Scenario 1: Alan, your technical specialist, has underperformed once again. His report is late, in the wrong format and with insufficient content. Previously, you had told him that his performance was not up to expectations. Obviously, that hadn’t been a good enough intervention.
Scenario 2: Grace, your assistant, has been putting on a long face all week. She’s always been a pretty good worker, but lately you’ve found her more and more difficult to work with. She is reluctant to complete assigned tasks, and her once competent performance has become lackluster.
Definition of the situation
Obviously, you have a performance gap problem (discrepancy between expected and actual performance) at hand. Your management toolkit tells you to use coaching or counseling to rectify the situation. Don’t be too anxious to fix problems. First you have to find out the difference between coaching and counseling.
Coaching and counseling are important management tools that can be applied differently to manage performance gaps. Performance problems can arise not only from lack of skills, but also from attitude or social problems. Coaching addresses gaps in skills; counseling addresses attitudinal or social issues. When faced with a performance problem, the first question to ask is: what is the root cause of this problem, the lack of skill or attitude/social issue?
Understanding Behavioral Style Motivation
Understanding the behavioral dimensions of DiSC will give you additional information on how to manage people with different behavioral tendencies. In DiSC parlance, Alan has an “i” (Influence) style. He is motivated by involvement and recognition from people, but he fears rejection and loss of approval. The telltale signs of his “i” behavior style are as follows:
- enthusiasm, people orientation and outgoing personality
- tendency to spend a lot of time talking and in meetings
- optimistic but difficulty following through and working on details
- concern for maintaining one’s own image than for obtaining concrete results sometimes
The high “i” (influence) Alan, while willing to work, lacks some key skills to work effectively.
On the other hand, Grace has an “S” (Stability) style. Her goals are security and stability, and she fears sudden change and loss of security. Telltale signs of her “S” behavior style are her:
- warm, calm and reliable nature
- avoid confrontation and get involved in a conflict
- resistance to change and new methods sometimes
- Tendencies to postpone things that are unpleasant.
In terms of work, the high “S” (firmness) Grace is capable, but needs disposition.
Selection of a management approach
So when do you train and when do you advise? If your staff is not ABLE to complete a task to your specifications, you probably need to train them. However, if you are NOT WILLING to perform a task for which you have been trained, counseling will be more appropriate. In certain cases, you may have to use both strategies. In the above scenarios, coaching will be more appropriate for Alan, while counseling will be more appropriate for Grace.
Before choosing the right approach, also consider other potential causes of the performance gap. Perhaps the gap exists due to factors beyond the control of the staff. Or maybe you’re not giving enough feedback to your staff.
Development of a management strategy
When the less than satisfactory performance of your staff is due to skill deficiencies, you will need to use a managerial approach, ie coaching. You must train the individual by being positive and corrective with an emphasis on describing, coaching, and teaching behaviors. To handle Alan’s performance gap problem, you’ll need to SHOW him HOW you want the report to be completed by taking the following approach that satisfies the need for his “i” (influence) style:
- Use fast-paced, enthusiastic descriptions to keep him interested
- Avoid overwhelming him by dwelling on details; give you some key details in writing
- Ask for specific feedback to check their understanding of the “how to’s” of the activity
For example, you could give him a sample report and highlight the key areas that need to be included. This focused approach will help you complete the report on time as time is not wasted on unnecessary detail. Then he needs to PRACTICE what was taught and you will need to give him feedback and encourage his progress. These are the basic steps in a coaching session. If necessary, enroll the person in a training program to speed up the skills development process; then support their transfer of skills from the classroom to the workplace.
When the performance gap is due to a lack of will rather than ability, you need to wear a different hat. You should take a supportive approach through counseling. This means encouraging your staff to solve their problem(s) while clarifying your organization’s expectations. Your ability to listen is vital to the success of this strategy. As a counselor, you will be actively engaged not so much in counseling but in listening, since counseling inhibits learning and fosters dependency. In Grace’s situation, because she has a high “S” (firmness) level, she will need to ENSURE her SUPPORT to address her achievement gap using the following approach:
- Use warm and sincere statements that compliment your efforts to maintain stability and build relationships.
- Recognize and reward consistent and predictable performance
- Provide regular opportunities for informal discussion of concerns.
You will focus on getting Grace, for example, to verbalize her thoughts and feelings while constantly summarizing and reflecting on her stories throughout the session. This way, both you and Grace will have the same perception of reality that will help her accept the problem.
Once the cause has been identified, for example, family problem(s), Grace should be guided through the next three steps involved in problem solving: brainstorming solutions, agreeing on a plan of action and implementation of the solution(s). It is essential that you actively participate in developing and implementing your own solutions.
Although coaching and counseling may not be a cure-all for all workplace problems, they can, when used effectively, facilitate the process of real changes occurring in the workplace.