Table of contentsWhy managers fail as coachesMotivation – Theories that we can and cannot useAn alternative to psychotherapyA theory that we can put into practiceAvoiding Communication ProblemA Practical Approach to Management People in BusinessThe Magic of FeedbackCoaching AnalysisCoaching: The Face-to-Face DiscussionThe Requirements for Successfully Eliminating Unsatisfactory Employee PerformanceConclusionBefore Reading Coaching to Improve Work Performance by Ferdinand Provided, I have the preconceived notion that this will be a book about improving management skills. I think it's a good idea for all managers to read this book before moving into a management role. This also seems like a book that managers should continue to look back on whenever they encounter a problem. This book will help individuals become better managers by changing the way they think. It will also help a manager to overcome many problems that he may face. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay Why Managers Fail as Coaches Many managers fail to run an effective face-to-face meeting because they lack proper training. Many managers don't know the truth about what management is. They don't fully understand what they need to do as a manager. Often, when they fail, it's because they haven't received the proper training. “If you don't know what you're doing, you can't teach your employees how to do it, let alone measure whether they're doing it correctly or not” (Fournies, 2000, p. 7). It is important for managers to hand over their tasks to others, so it is very important that they know what they are doing. A manager is evaluated based on the success of his employees. If an employee is in difficulty, they must help them. Managers are paid for what their employees do rather than what they do themselves. A manager needs his employees more than himself. Employees can do the work without the help of a manager, but a manager cannot complete all the work without the help of the employees. It is very important for managers to remember this in order to be successful. When a manager forgets this, he often begins to belittle his employees and speak harshly to them. “The only reason you're there as a manager is to do everything in your power to help them be as successful as you want them to be. . You only succeed when they succeed” (Fournies, 2000, p.12). A manager should never want to see their employees fail. A failure among one of the manager's employees is a failure for the manager. Managers should not use the “I’m only human” excuse. They need to remember that even though they have many employees, each of those employees only has one manager. They should not take their anger out on their employees. Managers must understand that people are a resource. Often, it will cost less to help an employee succeed than to hire a new employee. Motivation – Theories You Can and Can't Use One way to see what motivates an individual is to look at Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. It is also important to realize that needs may change and that individuals' motivation will change as well. Although this is a good technique, it is difficult for a manager to evaluate. Another way to look at motivation is Douglas McGregor's Theory X versus Theory Y model. The defect of this theory is that it is based onreality about what managers think their employees can do rather than what motivates their employees. Another way to examine what motivates employees is to examine what satisfies and dissatisfies them. It's important to remember that just because a manager corrects something that dissatisfies their employees, doesn't mean they are satisfied. It is important to also look at what satisfies them to see what motivates them. Employees like knowing that their manager sees their accomplishments. It is important for managers to congratulate them for their achievements. An alternative to psychotherapy When a manager calls an employee lazy, it is difficult for the manager not to believe him. When an individual has several alternatives, he will choose the one that suits him best, if this one does not work, he will move on to the next one. It is easier for a manager to identify the alternatives rather than their motivations. It is important for a manager to realize that he cannot know the attitudes of his employees at all times. The reason is that sometimes we don't know our attitude. Additionally, it is difficult to understand a person's attitude because many people lie about their attitude. A theory that can be put into practice When an individual changes their behavior, there will be a positive or negative consequence. If there is a positive consequence, the behavior is likely to be repeated. “Any consequence that occurs after an action and increases the frequency of that action is called a positive reinforcer” (Fournies, 2000, p. 69). This is important to know because sometimes positive reinforcers are used even though there should be negative consequences. Negative and positive consequences are perceived by the individual who receives them rather than the individual who initiates the consequence. When a manager always assigns important tasks to a selected person because they always do the job well, it lets other employees know that their mistakes make it less likely that they will be assigned tasks. It's likely that they will continue to make mistakes from time to time, so they won't be given as much work. This is something you have to be careful about as a manager. It is important that a manager can distance himself from his behavior in order to then be able to do the same with his colleagues. (Fournies, 2000, p. 67-82)Avoiding the communication problemIt is very important that a manager knows how to communicate correctly. It is important to know that our mind is reactive. Instead of thinking about what someone is saying, we react before they have finished saying what they are saying. We like to trust people based on their actions. If a manager wants an employee to trust him, he must show him why he should be trusted. Body language and facial expressions say a lot about what is being thought. Although the manager may think he is hiding his body language and facial expressions, it is actually very difficult to do so. A manager must be able to communicate what he thinks through his employees. This will take some practice, but it will make communication much better. Employees will think it's their ideas even if it's the manager who started the idea. The best way for a manager to communicate is not to answer their own questions. When they ask a question, they should be silent and not answer the question themselves. Let the employee answer it. A Practical Approach to Managing People in Business Many problems with employees start with how they are managed. An employee won't know what to do if their manager doesn't tell them what to do or teach them how to do it. “If your employees have the capacity to dosomething and have been trained to do it, but the consequences are not reinforced, you can reasonably expect that the performance will not occur” (Fournies, 2000, p. 97). It is important to have appropriate consequences for each performance. It is important for managers to know why their employees are not completing tasks because they believe they should be completed in order to resolve the problem. (Fournies, 2000, p. 92-100)The magic of feedbackIt is always important for a manager to give feedback. If there is no feedback, the employee may not know whether they did a good or bad job. “About 50% of what appear to be motivation problems in business are actually feedback problems” (Fournies, 2000, p. 103). Even though employees know that what they are doing may not be right, they will often continue to do it because there is no return. Even if a manager thinks performance cannot be managed by a specific task, there is still a way to measure performance. (Fournies, 2000, p. 101-106)Coaching AnalysisAsking employees why they are not improving at work is not a bad thing. This shows them that their mistakes do not go unnoticed. I think the coaching analysis on page 109 is something managers should print out and hang on their wall so they can refer to it whenever they need to. It is important for a manager to understand what is wrong before trying to fix the problem and speaking his mind. It is important for a manager not to assume that one employee is absent more than another. There needs to be proven evidence before you go up to an employee and say that. Before establishing a rule, a manager must ask himself whether it is related to the work to be done. Otherwise, implementing this rule would be a waste of time. When assigning a task to an employee, it is important to ensure that the employee knows what is being asked of them. If they don't know what's being asked of them, they can't produce the quality work the manager wants. Sometimes it's not the employees' fault that they don't know what they're doing. Sometimes during training, the trainer does not know how to teach effectively. To see if the training employees completed worked, it is important to test them on the important parts of the training. If there is something that can go really wrong due to lack of knowledge, test them. When you are trying to change the way an employee does something, it is important that the employee knows that the manager knows what he is doing. It is important to convince them that the manager's method will work, otherwise the manager will take responsibility. Managers may need to tell their employees what is most important at any given time, because sometimes the employee may think it is something else that is most important. Positive reinforcement is important because people like to be praised and rewarded for their hard work.Coaching: The Face-to-Face Discussion“The goal of the face-to-face process is to redirect an employee's behavior to resolve a performance problem” (Fournies, 2000, p.156). A manager should check the coaching analysis before having a face-to-face coaching discussion. The manager must plan the discussion. They need to prepare the location where it will take place, the topic of the discussion and some alternative actions. The first step in managers' discussion is to show the employee that there is a problem and get them to acknowledge that they see there is a problem. This could be difficult because many employees do not view what they are doing as wrong. If the employee does not agree that a problem exists, do not proceed to step 2 because the problem..