Repeat after me: Feedback and coaching are not the same thing. Feedback and coaching are NOT the same thing!
Both feedback and coaching are critical components of my management framework, but many well-meaning managers frequently use the terms interchangeably. The intent is good – to change employee behavior in a positive direction.Yet, the techniques of giving feedback and engaging in coaching are completely different.
The basic differentiator is this:
- Feedback is top-down communication that is intended to immediately adjust behavior.
- Coaching is a collaborative, ongoing process that is intended to develop employees over time.
Let’s put it a different way:
- Feedback is a statement. When you offer feedback, positive or negative, you are telling your employees how you expect them to behave.
- Coaching is a conversation. When you coach an employee, you work with them to gain their buy-in into the goal you have in mind, and collaborate with them to help them achieve it.
Let’s look an example. Say that you think it would be beneficial for your direct report to work more collaboratively with individuals across your organization. Perhaps they had tried to initiate a project but hadn’t worked to gain buy-in from key stakeholders and the project suffered as a result.
If you were giving feedback, you might say: “When you don’t involve key stakeholders at the outset of the project, you reduce its likelihood of succeeding by not getting their buy-in up front. I’d like you to do that differently next time.” Period, end of discussion, The employee may try to protest, and it’s certainly OK for them to express their point of view, but you are better off not engaging and reiterating the type of behavior you would like to see next time.
If you were going to coach them, you might set aside some time in your one-on-one meeting and ask them what they could have done differently with the project, guiding them with questions towards the lack of collaboration. When they hit on it, brainstorm with them about how they could have done it differently. Then send them off to execute with another project with a deadline of when you two are going to sit down and assess the results.
See the difference? Feedback in an expectation. Coaching is a collaboration.
One final note: The points discussed in this point are meant for a manager to utilize with their direct reports. Techniques used with peers are different. And don’t try to give feedback to or coach your boss (unless they ask you for it) – it rarely works out the way you’d like it.
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