Empowering Coaching Works

The 4 P's of Empowering Coaching

Empowering coaching begins with praise.

Steve, Branch Manager, for a wholesale plumbing supplier in Bend OR., told Session 8b of Turbo's Leadership Development Lab (LDL):

"We have a team member in our Operations department who is the second in command. When the operations manager is gone, he runs the warehouse. This individual is very reliable and a hard worker. The problem is he doesn't communicate very well. When the operations manager is gone he tends to criticize or complain about his other teammates work, they never seem to be moving fast enough to suit him.

"After witnessing this, I walked with him to a quiet corner in the back of the warehouse so he could continue to vent his frustration privately. After he was through venting I used Step 1-Praise of the 4 P's of empowering coaching. I thanked him for all his hard work and commented on how well he and the team were doing despite being short-handed. I then asked him if I could make a suggestion (Step 2-Permission) about ways to communicate with the rest of the team to make his job easier. He said "Yes". I suggested (Step 3-Performance) that he meet early in the day with the warehouse team for a quick five-minute standup meeting. I also suggested that he outline the day's goals with a reminder that our customers are relying on us. Assign a responsible person to various areas of the warehouse. This way he and the rest of the team will be on the same page and everyone will know the day's goals and the areas they are accountable for. Finally, I suggested that at the end of the day he show some praise to the team and thank them for all their hard work. I looked forward and told him (Step 4-Prediction) that even with the manager being gone the operation would run just as smooth for him as they do for the Ops manager.

"This is still a work in progress with this individual. There has been some improvements in the way he communicates with the rest of the team. The lesson I learned from this experience is the value of The 4 P's Of Empowering Coaching and how easy it can be to use.

"The action I want you to take is don't delay when there are opportunities to coach. Sometimes a quick compliment and a suggestion on how to improve performance may change the way your team does what they do and say to others.

"The benefit you will gain by practicing The 4 P's of Empowering Coaching is it will become easier to tackle the difficult situations that come up, in any business when your responsibilities require that you create and engage a team."

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