What Is Coaching in the Workplace: Your Guide to Effective Employee Coaching

The need for coaching in the workplace extends down to your bottom line. That’s right, coaching your employees will increase productivity and profits.

But what is coaching in the workplace? Better yet, what is effective coaching in the workplace?

Employees want more than semi-annual or annual reviews. They desire more regular opportunities to receive feedback and grow professionally. The best coaches and coaching programs seek to understand their employees to provide guided and intentional direction consistently.

Don’t you want your employees to feel more connected to and confident in their roles? That’s exactly what happens when there’s a positive coaching culture.

In this article, we’re diving into corporate coaching. Keep reading to gain valuable insight into workplace coaching and how employee coaching software can help make coaching a reality!

What is Coaching in the Workplace?

Coaching is a leadership strategy that addresses workplace objectives and empowers employees to meet those goals.

Workplace coaching can be as formal as a regular, face-to-face meeting between a manager and an employee. Or, it can be more integrated into a leader’s everyday interactions with their employees. Either way, coaching focuses on engaging employees, making them aware of company objectives, and helping them reach those goals independently.

What is the Purpose of Coaching Employees?

Organizations should create and foster a coaching culture because it benefits individual employees, which benefits the entire company.

Effective coaching in the workplace:

• Engages employees
• Decreases employee turnover
• Increases productivity
• Benefits your bottom line

Each one of these benefits build off one another in a positive way. Here’s a more in-depth look at these advantages of coaching in the workplace and how they work together.

1. Engages Employees

Right off the bat, coaching employees is an excellent way to engage them. You could almost use “coaching” and “engaging” interchangeably.

Engaged employees are better for your organization than unengaged ones. A study by Gallup revealed that organizations with highly engaged employees reported:

• 41% lower absenteeism
• 10% higher customer metrics
• 20% more sales
• 21% greater profitability

Wouldn’t you want to see similar results in your teams and from your employees?

Coaching allows you the opportunity to enter in with and engage your employees in a meaningful way. It makes them feel more connected to you and the company, which builds a sense of trust and loyalty.

2. Decreases Employee Turnover

As you engage your employees through coaching, you’ll slowly realize that engaged employees stick around longer.

The same Gallup study mentioned above indicates that engaged employees (coachees) are more likely to stay with their employers. Some organizations reported that they saw 59% less turnover in engaged employees!

Regularly coaching employees shows them that you care about them. It makes them feel necessary and valuable. Employees who feel valued have a greater desire to stay.

3. Increases Productivity

When you coach employees, they’ll feel engaged, satisfied, and less likely to leave for other opportunities. Engaged employees and lower attrition rates lead to increased productivity—both individually and corporately.

Engaging employees gives them direction, purpose, and goals to work towards. As you help them reach their goals, they’ll become more confident and willing to set loftier goals. Goal accomplishment equals greater productivity.

At the same time, employees who stick around for many years become more comfortable and competent in their roles. This increase in employee responsibility allows you to focus energy and resources on building them up instead of looking for, hiring, and training new employees.

Coaching is a powerful tool that engages employees, decreases turnover, and increases overall productivity.

4. Benefits Your Bottom Line

One of the primary purposes of coaching employees is that it benefits your bottom line.

Together, the first three benefits all work up to generating greater revenue and profits for you and your organization:

• Coaching engages employees
• Engaged employees are loyal to your organization
• Loyal employees increase individual and organizational productivity

It sounds simple, and that’s because it is. Companies don’t invest in coaching or leadership development because they don’t think it has a high ROI. However, coaching can be a driving factor behind a healthier bottom line.

But it’s not enough to know the purpose of coaching. You also need to know how to coach effectively.

The Benefits of Employee Coaching Software

Creating and implementing a coaching culture (or revamping an old one) can be challenging and time-consuming. But not if you have the right tools at your disposal!

One of the best ways to introduce and manage workplace coaching is through employee coaching software. Using a learning management system (LMS) like Spoke social LMS allows you to create customized coaching programs and deliver engaging content.

Below are four ways that an online coaching platform empowers you to provide effective coaching in the workplace.

1. Personal Customization

Employee coaching software provides the ability to personalize your program and user experience. It ensures your content is relevant to your employees and consistent with your brand. Coaches can pick and choose content tailored to their coachee’s needs, growth areas, and goals.

2. Continuous Feedback

Constant communication and feedback are essential for effective coaching. With a coaching LMS, coaches and coachees can quickly and seamlessly engage in two-way dialogue for collaborative feedback and goal setting (more about goal setting in the next section). It’s also an excellent way to stay up to date and on the same page throughout the coaching process.

3. Goal-oriented Action Plans

Third, your coachees are unique individuals with specific roles and responsibilities. A coaching platform allows coaches to help coachees develop personalized goals based on opportunity areas. The ability to set customized objectives and action plans drives learner growth and engagement.

4. Progress Tracking and Measurement

Last but not least, it’s always valuable to be able to measure trends, insights, and competency progressions over time. And that’s exactly what modern employee coaching software provides. It allows you to view snapshots of employee profiles, coach-employee interactions, and engagements—all in one place.

The Need for Coaching in the Workplace

Coaching in the workplace involves bringing about awareness of company goals and objectives and empowering employees with the skills, tools, and knowledge they need to reach them. A coaching relationship can be a formal one-on-one meeting or a more general way to interact with employees regularly.

The purpose of coaching employees is four-fold, as it helps:

• Engage employees
• Decrease employee turnover
• Increase productivity
• Benefit your bottom line

And one of the best ways to create and implement a custom employee coaching program is through employee coaching software.

At Unboxed Training & Technology, we understand the need for coaching in the workplace. That’s why we’ve dedicated ourselves to creating a powerful coaching tool and unique coaching programs. Whether you’re looking to jumpstart your organization’s coaching culture or simply re-invent it, we’re here to help. Here are two ways you can begin effectively coaching your employees today:

1. Request a demo of Spoke®—our award-winning social LMS
2. Request a demo of our custom coaching programs

We look forward to helping you engage your employees and grow your bottom line!