When it comes to your team, performance coaching can really help move the needle. Firstly, it taps into the incredible power of each person’s built-in engine to accomplish a goal by helping them identify their “why.” It then moves into addressing the how, what, when and where on an individual level.
Lastly, it identifies and intentionally fills in the skills gap so that each member of your team can achieve the desired outcome. So, if you want to see results, you need to put your coaching hat on. Here are the three keys to unlocking your team’s potential.
1. Motivation coaching
Motivation coaching focuses on improving the efforts of individuals and the team. In this step, setting a vision, goals and objectives are key. Each person on the team has one wildly important goal (WIG) — or in other words, the most important objective that’ll change their lives — and metric to focus on. Each person’s WIG contributes to the overall teams’ goals.
Team members need to understand not only what they want to achieve, but even more importantly, why they want to achieve it. They need to believe their contribution is essential to the greater whole.
They must connect on a visceral level to the feeling they will have when the objectives are met. When their hearts and souls are in alignment with the importance of their performance, you’ll know you’ve tapped into motivation coaching.
2. Consultative coaching
Consultative coaching finds strategies for achieving team goals. The rubber meets the road when you have the strategy, tactics and execution of your team’s plan. The intellect of the mind meets the heart’s drive.
Each person needs a plan to achieve their WIG. They need to know the how, what, when and where of achieving that important goal. The secret to consultative coaching is the idea of individualization.
If you think about sports, everyone on the field is playing the same game, but each position has a different job. How each person completes their job — so they fit into the greater scheme of things — will define your team’s efficiency. Synergy beats out the natural chaos which lives when everyone is doing the same thing.
3. Educational coaching
Educational coaching improves the skills of team members. Celebrate each person’s strengths. Shift their focus on where they excel, and round out the skills they need to be great.
Skill-building needs to be a constant factor within your team. Don’t stop at a simple intellectual transfer of knowledge. Allow for each person to demonstrate their strengths and perhaps teach it to someone else. Dedicate at least a couple of hours a week to skill improvement for everyone in sales on the team.
Do this in small groups. Have them role-play together. Yes, might not like it. But nothing will improve your team’s performance faster than the transparent accountability that role-playing in front of a group will bring. Remember, this is an area the leader should step into first and set an example.
We are all collectively focusing on rebuilding and engaging in the new normal. We have pivoted and restructured. Now, we are looking at boosting our results. Our goal now is to minimize what’s being left on the table in the form of each person’s unused potential — for three reasons.
First, to help each person tap their motivation. Second, to give team members the strategies and tactics they need accomplish their plans. Lastly, to close the gap and build each person’s skill level. As leaders, we win when we help others win. If you want to unlock your team’s potential, add these three keys of performance coaching to your leadership skills.
Chris Pollinger, partner, Berman & Pollinger, LLC is a senior sales and operational executive skilled in strategic leadership, culture building, business planning, sales, marketing, acquisitions, operations, recruiting, and team building.
