Performance Management | How leaders use coaching skills to create lasting change

By Dr Rebecca J Jones Associate Professor in Coaching and Behavioural Change at Henley Business School

How can we support our team members to achieve lasting behaviour change and improve their performance?

The transfer of learning from training is often cited to be woefully low. So, if training cannot achieve lasting behaviour change, what is a viable alternative? We propose that when leaders use coaching skills on a daily basis with their team members, they hold purposeful conversations resulting in greater collaboration, increased awareness and responsibility, higher performance and, ultimately, sustained behaviour change. Leaders as coaches achieve this by adopting a coaching mindset; for example, being open and curious, adopting a non-judgemental attitude (they ask rather than assume) and having a growth mindset (they believe people can learn and change).