Performance coaching at work: make the next action clear
Useful performance coaching connects a specific goal with observed behaviour and an agreed next action. It gives the individual space to reflect while making progress concrete enough to review.
Define the purpose of the conversation
Be clear whether the conversation is about developing a strength, solving a practical obstacle or improving a particular aspect of performance. Avoid mixing an open coaching discussion with an undisclosed decision about the individual.
Agree what a useful outcome would look like. “Build confidence” may be a starting point, but it helps to identify the situation in which confidence matters and what the person wants to do differently.
Start with observations
Bring examples that the individual can examine. A description of what happened in a customer meeting provides a stronger starting point than a label such as “not strategic enough”. Invite the person’s account of the situation and what they were trying to achieve.
Distinguish between what was observed and how it was interpreted. This keeps the conversation focused on evidence and gives both people room to reconsider an assumption.
Explore the conditions around performance
A gap in results is not always a gap in skill. The person may need clearer priorities, information, resources or an opportunity to practise. Ask what is getting in the way before choosing the intervention.
Where a skill is the issue, identify a manageable behaviour to work on. Where the conditions are the issue, agree who can change them.
Agree one practical next step
Choose an action the individual can carry out in a real situation. Decide what support will be available and when the action will be reviewed. The commitment should be specific enough that both people can recognise whether it happened.
Keep notes that are useful for the agreed purpose and handle them according to the organisation’s information practices. Development evidence should not be circulated more widely than necessary.
Review progress against the original goal
At the next conversation, look at the action, the experience of trying it and the evidence of change. Adjust the plan where the first step revealed a different problem.
Phoenix51’s performance coaching is available as a scoped service. Its assessment platform can also provide competency evidence to inform a development discussion, where that fits the organisation’s process.