How to Transform Your Managers Into Coaches with DISC

With all of the requirements of managers today, there is one more increasingly important skill managers are being asked to possess - the ability to act as a coach. Evidence shows today’s great leaders are also coaches. Consequently, managers are often being asked to play a coaching role to develop internal talent, identify leadership qualities, develop teamwork competencies, and close the soft and hard skills gaps. In fact, according to recent research by Google, the single most important managerial competency that separates highly effective managers from average ones is coaching.

If your company doesn’t yet have a coaching program in place, below are essential tools PeopleKeys DISC certified coaches use to unlock your people's potential and get your managers thinking like coaches. Companies who use people analytics, combined with internal coaching, are discovering great success and filling a much-needed pipeline of qualified leaders according to The Conference Board’s Global Coaching Survey.

Many executives already have a coaching program in place

Coaching today has evolved into a widely recognized and valued practice for business executives. Over half of executives in a study by the American Management Association (AMA) said they have a coaching program in place. Of those that don’t, over a third have plans to begin coaching programs in the future.

Coaching is not just for the c-suite

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) advocates creating a coaching culture, “Historically, organizations used external coaches who focused their efforts on the C-suite or other organizational leaders. However, organizations are realizing that coaching can have a significant impact in developing employees outside its leadership ranks—such as when used with Millennials, who may expect feedback beyond an annual performance review. They also are viewing it as a way to deal with the looming productivity crisis and labor shortage that is expected to continue for the next 10 to 15 years.”

External coaches are being replaced by manager-coaches and peer-coaches

Not every company opts to hire outside professionally credentialed coaches. Instead, companies are finding a better bang for their buck by mobilizing internal coaches and practicing peer-to-peer coaching, giving managers a way to better bond with employees and build internal and team relationships. According to the 2010 Executive Coaching Survey, conducted by the Conference Board, 63% of organizations use some form of internal coaching.

Where does a manager begin the coaching process?

Some companies offer coach training to managers and peers, but the reality is many managers don’t know where to begin. Professional coach organizations like the Growth Coach, begin the coaching process by administering short behavioral surveys as a springboard to discuss personal attributes and goals. For an in-depth insight into human behavior, interaction, and compatibility, many coaches become Certified in DISC Behavioral Analysis to better utilize behavioral data from reports.

Using analytics to achieve coaching objectives

Coaching objectives, broadly speaking, are to increase performance, effectiveness, identify strengths, broaden thinking, and create a goal plan, according to the Center for Creative Leadership.

Coaching tools for managers

Coaches use behavioral analytics tools, much like doctors use X-rays. Before diagnosing a patient, an X-ray provides critical data necessary for a doctor’s diagnostic action plan. Similarly, behavioral analytics show a coach tangible information for action plan development.

Analytics on these behavioral dimensions open a window of understanding for maximizing natural strengths or revealing impediments to performance.

1. Personality Style: How will you know where you want to go, if you don't know where you are? Personality assessment shows coach and coachee a starting point for behaviors or communication styles that provide self-awareness, clarity, and feedback on current vs. desired performance.

2. Team Role Fit: Because today’s flatter organizations focus on team working, a coach can use team role analysis to see gaps between personal work role strengths and current work role obligations. If a current role is not in an area of role strength, perhaps the role needs to change or skills need to be developed to target the role with an eye towards improving fulfillment and performance.

3. Work Values: Inconsistencies in work values can result in lack of motivation and poor performance. Aligning work and personal values at a fundamental level will boost productivity and improve job contentment.

4. Life Passions: These intrinsic drivers are evident in each person, as well as each corporate culture. Identifying life passions and creating opportunities for life passions to sync with professional work will foster a better work-life balance, increasing personal fulfillment and business objectives at once.

Coaching for results

The reason so many companies are adopting coaching practices for their managers, credentialing managers in coaching, and using coaching tools, like DISC behavioral analytics is that coaching has been found to get results, especially with today’s Millennial talent.

Coaching focuses on people helping people; it’s more about asking rather than telling. It’s more centered on maximizing personal strengths rather than achieving a set of impersonal objectives. It’s about partnering with managers around business goals, building trust among colleagues, and being held accountable for goals set.

Ongoing coaching in some companies is replacing the annual review, so it’s important that the coach-coached relationship begins with tangible information, like behavioral analytics, that can provide a foundation for an ongoing relationship.

Contact PeopleKeys to learn more about which behavioral analysis tools are right for you and your business.