• 7 out of 10 leaders and managers see developing people as one of their primary tasks.
• Only 26% of employees say the feedback they get helps them do better at work.
• Only about two in 10 managers intuitively understand how to engage employees, develop their strengths, set clear expectations, and coach their direct reports.
• 80% of people who have received coaching report positive impacts in areas such as work performance, communication skills, productivity, well-being, and business management strategies.
• 65% of employees in a strong coaching culture report that they are “highly engaged.”
• An estimated 80-90% of management and leadership jobs require the ability to coach.
• 94% of employees say they would stay at a company longer if it simply invested in helping them learn. 

The process and discipline of feedback is centuries old- the best way to improve performance is to give feedback on what is not going right. Over the years, this discipline and formal feedback processes have failed to deliver. In my corporate career of 20 years, I have seen performance going down than improving after formal feedback process. At best, it will have a temporary band aid effect on person receiving feedback and in a worst case scenario, for managers, it becomes a way to take out their vendetta, and for the employees, a dreaded exercise of humiliation and self defeat.

The very nature of feedback which is short term, transactional and rooted in past behaviors makes it unpalatable and thus fails to deliver on business results. Is there a better, more sustained, transformational way of improving performance?

Of course -YES…Performance Coaching

Let us first understand what does Performance Coaching mean?

Performance coaching is the process by which you encourage someone to become the best version of themselves at work. In a business context, it’s usually a one-on-one process where an experienced manager coaches his/ her subordinate. They’ll likely have sessions that involve broad conversation and reflection on wider issues. Performance coaching aims to take coachees from competence to mastery. It is about more than just being able to do the job. It’s about doing it with excellence

Performance coaching will take people who are already capable of doing their job and help them turn the dial – going, in the words of Jim Collins, from good to great.

These changes don’t always come instantly, of course, but even a single conversation can give you clarity and a new perspective on something that’s been blocking you for a while, setting you on the path to positive change sooner than you might think. This is why coaching is one of the most powerful tools a leader has to improve performance.