Common coaching challenges

- Organizations that deliberately create a coaching climate can reap big benefits, but there are some common challenges. Let's take a look at the top four and discuss some ways to overcome those. The first challenge is time, not having enough of it. Think through your options. What tasks can you offload or delegate to find a few hours a week for formal coaching sessions? Once you have that time set aside, you can be intentional about finding informal coaching moments in all of your casual interactions. Another alternative is to coach those who show a genuine interest in growth and development. If it's not a current practice at your company for leaders to discuss individual development plans with their employees, then offer to do so for those who show an interest. While I can't help you add hours to your day, I can encourage you to shuffle your priorities and remember the extraordinary benefits that coaching can deliver. If you invest your time and energy, it will pay off. The second challenge is a lack of formal training. Some leaders might think that they know how to coach based on their experiences with sports teams, but business coaching is a different thing. Make the commitment to understand and adopt the skills needed for effective coaching. It also helps to follow a proven coaching model as a framework to increase your impact. Practice coaching, ask for honest feedback, and continue refining your skills over time. The third challenge is distraction from competing roles. Leaders have to wear a lot of hats: strategist, manager, visionary, problem solver, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Understandably, your attention gets pulled in many different directions during the course of a day or even an hour. But for coaching to be effective, the employee sitting in front of you needs to feel like you are focused on them, genuinely interested in their progress and invested in their careers. That's the emotional connection that makes coaching so valuable. To create that connection requires discipline on your part to block out the dedicated time and give them your full attention. Be present and fully engaged. Manage whatever emotions are competing for your mental bandwidth. Commit to the process and prove to your team members that you are in it for them. The last challenge is resistance from difficult employees. Sometimes you have team members who just may not be open to the coaching relationship. That's a difficult thing to handle. Theoretically, they should realize this is a great opportunity to accelerate their careers and get ahead. And yet, they don't see it, or they don't care. It's frustrating. But if you're in that situation, here are a few tips to help you move forward. Do your best to maintain a positive attitude. If you go into every coaching session with a defeated attitude before you start, you'll never generate any momentum. Assume you can help and that what you say can make a difference. Try to suspend judgment. Maybe you have a negative impression of the employee or you've heard reports about their questionable behavior through the office grapevine. As a coach, your goal is to prevent indirect feedback from clouding your judgment and the dedication you have to your employees' growth and development. Push yourself to give them the benefit of the doubt. Always assume positive intent. If it's ambitious to find an optimistic slant, at least shoot for neutral. It's your job as a coach to find the best in the person and coax it out, which you can't do effectively if you're viewing them through a negative lens. To take full advantage of coaching within your organization, expect a few challenges and be prepared to overcome them with some smart coping strategies.