The challenge for many managers and supervisors is knowing what tools to use in order to get the results they need from their teams and the individuals who comprise them. Do you train? Do you counsel? Do you discipline?
The key questions involved here are, “What do I want as an end output? What bottom line do I need to achieve?”
For example, if your goal is to increase the level of new knowledge, skills or attitude, then training is the remedy you seek.
Generally speaking, there are six methods of addressing needs within a team or even with a single employee. The first set, displayed in Table 1, focus on increasing knowledge and skills within a team environment. The second set, shown in Table 2, outlines traditional methods of working with individuals to improve performance and achieve better results.
Set 1: Teams & Performance
- TRAIN – to instruct in some particular occupation, profession or task; to show, exercise and practice. To teach a specified skill, especially by practice. The objective is (using engaging delivery) to increase participants’ level of knowledge or skill.
- PRESENT – to give an audience information using primarily one-way communication. The objective is to present information in a dynamic, interesting way.
- FACILITATE – working with a group to provide structure and discipline to a discussion. The objective is to manage the structure and focus of a team’s decision-making process.
Set 2: Individuals & Performance
- COACH – to unlock a person’s potential to maximise his or her own performance. It is helping them to learn, rather than teaching by presentation of information.
- COUNSEL – to help an individual, in a non-threatening way, to come to terms with a particular problem. It is more than simply offering help and advice.
- DISCIPLINE – to improve or to attempt to improve the behaviour, orderliness, or standard of an individual by setting training, conditions or rules.
As a leader or manager, your first priority is to get the most out of your team by maximising their potential. This is why you want to address team knowledge, skills and attitude through training, presentation and facilitation before you move onto individual-focused methods of increasing performance.
Once you’re confident that your team has what it needs to do the job or to do the job better, it’s up to them whether or not to use the tools and techniques you’ve provided. If individual members are not performing to team standards, it may be time to move forward to the individual phase by providing coaching, counselling or discipline one-on-one.
However, many managers and leaders simply assume employees have the tools – especially those who hire in ‘experienced’ individuals. This ignores the fact that other companies may have different training, knowledge, skills and results requirements. You must be sure that every member in your team is trained to your own standards if you wish for them to meet your expectations.
Unfortunately, too many managers set sales goals for their employees and leave them to sink or swim on their own. When individuals don’t perform as desired, they jump onto the ‘progressive discipline’ train and are confounded when performance fails to improve and their department achieves ridiculous levels of turnover.
Think about the results you want to achieve BEFORE you decide which method is most appropriate. If you want to improve performance, improve results and improve the bottom line, make sure you have given your team the training it needs to meet your goals.
Laura Thomson – The Skills Doctor
laura@theskillsdoctor.com
www.theskillsdoctor.com/blog
Laura runs The Skills Doctor and Phenomenal Training where she delivers coaching and training to organisations, individuals and trainers
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