In order to get the change in behaviour you need from your team members (or child, spouse, partner or friend) you need to guide their thinking.
The key tool you have to guiding their thinking are the words you choose to use, the questions you choose to ask and the conversations you choose to have. Today we’re going to focus on the questions that you choose to ask.
Last week we checked out why you would ask questions to kick butt. This week we’ll examine how you might go about this.
Why would you ask questions to kick butt? Your job as a frontline manager is to manage the behaviour of your team members to ensure they are doing the right things to achieve the results you need. When they’ve done the wrong thing or nothing at all, our inclination can be to tell them. Tell them what they’ve done wrong. Tell them what they haven’t done. And tell them what they need to do differently. However, often there is a better way.
Why is coaching so important? Well, the Sales Executive Council’s research has revealed a strong, positive correlation between coaching effectiveness and (a) the performance of average (or core) performers (as much as 17% improvement), (b) high-performer retention, and (c) high and average performers’ willingness to work harder. Pretty impressive stuff!