Facilities Check List
Practical, step-by-step guides for the busy FM
August 2000
How Team Leaders Use Effective Coaching Skills
Coaching is a big part of what team leaders do. That’s why in his book Team-Based Organizations, James Shonk says that leading self-managing teams is a lot like coaching a ball team. It involves assessing the team’s skills and helping the team use them to the fullest. Employees tend to contribute more effectively when they are coached to make optimal use of all their strengths and resources.
What is required to coach employees? Experts list the following guidelines, which can be useful to supervisors.
- Know your people. Assess each employee’s skills so you can help team members use them to the fullest.
- Coach, don’t tell. Remember: your role as coach is to help your employees develop their own knowledge, abilities, and skills in defining, analyzing, and solving problems. If you tell them what to do, they will not develop this independence.
- Give emotional support. Ensure that a supportive environment exists in which employees believe they have the emotional backing they need to succeed.
- Provide specific feedback. Being supportive does not mean approving everything employees do. You should explain what and why improvements are required from your point of view.
- Use Socratic coaching. This means you should ask questions that will lead your employees to find the answers for themselves. (For example, “What is the problem you want to solve?” or “How will you know when you have solved it?”)
- Communicate that you have high expectations. The best coaches communicate the fact that they have high expectations for the team and its members.
This installment of FM Check List is adapted from BOMI Institute’s Administration course, (www.bomi-edu.org/12121.html), a required course in BOMI Institute’s Systems Maintenance Administrator (SMA) program.
