Becoming a coaching-style manager takes lots of practice and requires a new set of actions and ways of talking with staff members. There are several known techniques that can begin to be practiced immediately. The more of them that are implement, the more the manager is acting like a coach. The more the manager acts like a coach, the better relationship he will be building with the team.

Creating a reputation for retention demands creating a culture of excellence. The best performers strongly dislike working with low performers. They have a low tolerance for mediocre people who are allowed to remain mediocre. Set high standards and expectations. These managers raise the bar for themselves and others, and help staff members achieve positive results. They make expectations clear and hold employees accountable for meeting clinical performance and interpersonal requirements.

Therefore, one of the best strategies to retain the best people is to raise the bar. Make high performance a non-negotiable condition of employment. Let the team know that the organization is committed to becoming a high performer, and that they're going to be asked for their high performance in return. That means everyone remains accountable to committing to and working toward raising the bar. So, how does the organization manage this?

The manager should schedule 10-minute meetings with each team member two to three times a week. Let them know that he's going to be more involved in their work - not through micromanagement, but through setting clear expectations through ambitious goals, deadlines, and guidelines. The team members must be assured that they will be provided with the support and coaching that they need to succeed and that they are going to be held accountable for their performance every step of the way.

Some meetings will involve goal setting for the coming week; others will focus on the assessment of their work; others might include both. The manager should decide the purpose of each meeting and create an agenda to maximize the use of time. Consider the following topics:

1. Brief reminder of performance standards that apply to their accountabilities (Doing the work isn't sufficient; doing the work to higher standards is)

2. Goals, deadlines, and guidelines for the coming week

3. The support, guidance, or resources they'll need to succeed

4. Trouble-shooting before the fact to avoid pitfalls or hurdle obstacles

5. Assessment of the previous week's commitments:

6. Is the team member exceeding expectations in any area? What can you do to reward this?

7. Which team member is not doing well? What can the manager do to resolve this?

8. Overall, what's the manager's ongoing assessment of the employee's performance?

Whatever the purpose of the 10-minute meeting, keep written contemporaneous records for each person. Take some brief notes, including the date and time of every meeting and the goals and deadlines that has been agreed upon. Also note any special requests an employee makes. Finally, note the ongoing assessments of the employee's performance. This will help identify patterns of behavior that are red flags-either for praise and reward or for more formal performance improvement discussions in the future.

Commit to using whatever system works best and make it a non-negotiable management activity. This extra step of keeping records won't only help track each relationship and hold each person accountable, it will also help protect the manager in case of any disputes with employees down the road.