Summer marks the half way point through most organization’s fiscal year. That also means there’s only six months left until end of year employee development plan reviews and evaluations. How are your employees performing? Are they on track to meet their goals?
As a leader in the financial industry, you know the importance of effective management and teaching. If you are responsible for the training within your institution, you are the frontlines of passing compliance knowledge into the hands of tellers, loan officers and others.
Often times coaching to peak performance is confused with (or sometimes replaces) employee development programs. There are several key differences to these two types of training and both have their own key benefits. An effective organization has both employee development programs and initiates frequent coaching conversations with their staff.
Employee Development Program
A key differentiation is that an employee development plan has a long-term focus. These conversations usually happen on a routine, scheduled timing. They include stretch goals and conversations on the next steps in an employee’s career.
While COVID-19 has left most people feeling uncertain, career development still plays a vital role in keeping employees engaged. According to the 2020 Talent Report by Deloitte University Press, the number one reason employees leave an organization is due to the lack of career progress.
An effective employee development plan is used to drive career progress. Coaching, on the other hand, is used to improve current roll skills.
Coaching
Coaching simply put is giving employees real-time feedback in order for them to do their current job better. It’s on-the-job feedback and skills building.
There are two types of coaching: observational coaching and formal coaching. Observational coaching is typically informal and conversational. Observational coaching gives employees real-time feedback in order to do their current job better. It’s on-the-job feedback and skills building.
Formal coaching should be done frequently, typically weekly. It’s a check-in with your employees to ensure weekly goals are being met. If they are not, these formal coaching sessions can be an opportunity to course-correct and see what you can do to assist your employees.
The effectiveness of your coaching is driven by your ability to relate to your employee. Ensure your questions and expectations are clear. Be specific. Feedback should be solution-oriented, concise and clear. The solutions should be jointly created, with input from both manager and employee. During a coaching conversation, be specific about what you want your employee to do.
Coaching doesn’t always happen when there is a behavior that needs to be corrected. These frequent check-ins can be around when an employee goes above and beyond. Offer them specific examples of what they did right. This type of communication will reinforce positive behavior.
Employee feedback doesn’t have to wait for a quarterly review. In fact, feedback given immediately following an event has the greatest impact on their performance. However, there is still a need for scheduled time to discuss, plan and develop a longer term career path for your staff.
Ensure your staff has the compliance and professional training they need in order to meet their personal and professional goals.
LEARN HOW
Why is coaching and employee development important?
COVID-19 has changed just about everything. There is a heightened importance of new skills post-COVID. A new banking environment is on the horizon. Effective coaching and employee development will ensure your staff is ready for what’s coming.
According to a recent study by Gartner, as a result of COVID-19, organizations are redefining critical roles.
As we learned when lobbies closed, institutions were operating with skeleton crews, having the right job titles didn’t matter as much as having the right critical skills. Therefore, use coaching as an opportunity to develop critical skills that multiple their options, not just prepare them for the next role. What kinds of options they are interested in is key to identifying within an employee development plan.
When building employee development plans, focus on the long term critical skills vs critical roles. Encourage and motivate your staff to focus on developing long term skills that multiple their options. Employee development plans should no longer just prepare them for a specific next role.
Training Needed to development critical skills
Once you have determined which skills employees should focus on, either long term or short term, ensure you have access to the training needed in order to develop these critical skills.
As a financial institution it’s key to find a provider that not only offers compliance training, but professional development courses as well. Depending on the employee’s area of interest and current skill set, they may need more than just compliance training. Meet the diverse needs of your staff with custom training programs. Doing so opens new career path possibilities.
3 Tips and Reminders for Effective Coaching and Employee Development Plans
Use facts not feelings.
Address specific examples or instances of behavior and skills. Ensure your tone is professional, yet caring. If you’re frustrated, chose your words wisely, focusing on the facts at hand, rather than how those actions made you feel.
Timing matters.
Timing matters for both coaching and employee development plans. Ensure you schedule and commit to those times for employee reviews. That time is important to employees and should be important to you as well. Give coaching feedback in real-time; communicating with your staff frequently.When delivered well, critical feedback can help correct course.
Ask for their input.
It’s important that employees have a say in their career path. They need to own their development and should have a say in where they want to take their career. Coaching and employee development plan discussions should be two-way. It’s about listening and creating an approach specific to each individual.
As a manager, it’s your responsibility to prepare your staff and organization for the future of the workforce. Developing critical skills, whether through coaching or employee development plans, will be key to the future vitality of your organization.
Next steps:
Ensure your staff has the compliance and professional training they need in order to meet their personal and professional goals. Find out how.
About OnCourse Learning:
At OnCourse Learning, we provide compliance training and professional development education for your entire staff – from the frontline to the boardroom. Through our Learning Management System, your people get educated and certified – and your financial institution can efficiently manage complexity, change and growth.
About OnCourse Learning:
At OnCourse Learning, we provide compliance training and professional development education for your entire staff – from the frontline to the boardroom. Through our Learning Management System, your people get educated and certified – and your financial institution can efficiently manage complexity, change and growth.