Operational Assessment

Productivity Improvement Program

Labor Management System

Best Practices

Engineered Labor Standards

Product Intelligence

Time Studies and Work Sampling

Facility Layout

Data Collection and Analysis

Lean and Six Sigma

Management Services

Performance Coaching

Do your associates and managers understand how to be successful in the workplace? Do they understand how success is defined and measured? Performance Coaching is a great way to address these questions.

Performance Coaching is a formal and consistent way to provide feedback and hands-on training for hourly associates. It is an on-going process which helps build and maintain effective employee and supervisor relationships. Performance Coaching is a vital component of a Labor Management System and is utilized to ensure associates understand and learn how to be successful. It is a proven management strategy to develop associate skills and abilities, boost performance, proactively address issues and challenges and be a consistent, positive interaction that helps associates reach their goals by building on their strengths and working on their weaknesses.

Associates are a company’s number one asset and efforts should be made to get the highest level of performance from each associate. Coaching on a continuing and consistent basis is an integral component of a productivity improvement program that encourages managers to work with associates to help them develop the skills they need to be successful and achieve their maximum potential. associates who are coached and well-trained feel valued and are much more likely to be retained, which will result in higher workforce performance and reduced turnover.

Performance Coaching will start your workforce optimization efforts by focusing on your management team. Training supervisors will create win-win situations by teaching the skills they need to coach the associates they manage and emphasize positive behavior. Done effectively, coaching helps build and maintain effective relationships between associates and managers. The real benefit of a labor solution is having managers and Associates work together to drive sustainable productivity and performance gains.

The ancient Chinese proverb “a picture is worth a thousand words” is once again being validated in today’s fast paced world.  With businesses and their associates being pushed to be more productive, management is continually seeking ways to do more with less. One way to accomplish this is by taking a “snapshot” of associates, analyzing what is going on, and then make improvements. This simple but important procedure of watching someone do their job is considered an “observation.”

The observation process is an integral part of a Performance Coaching Program, which is defined as a formal and consistent way to provide focused, one-on-one feedback and hands-on training for associates.

1. Use the Observation Process: Many diverse industries from education and medicine to manufacturing and distribution are successfully using the observation process, in conjunction with a Performance Coaching Program, to improve their productivity.
2. Really Listen: Most people would say this sounds very basic and understated. All you do is watch someone, but there is a real art and value to this process. How many of us really “listen” when someone talks to us?  Can we remember to just keep quiet and take in everything that is being said? Watching someone do their job is just like listening to them. It is the process of standing back and really seeing what is going on.
3. Gain Trust: For most people, watching someone is an uncomfortable process. Hourly associates can easily get the impression you are “spying” on them to fire them. Nothing is further from the truth. After just a few well conducted observation and coaching sessions, associates begin to realize that the observer/coach is there to watch, listen and help. In fact, the goal of a Performance Coaching Program is two-fold:

• First, to improve productivity, quality and safety on an individual level.
• Second, to identify area-wide opportunities that impact entire operational groups.

4. Conduct the Coaching Session: Immediately following the observation, a coaching session should be held to review the positive aspects of the associate’s performance, the opportunities for improvement that were identified and the steps that can be taken to address those opportunities. Showing an associate a “snapshot” of their performance through an observation and coaching session is a powerful communication tool.
5. Document Results: Most successful programs utilize a written report to accurately record all pertinent data. An effective Labor Management System would enable the entry of the results and comments for future reference.
6. Initially Focus on Low Performers: The implementation of a Performance Coaching Program will result in an immediate and measurable increase in productivity. This is accomplished by coaching the lower performers to utilize better work methods and improve their productivity and establishing a culture of continuous improvement.
7. Learn from the Process: These powerful tools allow supervisors to learn from the best of their associates and share that data with their lower performers. They also provide an immediate opportunity for the two-way flow of information on safety issues, productivity suggestions, and work concerns, which fosters improved management-associate relations.
8. Conduct Regularly Scheduled Sessions: All associates, both high and low performers, should be observed and coached, with the distinction that low performers are observed more often than high performers.
9. Use Time Effectively: Argent recommends that observations and coaching sessions be conducted one-on-one, and that each observation be conducted for 30 to 60 minutes. Use the time to also look for opportunities, to evaluate methods/practices and validate goals.
10. Implement Best Practices: On a longer-term basis, significant productivity gains will come from developing, implementing and teaching the Best Practices learned from detailed observations.

An effective Performance Coaching Program provides the ability to effectively communicate with associates, which is the key to anticipating and reacting to changes in today’s fast-paced, competitive business environment.