Coaching is one of the most critical skills to be mastered by supervisors and manager. Why is coaching so important ? because today’s environment has created more pressure to do more with less. The key to reducing pressure is to make the most of your most valuable resource: people.

The objective of this article is to help managers, supervisors, or co-workers coach employees to overcome barriers or hurdles and improve performance. If you have a sincere desire to develop and support your subordinates and the self-discipline to practice specific strategies, this module offers you creative coaching techniques to use in creating an inspiring working culture.

Coaching takes time, and it involves commitment, patience, persistence and a keen desire to actively participate in employees’ development. Throughout the coaching process, it is important to keep in mind that the main objective is to improve performance. Managers or supervisors should not jump to early conclusions when they identify a specific performance problem. As with any problem-solving process, the first and often the most difficult step is to identify clearly what exactly, precisely and concisely the problem is. (more…)

The secret of success is not in doing your own work, but in recognising the right person to do it.

One of the most crucial and challenging tasks for managers and supervisors is to apportion the work among the employees they manage and supervise. A lot of managers and supervisors frequently complain that they have too much to do and too little time in which to do it. Unchecked, this feeling leads to stress and ineffectiveness. In many cases, executives could greatly reduce their stress by practicing a critical management skill - delegation.

Delegation is the assignment of authority to another person to carry out the specific job-related activities. It allows a subordinate to make decisions; that is, it is a shift of decision-making authority from one organisational level to another lower one.

Delegation should not be confused with participation. In participative decision making, there is a sharing of authority; with delegation, subordinates make decisions on their own. Effective delegation pushes authority down vertically through the ranks of an organisation.

Mastering the art of delegation makes you a professional manager; it is an effective means of developing your employees, and a key to the organizational prosperity.

The inability to delegate has led to the downfall of many executives – from the top-notch managers to the first-line supervisors. Successful businesses, regardless of size, encourage not only their managers and supervisors but also others to master the art of delegation. Historically, delegation has been a vertical process, with managers delegating to subordinates in a clearly defined hierarchical structure. Today’s successful businesses are emphasizing both horizontal and vertical delegation. With the growing emphasis on teamwork, the ability to influence and delegate to others over whom you have no direct control is critical to the team’s success. (more…)