3 Benefits of a Coaching Conversation

Now and then we engage and participate in a coaching conversation. But what is a coaching conversation? A coaching conversation is a conversation between you and an employee that involves committed listening, paraphrasing, asking powerful questions, and providing reflective feedback. It is a conversation that is less intense than a coaching session and appears to be beneficial both for the observer and the employee being observed.

Coaching is essential for every organisation. It keeps employees at the top of their game. Companies invest highly in evaluation, observation and constant planning carried out for staged implementation to gather definitive data in further assessing information and behaviour at work. These companies aim to achieve optimum performance from every employee to meet, if not exceed the company’s goals and vision in the industry.

Coaching conversations allow employees to have coaching in a more relaxed more informal situation where the employee gets to provide input as candidly as possible. This allows the coaching conversation to be the most effective in getting results.

Coaching conversations give benefits that are seen to be quite helpful in strengthening relationships in the workplace, increased engagement, and improved performance. All these make interactions in the company to be most effective and produce a better working culture amongst the employees in the company.

Benefits of a Coaching Conversation:

1. Stronger Relationships

Coaching conversations between employees tend to allow information to be drawn from the coached more informally. Tension is not present. Simply carrying out a conversation amongst colleagues. Questions are paraphrased positively by providing feedback for a good job or a good strategy or technique, and observation is achieved by providing insight on the situation and the methodology used. This conversation leads to evaluation, further observation, and revision of processes and implementation without compromising employee relationships. It strengthens the working relationship and makes the employee being coached aware that efforts of improving or mastering the craft are being acknowledged and looked into.

2. Increased Engagement / Participation

Coaching sessions are formal and tend to bring out more tension in the air. With coaching conversations, the formality is set aside, conversations are still professional and fruitful, however, the tension is not present. It is more immediate – being that it is not scheduled. What happens is, observation takes place and then impromptu feedback is provided, and at the same time, thorough and careful questioning takes place. With this atmosphere, the information gathered is fresh and is currently at work. Assessment of effectivity is then quick and recommendations are faster.

3. Improved Performance

An employee being coached regularly has always been proved to be most effective in carrying out what works and adapting to changes brought about by the evaluation coaching brings. Coaching conversations are more frequent and, as mentioned, less formal. The atmosphere is more relaxed. The employee gets to be more natural in providing input in conversations and the coach gets fresh information and has the opportunity to come up with a more detailed evaluation and recommendations. This helps the organisation in collectively assessing employee performance and its repercussion to the job or position. Every single conversation aims to find out what works and what does not – without the stress of being observed or evaluated.

Coaching conversations bring out the information needed for an employee to be evaluated based on the strategy, technique, and methodology used. Starts by providing honest feedback that gives the employee the acknowledgment and assessment needed based on the current task observed. Questions are answered freely by sharing information that may or may not be useful to the company but bring out what works. All this information is beneficial to the coach and the employee being coached and the company.

For more ways on how to initiate a coaching conversation, feel free to contact me, Carrie Benedet.