How to coach and mentor staff with a development plan and coaching routines.

If you’re a young manager or team leader, you’ll soon learn how important it is to develop and coach the people in your team.

Developing the people that work with you and alongside you is not just about classroom training. It’s about listening, coaching, supporting, mentoring and enabling people to be the most successful version of themselves that they can be.

By spending time and investing in coaching as much as possible, your staff will feel more valued and capable which will in turn improve overall business performance as well as staff engagement.

How to

1. Setup routines with individuals in your team to conduct one-on-one coaching.
2. Invite team members to explain to you what areas they think they can improve on in the workplace – listen and let them explain their challenges and let them form their own plans to turn their weaknesses into strengths
3. Use performance reports to understand their strengths and weaknesses and things they can learn more about and practice to improve their skill and knowledge.
4. Allow your staff to be allocated time to learn and practice the areas of their role that they need help with – coaching isn’t about throwing your staff in the deep end, but rather supporting and guiding them.
5. Let your staff build their own performance improvement plans and set goals to help them stay on-track and monitor their own personal development.
6. After a set amount of time (e.g. week/month), meet with your staff again to review their progress and if they’re still struggling, offer alternative ways for them to grow – each person in your team may have different learning styles, so it’s important as a manager to be adaptable in your approach and be supportive at all times.