How a Great Coach Can Transform Your Team's Success: You Can Be One Too

A coach can make all the difference. Examples of how coaching can shift the momentum and the success of a team tend to come from sports, but they certainly are not limited to that space. Coaches and the successes they create are everywhere. It is amazing how a single person (or in some examples a group) can work with the same team of people and situations and get entirely different results. Connecting with people and applying the right support for the environment is what is needed to ensure consistently positive results.

Ask any successful coach, and they will likely discuss the process they use to build relationships with their people. They will discuss how they identified certain strengths in team members and then helped them realize how those strengths could be used in new ways to expand their contributions to the entire team. They provide meaningful feedback, ask plenty of questions, and discuss the results that are coming from each interaction – whether that be with a project, process, customer, or some type of game situation on the field.

There is a pattern that can be used to ensure that you successfully build a coaching relationship with your team members as well. Here are the five steps you can take to create a positive coaching experience for your team.

Observe

If you do not have first-hand knowledge of what your team is doing, it will severely limit your ability to coach effectively. You can provide advice, theory, and words of encouragement. But effective coaching will best be served by seeing what your team members look like in action.

Imagine what would happen to a football coach if he tried to provide feedback to his players by only seeing the score of the game. If he wasn’t on the sidelines watching the plays or reviewing replays after the game, he would not have the specifics necessary to provide meaningful insights or feedback.

As a coach, you need to be on the sidelines watching, observing, or have another method that allows you to see first-hand how your team is reacting in different situations. It sounds like it should be a simple exercise—watch your team members in action—yet it can be one of the biggest barriers retail leaders face. How do you find the time? It seems awkward to stand and watch. My team gets nervous when I watch what they are doing. All of these are comments I have heard about barriers to observing for coaching.

Too often, we try to over-formalize the process of both observing and coaching. Watching what your team is doing can be as simple as noticing what is going on around when you are doing other things. Always keep your ears attuned to what is being said. Just the ability to know that an interaction occurred can begin the coaching process.

Discuss

The discussion will vary depending on what you have observed and the situation. If we use the example above where you caught a glimpse of the situation or overheard a portion of the interaction, the discussion may begin by simply asking, “how did that go?” Getting your team members to talk and describe the situation is the first way to effectively begin the coaching process.

When you have more information based on a first-hand observation, you can narrow down the discussion starting point. “I noticed you helping that customer with that product. She looked delighted at the end of the conversation, and she left with several items. Tell me about how you solved her needs.” Not only does this provide some positive reinforcement, but it also allows the team member to continue to celebrate what he accomplished. Even with a positive outcome, you can still ask, “what would you do differently next time?” This opens up the ability for the associate to share other ideas for what he can work on for further success.

Review Results

Results happen. In fact, they happen in every situation. There is always an outcome, and reviewing those with your team members furthers the dialogue and connects their actions and behaviors to those results. It is also important to realize that we cannot always see results on a report later in the day. Seeing a customer smile and thank an associate is a result. It may not end up on a sales report, but through your observation, you know it was positive and will likely have a positive impact on the business at some point. Those moments matter as much as the ones that do put money in the register.

Make time, scheduled or informally, to cover results with your associates. These results are their results, not the store results. Make it about them when you are coaching. Everyone wants to do a good job, and they also would like to know how they are doing. Effective coaching will always be welcome.

Coach

The best coaches do not start by ‘telling’ people something. Effective coaches ask questions. They present possibilities and options. There is less telling and more connecting to what they can choose to do for themselves. Coaching allows you to blend your knowledge and your experiences with the situation or environment at hand. Just telling someone what you think doesn’t allow for them to connect to what they just did. Your experience will enable you to craft your questions in such a way as to guide your team members on their own learning journey. Ultimately, this will prove to be more effective than trying to tell your associate, “next time, do it this way.” Let your team see through the lens of your experience, but in the end they determine how they will be successful.

Repeat

Coaching is not a one and done process. It is ongoing and iterative. Repetition is necessary. Not only will this help your team, it will help you. Practice makes everyone better. The more you coach, the more you will see, and the more comfortable your team will become with you providing that feedback, encouragement, and challenge. Be consistent with your coaching and feedback. As I mentioned before, it doesn’t have to be formal. Informal coaching can happen at any time. If you observe something as you are passing by, you can immediately apply the coaching process. You just observed something. Begin the discussion: “I just saw how you were helping that customer; it looked like it went well, great job. Tell me how your thoughts about how it went.” Cover the results: “He left with a smile on his face, and you handed him two different items. That is what we like to see. Is there something you would do differently next time?” In this case, we not only discussed the result (handed him two items) but began the coaching process as well (what would you do differently). The only thing left to do is to do it again and again.

Few winning teams in sports or business succeed without a coach who builds strong connections to their team. Coaching does not have to be a complicated activity. The best coaching is in the moment, informal, individualized, and positive. As a leader, you are also a coach, and you can create a positive coaching experience and environment every day for your team.

How can you put the five steps above to work for you in your location?

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