How can we give an employee a vision of what he can accomplish or help to accomplish simply by improving his performance? Continue on this stream toward a great result. Once you have given your employees the chance to see the vision that you have seen and given them a sense of importance concerning their own performance, you are ready to expose any concerns.



Exposing concerns is an absolutely necessary step, without it your session of coaching will be easily consumed and lost in the chaos of the workplace immediately after. This must be done in an eloquent manner. It is much like dealing with an iceberg. Sometimes only the tip of the concern is in view, but beneath the surface you will find a giant issue and doubt. You as an employer can help your employees to express their concerns to you by appearing to welcome their opinions.

You must always be willing to listen to their opinions. Doing so allows them the chance to fully discover why they may disagree with your recommendation. It won't help anyone if these doubts and concerns remain hidden under the surface. They will create reluctance and laziness further down the road.

Resolve their concerns the best you can. Think of something you can do with them to help them to resolve their concern. More than likely a concern can be dissolved by simply clarifying a bit of information, but there are times when the only way to resolve the concern is by some sort of hands on activity. Remember that there is no way around this step. You will regret it in the future if you attempt to cover it up.

After ensuring that whatever improvements you have suggested are understood, feel free to demonstrate for your employee, or give him proof that it is possible. You may want to show him your own experience to give him added confidence in you as a mentor. Only after this should you commit him to improvement.

Commitments can be funny things. The question can so indirect that the employee blows it away as a snowflake, or it can be overly direct and blunt to the point where the employee will become defensive. Gage your commitment based on the employee's attitude and previous reaction to commitments. Do not, however, accept anything less than a "yes". Get the close. Make sure you and the employee both leave the session with the understanding that an agreement for improvement has been made.

When you are wrapping up, let the employee express his plans for putting his commitment into practice. This will solidify the efforts in his mind and give him his first plan for how he will improve.