Have you ever heard of performance coaching? It is one of the most effective tools for enhance the resources of the individual and make them available to the entire organization.
Italy is a country where small and medium-sized enterprises are the most numerous. This means that these are organizations with a maximum of two hundred and fifty employees, e.g every resource can make a difference. The employee is not one like many, but the individual’s performance actually influences the company objectives. The same goes for managers, who are too often burdened with responsibilities and tasks that go beyond their own skills or predisposition. And this is where the performance coachingas well as the business coaching can make a difference: we use courses of business coaching For train individual skills, with the aim of promoting the development of the entire organization. Therefore, performance coaching enhances human resources and teams with a view to common growth.
With the very high competition on the market, no company can afford to make mistakes. We need to optimize resources, i.e. it is necessary for everyone to be oriented towards the same direction and to have a clear objective. This is why the intervention of a performance coach represents a valuable opportunity.
But before explaining what performance coaching is, it is necessary to focus on true meaning of performancebecause that is precisely where a winning business is defined.
What is meant by company performance?
There definition of performance most pertinent concerns i results obtained following a specific path. So let’s talk about performances, successes, tests and attempts.
These meanings also lend themselves well to company performanceunderstood not only in terms of turnover but with an extremely broader meaning. The ideal is to imagine company performance as a sort of container, in which every aspect contributes to the achievement of company objectives: operations, economic side, employee involvement, consumer satisfaction, innovation capacity.
Therefore, to measure the performance of the company it is necessary to take into account all those dimensions that favor the well-being of a business.
Clearly the financial aspect occupies an important place and it must be defined based on the profitability, cash flow and solvency of the company.
But the meaning of performance must certainly also be compared tocompany operations and its ability to respond to market needs. Dimension in which employee involvement is relevant. In my work, I frequently highlight the concepts of team, team building and employee recognition. Not because we are talking about trendy topics but precisely because the company’s productivity depends on the involvement and motivation of employees.
Making resources and operational processes more efficient allows you to have an operational company, oriented towards offering maximum productivity. Even if the gaze must always be oriented externally to grasp innovations, margins for improvement and growth opportunities, capable of promoting the strengthening company performance.
The role of coaching in work performance
Are you wondering how performance coaching affects organizations and what kind of benefits it can provide?
Thanks to a performance coaching journey improve the performance of the individual and the companysince individual capabilities and skills are enhanced in relation to the characteristics and needs of the organization.
First of all, we work on the physical and mental well-being of the resources. Many people – especially in managerial roles – are subjected to severe stress, which affects work performance and affects their private life. In coaching, the well-being component is never neglected but, on the contrary, we try to find a right balance between work and personal needs.
Don’t think that constantly putting resources under pressure can improve the company’s performance. Indeed, stress worsens individual performance, burdens team work and damages the balance of the organization.
By treating employees or managers as valuable resources, group dynamics improve and are created highly efficient work teams. As part of improving work performance, the performance coach teaches new communication methodologies and encourages the development of empathetic and effective communication.
This approach proves valuable in every area of the company but is mainly at a managerial level and in sales, where it is necessary to relate to others – colleagues or customers – in a positive way. Equally important is the development andrefinement of leadership skillsunderstood as the ability to inspire, motivate and lead teams towards established objectives.
Performance coaching trains i coachee to seize opportunities and welcome changes and innovations in a positive way. By doing so, a disease spreads throughout the company favorable approach to challenges and opportunities.
The performance coach works so that the objectives are clear and shared at every level but, above all, helps to define the winning strategies to achieve them.
The figure of the Performance Coach
Currently available in various areas, coaching is a discipline that comes from the sporting field, where the coach is the coach. The figure of the coach began to spread in the Seventies with the aim of motivating athletes to achieve results.
Over time, the concept of coaching has expanded and found a lot of space within companies. The main purpose of the coaching path is to bring out a person’s strengths and use them to achieve well-defined objectives.
Continuous innovation, the speed with which the market changes and the need to redefine more fluid professional roles have highlighted the need for support for employees and managers.
Who has never felt demotivated, lacking in skills or with unclear goals?
In fact, change destabilizes and can have a devastating impact on companies, unless there is a defined and shared road map. Business coaching and performance coaching were born with the prospect of redefining the organization’s objectives and steering every single resource towards the same direction: the company well-being.
The architect of this change is the performance coacha professional specialized in creating effective relationships within the work team. In particular, the performance coach starts from the analysis of the current skills of each individual figure and works on the development of individual potential. The performance coaching path, therefore, is aimed at the individual but with the aim of promoting the growth of the entire business.
And the Business Coach?
Although the two types of coaching are often confused, there is a subtle one difference between business coaching and performance coaching. The business coach is a figure who provides invaluable support when facing choices relating to the organization and one’s business. He has in-depth skills in company management, gained both in the field and during a specific course of study.
The performance coach offers a more targeted help to the persontowards which it acts as a support and guide. He does not work exclusively in the corporate environment like the business coach but extends his field of work beyond the confines of the company.
When should you turn to a business coach?
The business coach it is of great help in resolving complex situations that concern the company in general (crises, innovations, production difficulties, strategic choices). A figure of this kind has technical skills that can be of great help in challenging moments for the entrepreneur. Although many times the entrepreneur also has the requirements to achieve a specific objective, he is not always able to do it alone. It’s not a lack of skills, vision or foresight. But often an external figure can have a more valid, rapid or profitable approach than someone who is heavily involved in the process.
The business coach and the performance coach are two strongly connected roles and can work in continuity with each other, preparing the entrepreneur to be successful on both a professional and personal level.
How does a coaching process work?
The coaching path has an extremely practical approach and it is precisely this characteristic that makes it effective from various points of view.
Clearly, for each situation or person (or team) there is a need for a specific path that must be outlined based on the needs and characteristics of the coachee and the organization. However, in broad strokes, coaching follows some fixed steps:
- contracting: where the path is identified;
- development: coaches and coachees work together to achieve results;
- consolidation: we work to root acquired attitudes and internalize them.
In the first phase, the coach meets the coachee and establishes the objectives to be achieved. At the same time, the path to follow and the operational methods to be implemented are defined. The performance coaching path in the company is usually proposed by figures such as the human resources manager or by those who hold managerial roles. The planning of the work to be done, therefore, also involves these people, whose contribution is fundamental.
The central part of the work takes place one-to-one and it is there that the coach trains the coachee with specific methodologies. Generally speaking, coaching sessions involve conversations, during which the coach implements the appropriate techniques to stimulate the coachee to improve his performance.
The last phase matters a lot because it is the one in which all the lessons learned along the way are consolidated. Internalizing different attitudes stimulates a functional approach to challenges and promotes the achievement of short, medium and long-term objectives.
How to improve performance with Performance or Business Coaching
Business coaching and performance coaching are two valuable tools for managers and companies. In both paths, what matters is the achievement of the objectives but each of them works on different spheres. Business coaching is placed on the corporate dimension and pursues the organisation’s objectives. Performance coaching, on the other hand, is aimed at bringing out the strengths of each individual resource. The two disciplines are extremely interconnected because, by enhancing the performance of the individual, the entire organization benefits. And vice versa, that is, when management and stakeholders are aligned on the same path, any resource is able to make a decisive contribution.
Every company needs to act on multiple fronts, especially in a complex market like the current one. For this reason, relying on a coach means enhancing employees and giving yourself the opportunity to optimize the performance not only of individual employees but of the entire organization.