisors [Paperback]

Robert Lucas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1994 | Series: BUSINESS SKILLS EXPRESS SERIES

Coaching can play a significant role in maximizing employee performance. It can also be instrumental in improving your management performance. Now, with this practical guide, you'll discover the essentials of coaching, including how to do it, when to do it, and why it is necessary in today's business environment. This book also addresses ways to coach employees with special needs, including underachievers, overachievers, and those with disabilities.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

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Product Details

• Paperback: 100 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (June 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786302208
• ISBN-13: 978-0786302208
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,792,308 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robert (Bob) W. Lucas, B.S., M.A., M.A., CPLP

Bob Lucas is a founding Managing Partner for Global Performance Strategies, LLC --- an organization specializing in workplace performance-based training and consulting services and has over three decades of experience in human resources development, management and customer service in a variety of organizational environments. He is also the 2011 President of the Central Florida Chapter of the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD); a position he held in 1995. Bob has lived, traveled and worked in nineteen different countries. His experience gives him a real-world perspective on the application of theory he has studied and used.

In addition to having the top selling customer service textbook in the United States with McGraw-Hill, Bob has written and contributed to thirty-one other books and compilations. For the past seventeen years, he has also shared his knowledge with workplace professionals from organizations such as Walt Disney World, SeaWorld, Martin Marietta, and Wachovia Bank in the Webster University Master of Arts program in Orlando, Florida. In addition, he has provided consulting and training services to numerous major organizations on a variety of workplace learning topics, such as customer service, presentation skills, creative training and management program development, train-the-trainer, interpersonal communication, adult learning, diversity, team building, and employee and organizational development. Bob regularly gives regular presentations to various local and national groups and organizations, such as, ASTD and the International Alliance for Learning.

Listed in the Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in America and Who's Who in the South & Southeast,
Bob is also an avid writer. His publications include:
-Please Every Customer: Delivering Stellar Customer Service across Cultures
-Energize Your Training: Creative Techniques to
Engage Learners
-Customer Service Skills for Success
-Training Workshop Essentials: Designing,
Developing and Delivering Learning Events That
Get Results
-Creative Learning: Activities and Games That
REALLY Engage People
-People Strategies for Trainers: 176 Tips &
Techniques for Dealing with Difficult Classroom
Situations
-The Creative Training Idea Book: Inspired Tips &
Techniques for Engaging and Effective Learning
-The BIG Book of Flip Charts
-How to be a Great Call Center Representative
-Customer Service Skills & Concepts for Success
-Customer Service: Building Successful Skills for the
21st Century
-Job Strategies for New Employees
-Communicating One-to-One: Making the Most of
Interpersonal Relationships
-Coaching Skills: A Guide for Supervisors
-Effective Interpersonal Relationships
-Training Skills for Supervisors
-Customer Service: Skills and Concepts for Business.

Additionally, Bob has been a contributing author for the Annual: Developing Human Resources series by Pfeiffer & Company since 1992 and several compilation works by other publishers. From 1991-2010 he taught a variety of topics at the Masters level at Webster University and several other institutions of higher learning.

Bob has earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Law Enforcement from the University of Maryland, a M.A degree with a focus in Human Resources Development from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, and a second M.A. degree in Management and Leadership from Webster University in Orlando, Florida.

Contact Information:
Bob Lucas
[phone]
[e-mail]
http://www.globalperformancestrategies.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The coaching fundamental skills, June 5, 2000

By 

erick valenzuela (Panama, Panama) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Coaching Skills: A Guide for Supervisors (Paperback)

Supervisory roles are changing to match new market demands, specially organizations that have moved from a mechanistic structure to a team structure. For example roles have changed from a directing, dictating and competing behaviors to a more guiding, participating and cooperating approaches. A supervisor success depends on the ability to work effectively through people. Similarly, employee's abilities to grow personally and expand professionally depend on the encouragement of their supervisors. Coaching is defined by Robert W. Lucas as "a simple process used to develop employees through on going one-on-one communication, where supervisors and employees jointly strive to identify, develop, and reach performance goals". Where effective coaching does not exist or fail to be continuous, then issues such as high turnover, disciplinary and performance problems arise affecting the employee/supervisor relationship and the organization as a whole. By using coaching, you set up a potential win-win environment for yourself and for your employees. The major characteristics of an effective coach are cited: excellent communication/listening skills, technical proficiency, receptivity to feedback, goal orientation and team player mentality. Some of the most common benefits of coaching are a reduction on costs and turnover, improved quality and quantity of work, enhanced employee growth, improved problem-solving ability, increased likelihood that goals will be reached, and enriched transfer of training. When you have any type of change in your organization then you must consider using coaching (For example, a merger, downsizing expansion, or relocation is ocurring within the organization). One of the changes that every organization faces is when a new employee join the team. The initial taks of greeting and orienting new employees are very important for you to delegate, so ensure that general company orientation and specific work-unit related guidance is provided. Another opportunity for coaching is by encouraging employees to strive for more responsibility and potentially replacing you on a temporary or permantent basis. It would help a coach to take vacations, special assignments and even promotions since a qualified association is ready to step into his/her position. The Coaching Process Model (CPM) as a systematic process needed by supervisors when coaching. Eight phases compound this model: 1. Establish Goals 2. Collect Performance Data 3. Analyze Performance 4. Review and Modify Performance Goals as Needed. 5. Identify Developmental Resources 6. Develop an action plan 7. Implement Strategies 8. Evaluate Performance. Most of the above tips deal with communication skills, so a solid on-one communication needs to be present. A two-way communication model is described where a sender, message, reciever and feedbak are key elements. If any of these elements are missing, interpersonal communication can not take place and relationships will break down. Failure to send a clear message , listen carefully or to provide feedback ends the exchange of information. Feedback is given by written correspondence, verbal communication, non-verbal communication and trappings. When using feedback try to ask questions such as Is this the right time to provide this feedbak? Is this the right place? Is this the appropriate person to whom I should give this feedback? What is the best way to communicate my message? Giving and receiving possitive and negative feedback are important to be managed by coaches so everyone in the organization benefits from it. If you use good communication skills then you would develop sound relationships with employees, peers and your own boss. What motivated employees thirty years ago does not always work today. Employees in today's workplace are more independent, better educated, more traveled, and less likely to stay in one job their entire career. That's why a coach needs to identify associates' individual and group "hot buttons" or what inspires them. Once a coach have determined the factors that affect employee performance then can address performance gaps. Your focus should be only on performance-related issues, and you should refer employees' personal problems to human resouces or other qualified sources. Employees fail to perform or meet goals generally for the following; 1. They Won't. They are not motivated or they have a poor attitude (lack of concern for work quality, low initiative, and lack of involvement). 2. They Can't. They lack the ability, outside factors impede them (co-workers, technology, procedures, policies, etc,) or inadequate supervisory guidance. 3. They Don't Know How. Lack of technical or job knowledge. This book also analyzes the dealing with superstars. A superstar can be either very helpful or terribly frustrating, depending on a number of factors. These are employees who exceed deadlines, constantly volunteer for additional assignments, help others, test your coaching abilities, etc. This sounds excellent ah? But if their only purpose is to make themselves look good at the expense of you and their team then you have a problem. If this is happening, then put them in leadership positions (team leaders, coordinators, project managers), expand their job responsabilities, listen them as peer coaches and involve them in decision making...

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great overview of Performance coaching, June 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Coaching Skills: A Guide for Supervisors (Paperback)

The author has provided a really effective, yet easily understood overview of performance coaching. Included are many activities, tips, models and other useful tools to help in coaching employees on the job. This is an excellent resource for self-study or use in a classroom environment.