Well, not exactly but I did have the privilege of writing about the new movie release Moneyball, as a guest blogger for Talent Management Online. Click over to read about what lessons can and should be taken from Moneyball and applied to the workplace.
‘coaching’ Articles
Workplace Tips from Brad Pitt
Twitter: More than a Social Platform—An Effective (and cool!) tool for building fluency in Pinpointing
Guest Post by John Green
Without fail, one of the most challenging tasks managers and leaders face in building coaching fluency models is developing pinpointing skills. I see it consistently with my new clients during their upfront training sessions, as they struggle with being clear about “what they want”. What they come to learn is that guiding them from the global high-level, often-subjective “feedback” to something that is a bit more specific and objective is probably the most important skill they need to build.
As I check-in with these same clients over the years I consistently hear that “pinpointing is hard” and a skill that they have to continuously work on. It is no surprise that the more they practice the better they get.
As coaching models continue to move to an increasingly virtual environment, this skill becomes even more critical in shaping the behaviors that will have the desired impacts. Effective virtual coaching models should emphasize increasing both the quantity (do more coaching) and the quality (improve the value of your coaching) of their fluency.
By increasing touch points, coaches can increase the quantity of their coaching and therefore, how the skill of clear, objective coaching (pinpoints) influences the quality of these interactions.
For example, many of my clients are using text messaging as an effective tool for increasing touch points. Both coaches and performers like the flexibility and ease of using this technology to “communicate” on critical performance issues.
Twitter takes it a step further to enhance pinpointing skills. Because Twitter has a 140 character limitation per “tweet” it is an excellent tool to shape the pinpointing skill. Here are two real life client examples:
A Pharmaceutical Sales client moved towards a virtual field trip model in lieu of the infrequent and highly formalized traditional Field Visits.
- Pre-call Planning: “What is the one thing you want your physician to do or say today?” (65 characters)
- Post-call debrief: “Tell me one thing you learned today about your physician’s prescribing habits?” (77 characters).
- Touch Point: Who is your most important call today? Can I add any value to your call plan?” (77 characters).
- Pinpoint: “Develop a question that will allow your physician to share her view of your product,” (87 characters).
A Banking/Financial Services client implemented a customer-centric selling model that is a key component to their strategic planning process. Coaches focused on shaping the behaviors that will result in clients perceiving this organization as “different” than other firms vying for their business.
- Touch Point: “What was the next best step for your client identified in your strategy session today?” (87 characters).
- Touch Point: “What was the impact of sending your team the client profile data 2 days prior to the strategy session?” (104 characters).
- Post Call debrief: “What was one thing you learned was important to your client that was not part of your pre-call plan? (101 characters).
Both of these clients have reported that building this tool helps (forces!) them to practice pinpointing. Both the coaches and the performers are becoming increasingly comfortable with this dynamic and appreciate the level of specificity and objectiveness that comes along with it.
The next challenge is to help the performers shape their responses to “fit” the Twitter requirements. (More on this phase in my next posting).
Give this approach a try and let us know how it goes @greenjohnj and @aubreydaniels
Translating Sports Philosophies to Business: A lesson for us all
Just recently I was asked to comment for an article that was published on Mainstreet.com, Famous Sports Wisdom to Use at Work. This was no far stretch for me as I have collected various quotes delivered by coaches and players alike through the years. With the start of MLB a day away, I shamelessly feel the need to share my outtakes that didn’t get published in the piece. There is much we can take from sports coaches, players and executives to use in understanding your business environment. Enjoy.
- Coach K (Duke): “Effective teamwork begins and ends with communication.”
Believe it or not, Coach K is wrong. Effective teamwork in business, as in sports, begins when each player is positively reinforced for helping a teammate be successful.
- Mike Tyson: “It’s nothing personal, but I’m going to kill this guy.”
In the final analysis, in business and in sports everything is personal. If you don’t think so, do something to upset your star performer and watch what happens.
- Yogi Berra: “The future ain’t what it used to be.”
Organizations create the future by the behavior they positively reinforce today. It used to be that only hard work and accomplishments were rewarded but today we tend to reinforce everything that moves. Therefore the future ain’t what it used to be as Yogi correctly asserted.
- Lance Armstrong: “A boo is a lot louder than a cheer. If you have 10 people cheering and one person booing, all you hear is the booing.”
The average person has been punished more for doing something wrong than praised for doing it correctly.
- Bill Veeck (former baseball executive): “It isn’t the high price of stars that is expensive, it’s the high price of mediocrity.”
When pay is based on performance the organization wants you to make a lot. Salaries are a high price to pay when doing just enough to get by will keep you on the payroll.
- Michael Jordan: “Republicans buy sneakers too.”
Stay out of politics. It is bad for business.
- John Wooden: “If you let your emotions take over, you will be outplayed.”
Negative emotions almost always lead to poor decision-making.
- John Wooden: “It takes 10 hands to make a basket.”
As the former Governor of Georgia once said, “If you see a turtle on the fence post, you know he didn’t get there by himself.” In business, as in any team sport, very little is accomplished by an individual acting alone.
- John Wooden (you can tell I think very highly of Coach Wooden): “Think small; work hard; get good.”
Those who accomplish the most got good by working hard on the details.
Now let’s play ball! (Go Braves)
Coaching ROI: Approach is Everything
Coaching, like leadership, is one of the most highly ‘Googled’ terms today. It wasn’t long ago that coaching was perceived as something poor performers received as a last ditch effort to improve before they were shown the door. Nowadays everybody wants a coach. I could have told you this day would come, but I have to admit that reading this recent Forbes article alerted me to the fact that the day is here!
It’s not surprising that the status of those being coached is rising. As this article points out, companies are attaching a return on their coaching investment. What concerns me is a clear lack of approach to coaching. Most organizations don’t know what to look for in a coach or in an approach. To get a true ROI for your coaching investment, the coach must use an approach based on the science of behavior. This type of coaching focuses on the critical things that people must do to be successful and therefore a true ROI can be established.
Behavioral coaching builds fluency in analyzing performance issues and therefore equips the person being coached with the tools they need to objectively define and evaluate their expectations, provide timely feedback, and use positive reinforcement to shape the behaviors needed from others. For organizations investing in coaching, it is to their benefit to take a behavioral approach.
A science-based coaching approach is ideal for organizations that are looking to:
- motivate their workforce
- retain their best performers
- improve teamwork and employee engagement
- reduce variability in how work is done
- clarify performance expectations
- increase performance standards
The result will be employees spending more time doing what it takes to achieve and sustain your business goals.
For more information on a behavioral approach to coaching, check out our Coaching for Improved Business Performance certification workshop.