Contrasting Performance Management, Job Coaching, and Mentoring [Boston Works] Monday 04/18/05 9:03 PM
Businesses need to reach their goals in order to survive. In order for businesses to reach their goals, employees need to be given corresponding goals that in aggregate reach the business goals.
There are three reasons employees fail to reach their goals:
- They don't know what to do
- They don't know how to do it
- They don't want to do it
These are manager responsibilities, even though the employee is usually held accountable for these failures. It is the manager's responsibility to inform employees of what to do, the expected results, the time frame to accomplish, and how the results will be measured.
Performance management, job coaching and mentoring each deal with a different aspect of employee development.
Performance management deals with results. It is a measurement of how well an employee achieved his agreed upon goals within the expected time frame. For best results, the manager should make sure the employee knows what he is expected to do and understands what the expected results are. The manager should give periodic feedback to the employee to help keep the employee on track.
Job coaching deals with behavior. Behaviors are well defined steps performed in sequence to achieve the desired goal. If the steps are performed correctly and timely, the goal is achieved. If the steps are performed incorrectly or at the wrong time, the goal is not achieved. A job coach will observe and guide the activities an employee performs so that the employee performs them correctly and in a timely manner.
Mentoring addresses and develops the employee's potential. Potential is the level of capability an employee can achieve if he is given the right training, equipment, guidance and motivation. It is not necessarily job specific and may conflict with a manager's goals as the employee becomes more promotable or more valuable in areas other than the manager's domain.
For best results performance management and job coaching should be carried out by an employee's manager or supervisor. Because of the potential conflict of interest, mentoring is probably better left to someone other than the employee's direct supervisor.
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