Manager Coaching Skills: Development and Application

The concept of “manager as coach” is increasingly popular in the management literature as a mechanism for improving employee involvement and performance. This paper summarizes a study to evaluate the effectiveness of a “coaching skills” program for sales managers. The program began with a five–day coaching skills course and was followed by on–the–job activities that called for application of the coaching skills covered in the course. The study used telephone interviews with managers' subordinates to collect data regarding managers' coaching effectiveness prior to the program. Follow–up interviews were conducted three months later. The interviews focused on the eight coaching behaviors identified by Schelling (1991). Quantitative analyses showed statistically significant increases on the follow–up ratings on five of the eight coaching behaviors. Further analysis revealed that subordinates who had not worked with their supervisors long tended to give lower ratings. Additionally, those managers with fewer subordinates often received higher scores on the eight coaching behaviors.