You’ve just finished a major training effort and a major financial investment to improve the skills of your team. Congratulations! Good decision!

You also know that people more easily make behavior changes when they receive positive reinforcement of new ideas, encouragement for their efforts and personal attention. The best tool to provide this support is coaching, and you’re ready to begin.

Sounds simple, right?

Consider though where you start … someone is always first to be coached. Who will you pick for the first coaching session?

Let’s back up a bit for an important reminder. Coaches must have a fundamental belief that coaching reinforces what a person is doing well and then builds upon that base. This might run contrary to our natural instinct. Many well-intentioned coaches fall into the trap of thinking that the best approach to coaching is to begin with employees who “need” it the most. This is indeed a trap! Staff wants to hear about what they are doing well (positive reinforcement) more than hearing about those areas they can improve upon and do better.

Effective coaching increases a person’s level of self-confidence due to the positive reinforcement that is deliberate during the feedback. It is this confidence that then catapults your staff into achieving mastery of the newly introduced behaviors. That being the case, then, everyone on the team needs coaching! Even those employees you would say are your so-called “best performers” benefit from coaching.

Since coaching is founded on the principal of positive reinforcement, it’s a fair statement to say that all staff benefits from it. This is not to deny that you have variable performance results on your team. On the contrary, it is to recognize that you send a message to your team about the coaching process when you select staff for that “first” coaching round. Every action you take as a coach sends a strong message to the frontline about the purpose of the coaching process.

So let’s agree that coaching is intended to be a positive experience that fosters self-confidence. If coaching were viewed this way by the thousands of contact center staff out there, it would be a welcomed activity of all frontline staff. Yet this is not always the case. One reason is the historical negative perception that staff may have of coaching. Some employees feel that coaching happens when they have done something wrong, or they are somehow failing at their work.

A sure way to instill a negative culture around coaching is for coaches to use coaching sessions to “fix” poor performers, “correct” performance issues, deal with “problem behaviors” and never be seen coaching for positive self-development reasons.

If this negative perception of coaching exists, dispelling it is the path to turning around your coaching program from a negative event to a positive process. The responsibility for that turn-around rests with the coach.

First, accept that coaching is a process of self-development that starts by recognizing what people do well; what they do right. Stay focused on the positive aspects and behaviors that an employee exhibits during the coaching session knowing that in time, this serves to lead your staff to better overall performance.

Next, whether you are launching a new coaching program or refining an existing one, when it comes time for the coaching to begin, someone gets selected to be the first person coached. You have an entire staff to coach. Where do you start?

• Here are some tips on whom to choose first along with the benefits of taking that choice:
  Ask someone to volunteer. In most instances the employee who volunteers is confident about their ability to do the job and receives feedback well. Most confident individuals talk openly and are usually at ease, which also puts the coach at ease.
• Approach a staff member who traditionally adopts easily to change. This individual can be a strong ally and ambassador to the rest of the team members that coaching is a motivating experience. Also, this sends a strong message to the team that coaching is for everyone and no one is being singled out.
• Approach someone you have good rapport with on your team. Good rapport generally makes for a relaxed atmosphere immediately. Both of you can have some fun while reinforcing the positive aspects of how the calls were handled. Discussions around developmental opportunities are easier due to the mutual trust and respect in the relationship.
• Approach a member of your team who has already mentioned that they are trying out the newly introduced behaviors. This is a great way for the coach to see firsthand how the new behaviors look in action. It is a great way for the coach to learn about the effectiveness of the training efforts and gain valuable experience to take to subsequent coaching sessions.
• One final tip: don’t assume every employee will be equally receptive to the idea of being coached initially. Some may have great discomfort and high anxiety about the process and that will undoubtedly impact their coaching session.

The goal is to have staff that embraces the coaching session. Once the message gets around that the coaching experience is positive and uplifting, everyone will eventually jump on the bandwagon. After the turn-around has taken hold, if there are still some employees who hold a negative perception of coaching, then ask yourself this important question: As a coach, what can I do differently to change that perception?