Coaching Style In Performance Management

Performance management systems are not as effective when employees are not given the necessary tools, skills, and help needed to attain their goals (Hicks & McCraken, 2011). In essence, coaching is defined as a method of “directing, motivating, and rewarding employee behavior” (Aguinis, 2013, p.227). It is a daily job that entails observing performance, praising good work, and aids to improve performance that is not meeting normal practices or expectations. Consequently, there are four primary coaching styles: driver, persuader, amiable, and analyzer (Aguinis, 2013). Effective coaching should be viewed as a learning opportunity and a chance to set clear goals and assign actions. Furthermore, coaching is a collaborative course

Whereas, coaching is an ongoing method in which the employee’s direct report instructs, motivates, and rewards employee performance. Needless to say, a manager’s personality and behavioral preference aids in determining their coaching style. Many managers prefer to be drivers and dictate what they desire them to do (dkdk). These types of managers are considered to be aggressive, speak quickly, and firmly. Often times, they talk about tasks and facts, not very expressive, and engage very little with their employees regarding discussion outside of work (dkdk). For example, when training an employee as a Private Branch Exchange (PBX) operator, a driver coaching style would be to instruct the employee exactly what needs to be said when answering the phone. Another coaching style is a persuader, in which the manager attempts to sell the desired behavior wanted by the employee (dkdk). Basically, a persuader (manager) would make an effort to explain to the employee why it would be favorable for the organization, as well as for the employee themselves to talk to a customer in a particular way. Similar to the driver, the persuader are also aggressive but they opt to utilize body language, talk more about employees and relationships, and expose others to a broad range of personal feelings (Aguinis,

Associate at Jefferies, Smith, and West, accounting firm in Los Angeles, California (Aguinis, 2013). Nevertheless, the first challenge Alex has to resolve is one of her Jr. Associates, whose name is James. Alex has worked with James in the past but she has noticed that he is not as engaged, lacks organization and discipline. Therefore, when reviewing the four coaching styles, the persuader and amiable coaching approach would appear to be the most beneficial for Alex to utilize. In fact, the amiable approach would factor in Alex’s past experience with working with James. Alex had the opportunity to work with James on two different projects. However, when Alex worked with James the first time, James was very competent and excelled as a team member. Nevertheless, with the second team audit, she noticed that James was quite opposite and appeared to be bored with his