24 Tips for How to Coach Employees in 2025

Employee coaching develops employees to improve performance, build skills, and achieve professional goals. The process involves getting a coach, who could be a manager, supervisor, or external coach to work with an employee. Coaching helps to identify areas where improvements are needed, set goals, and create action plans to achieve improvement goals. An HBR study revealed that 40% of organizations see better employee retention for those receiving coaching or mentoring, which is 16% higher than those not utilizing mentoring or coaching.

Why is workplace coaching important?

Workplace coaching plays an important role in various stages of the employee lifecycle. It is beneficial to both the employee and the organization. For example, during onboarding, new employees can be paired with a more experienced employee who can teach them about their role and also act as a mentor they can go to when there are challenges. Coaching is also important in employee development, upskilling, and performance improvement.

Here are some reasons workplace coaching is important:

Identify and fill skill gaps

According to an employability study, 21% of college graduates said their colleges didn’t equip them with job-ready skills. One of the best ways to fill such skill gaps quickly is by providing coaching as part of the onboarding process. Skills that are crucial in the workplace such as communication, leadership, team management, and problem-solving can be built through coaching.

Improve performance

Coaching can help to discover the causes of performance problems and provide solutions. The coaching process involves observing the employee, conducting assessments, collecting feedback, and having reflective conversations. All these provide insights into the employee’s abilities and how performance can be enhanced with skills development and training. Performance coaching helps employees improve their skills, gain new ones, and reach their potential.

Productivity and organizational alignment

When employees’ performance improves, overall productivity also improves. This in turn positively affects the organization's overall performance. With coaching, employees are better focused, more efficient, and manage time better, leading to better work productivity.

Employee engagement and retention

Coaching is an important factor in boosting employee engagement because it provides the support employees need for growth. It helps employees understand their strengths and weaknesses and how to enhance their skills, which boosts engagement and improves retention.

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Improved leadership

The quality of leadership is a major driver of growth and innovation in any organization. Coaching enhances leadership skills and helps leaders to perform at their peak. Statistics show an 88% rise in productivity when executive coaching supplements management training. 

Career advancement

Coaching improves career advancement opportunities by equipping employees with crucial leadership skills such as strategic thinking, decision-making, team building, conflict resolution, and problem-solving.

Objectives of employee coaching

While the purpose of coaching may vary, the main reason for employee coaching is for employees to build skills that will improve individual and team performance. Here are some of the objectives of employee coaching:

1. Employee coaching aims to enhance skills and competencies that will help employees perform better at work. When performance gaps are addressed through coaching, they become more efficient and productive at work.
2. Coaching is designed to help employees define their career aspirations and provides a clear plan to achieve such goals, through continuous learning and upskilling.
3. Coaching aims to improve collaboration and teamwork by adopting new behaviors that encourage cooperation, reduce conflict, and improve working relationships.
4. A crucial objective of coaching is to align individual and organizational goals so there’s a shared sense of purpose that energizes employees to work and achieve company objectives.
5. Coaching helps to equip employees for leadership positions. A pipeline of future leaders is created with executive coaching and development programs.

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Overview of effective coaching

For the coaching process to be effective, certain factors must come into play. These include:

• Clear goals setting: The goals of the coaching program must be set. These must be specific, measurable, achievable, and time-bound.
• Communication: Communication between the coach and coachee must be open and honest. The coach must have skills in observation, questioning, and listening to elicit useful feedback.
• Empathy: Coaching is usually more effective when a coach displays an understanding of the coachee’s challenges and guides with compassion and empathy. 
• Adaptability: While there are many coaching techniques, the coach must be flexible and be willing to adapt the techniques to fit the needs of individuals, to get better results from coaching sessions.
• Accountability: The coachee must be responsible for taking actions recommended by the coach. They must also remain motivated and committed to the process.
• Trust building: There should be mutual trust between the coach and coachee. The coachee must be able to express feelings and talk about challenges in a safe and supportive environment.
• Coaching assessment and improvement: Coaching programs should be continuously assessed so that necessary adjustments to improve can be made. Coaches must also develop themselves and stay updated with new coaching techniques.

What are the most effective ways to coach an employee?

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Understanding individual needs

For coaching to be effective, the individual needs of employees must be understood. Before coaching starts, the coach should review the employee’s performance data and assess their skills to know if there are gaps that should be addressed. Questionnaires for self-evaluation should be administered to gain insights into areas of strengths and areas where improvements are needed.  During coaching sessions, the coach can adopt open-ended questions to encourage detailed responses. Active listening should be practiced to understand the concerns of coachees. The coach should also observe behavior, interactions, and non-verbal cues. All these will provide valuable insights into individual needs.

Setting clear expectations

Expectations help define the purpose and required outcome of the coaching program. The goals must be defined and communicated to the coach and coachees. The objectives, processes, and times of the sessions should also be communicated to employees before commencement. 

Providing continuous feedback

Coachees should receive regular feedback. This will help them take the required actions, make adjustments where necessary, and stay motivated and interested in the process.

Encouraging employee self-assessment

Self-assessment in coaching is crucial because it increases self-awareness, allows for introspection, and helps to discover strengths and abilities that have not been used before and the weaknesses that need to be addressed.

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What is the process for coaching employees?

Initial assessment and identification of areas for improvement

The first assessment done before coaching commences is to discover areas in which the employee needs to improve. The assessment may be carried out using previous data from performance reviews and skills assessments. Data can be collected from supervisors, managers, peers, and self-assessment questionnaires. Areas of improvement may include quality of work, productivity, communication skills, and teamwork.

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Develop a coaching plan.

A coaching plan is a structured roadmap that guides the coaching process to goal achievement. It outlines how the coach and coachee will work together to achieve their goals. It usually includes steps such as goal definitions, assessments of the employee’s previous performance, timelines, actions required to achieve coaching goals, feedback, and methods to track progress.

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Implementing the coaching plan

Scheduled coaching sessions are crucial aspects of implementation. The sessions will feature conversations on assessments of previous performance, challenges encountered in the course of work, and how productivity can be improved. For example, a sales coaching session will include giving participants tips to improve sales and reviewing their selling techniques and tools. The coach will also schedule check-ins to discuss progress made.

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Monitoring the progress

Progress monitoring is crucial because it tracks the goals and objectives that have been achieved and if not achieved, what are the challenges being encountered. When monitoring progress, tangible outcomes such as specific targets are required. For example, improving interpersonal skills at work may include tracking the employee’s collaboration efficiency, ability to resolve conflict, and how much support they provide to others.

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Adjusting the approach as needed

Coaching is not a one-size-fits-all process. It may be necessary to adjust and adapt coaching techniques to individual employees. For example, you may need to consider the stage where the employee is at in their career, consider uniqueness such as neurodiversity, and the level of their skills.

What are the 5 stages of the coaching process?

1. Establishing the relationship

The first stage in the coaching process is to establish a relationship with the coachee. This is done by building trust and rapport, helping the coachee understand that you have the skills and experience to coach effectively. Clear communication also helps to establish the relationship, with speaking and listening skills that put the coachee at ease.

2. Assessment

Assessments are important to the coaching process because they help to determine where employees are in their journey and what interventions will be applied during coaching. Assessments that need to be done include performance reviews, skills assessments, strengths and weaknesses, interpersonal skills assessments, and behavioral assessments.

3. Goal setting

Goal setting is defining SMART objectives to be achieved and developing strategies to achieve them. Goals help participants focus on actions that will lead to achieving their objectives, keep them motivated, and boost confidence. 

4. Implementation

Implementation of the coaching process puts the coaching plan into action. During implementation,  goals are communicated to participants, coaching sessions are held to discuss assessments and strategies that will improve performance. Participants take action within a specified time and provide feedback.

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5. Review and feedback

A review of the coaching process evaluates coaching strategies so they can be improved upon. A review will address what works and what doesn’t, allowing for a fine-tuning of the process. Provision of feedback is also a crucial aspect of coaching where participants can receive insights on their achievements and discover things they need to improve upon.

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What do you say when coaching employees?

Using positive reinforcement

Positive reinforcement is acknowledging and rewarding the right behavior to encourage the repetition of such behaviors. Examples of positive reinforcement are verbal praise, gestures such as head nods, and positive feedback.

Offering constructive criticism

Constructive criticism provides actionable recommendations for improvement. It pinpoints specific behaviors and actions that need to be taken to improve them. Constructive criticism is effective because it combines positive feedback with areas to improve upon. It is also delivered with a respectful tone and is timely so that the individual can make immediate changes. 

Encouraging open communication

Open communication allows the coach and coachee to express themselves freely without inhibitions or fear. This is one of the fastest ways to build trust in the coaching process. Open communication allows the coach and participants to bond quickly and increases understanding and rapport during the process.

Providing specific examples and scenarios

When the coach provides specific examples, participants get a better understanding of what is being delivered. They also develop problem-solving skills by learning from the coach’s experience, analyzing situations from various perspectives, and coming up with solutions. Real-life examples make coaching sessions more interesting and engaging, which increases the commitment to the coaching process.

Workplace coaching is an integral part of the organization, as it helps to improve performance, build skills, and boost overall productivity. Ongoing coaching creates opportunities for growth as employees develop strategic and problem-solving skills. When organizations invest in coaching programs, it fosters a culture of continuous learning and improvement, which leads to higher employee engagement, retention, and overall productivity. As workplaces evolve, a structured coaching approach will not only address immediate performance issues but also prepare employees for future challenges, ultimately contributing to a more resilient and innovative workforce.