According to a study, over 80% of all managers state that they use coaching as a leadership style. But as targeted as personal meetings with your employees are – they cost an enormous amount of time. With the help of an online course, coaching becomes maximally efficient. However, not every tool is suitable for this. Learn now what you need to pay attention to when using the method of online coaching for employees.
Prerequisites for Coaching Employees
The central goal of any coaching is helping people to help themselves. No wonder managers like to use this method to support their employees in the best possible way. According to a survey by the Hernstein Institute for Management and Leadership (2022), 9 out of 10 managers are of the opinion: The manager of the future is also a coach. In fact, 84% state that they already use a coaching leadership style.
Important: The central difference between a trained coach and a manager is neutrality. This can be an advantage because the manager already has a head start in trust with the employee. In addition, they know their employee better. However, this can be a critical point, especially when it comes to personal issues: Actually, a coach should always remain neutral. Of course, this is not possible for a manager. Therefore, personal issues should be off-limits when employees are being coached by a manager.
Pro tip: To be able to coach employees in the best possible way, bring in an external coach if necessary. In the event of conflicts or personal issues, they can step in as a neutral person of trust.
On the relationship level, there are also some prerequisites for coaching leadership: Trust, voluntariness, openness, and appreciation are fundamental factors for successful coaching.
When is a Good Time for Coaching Leadership?
Coaching is particularly suitable as a leadership method when onboarding new areas of responsibility, for example, during a promotion or transfer. Right at the beginning of induction is theoretically also a good time for coaching employees. However, there is usually not yet sufficient trust on the relationship level at this stage.
Another major advantage of coaching by a manager is the high flexibility in terms of time: Unlike an external coach, as a manager you are usually close to your employees physically and topic-wise. This allows you to respond much more flexibly to challenges at work. At the same time, time is a precious commodity for you as a manager. So how do you manage to coach your employees successfully and still have enough time for other tasks and appointments?
Our Time-Saving Tip: Coach Your Employees via Online Course!
The "blended" method states: Move everything that doesn't absolutely have to happen face-to-face between you and your employee into an online course! Suitable online content in coaching includes, for example:
Short impulses for action
Practical tips, e.g., via screencast
Motivational videos
Quizzes or reflection questions
Shift part of your coaching to an online course: This allows your employees to learn self-directed, and you save a lot of time.
Advantages of Employee Coaching via Online Course
Save time
Let employees learn self-directed
Copy your online course and easily adapt it for new employees
Get an overview of current learning progress at any time
Support your employees in their work in the best possible way
Ideally, you don't coach exclusively through an online course, but make the best possible use of personal meetings: In face-to-face appointments, your employee can speak up, ask questions, and report on successes and challenges. This is how you combine classic coaching situations with online impulses according to the principle of blended learning – and save a lot of time.
Finding the Right Platform for Your Online Coachings
Classic tools for digital training are geared towards people who are full-time trainers or coaches. It can quickly happen that when searching for online tools, you are overwhelmed by hidden functions and technical tricks.
With blink.it, you can design your first online course in just a few minutes. Using the modular principle, you create content such as videos, quizzes, or surveys and easily upload your existing content. The blink.it learning platform is easy to use, even for absolute tech skeptics – both in the admin function and in the participant function.
Conclusion
With these 7 tips, you will succeed in supporting your employees in a coaching manner to help themselves:
Establish a stable basis of trust with the employee.
Find a platform for online coaching that is easy to use from the start.
Create coaching content in the online course.
Use face-to-face situations to focus entirely on your employee.
Flexible adapt online content or copy entire courses.
Regularly get an overview of learning progress.
Bring in an external coach for personal issues.
Start the "Online Coaching" project for your employees now and save a lot of time in the future!
