How to Coach Employees

Hattie Bryant: This is an excerpt from small business school. You must create an environment for employees to thrive. Tom Gegax built tires plus from zero to hundreds of millions in sales. He believes it is his ability to hiring coach people that is the key to his success. Tom shares his four-step coaching process. Tom Gegax: I think there are four steps that if a small business owner misses any one of these four steps then their relationship with either their employees or their spouse who is critical in any business is at risk. But first is to understand the expectations that I've launched. Truly understand what did they expect out of being here? Well, then just hang. You didn’t do this, you didn’t do that, what do they expect? The second is what they expect of them being clear. We sometimes think employees should be minor. They really need to be able to understand what do you like in terms of hours? What about your specifics? What kind of things you want me to do? You know those kinds of things really need to be clear. Then the third step is to be able to give them feedback on how they’re doing just— Hattie Bryant: That’s the coaching Tom Gegax: Yeah that’s the coaching and you give them the immediate feedback that we’ve talked about earlier. The fourth step is asking how we are doing as managers or leaders or coaches with them. We rarely ask that one. Hattie Bryant: Right Tom Gegax: Hey how am I doing? And you want them to say, “Oh, you’re doing fine okay? Then what a leader should say if there’s no what you call the rule of three like people were lying until the third time so you ask them how am I doing. They say great. And you say, “Are you sure? Come on. Yeah, you’re doing great. Come on. You’re not telling me there is so they finally say, “There are few things.” So you say, “What are the three things you like about how I’m doing and what are the three things that I can do better. And you start saying that to certain employees. Wow! You’re really so powerful thing. Hattie Bryant: Jon O'Keefe needs creativity from employees so he looks for the unusual then works to build the team. Jon O'Keefe: Make sure that everyone understands exactly what they need to do, why they do it, when they need to do it for. It's kind of like a doctor's surgery. People are in and out every day. These guys all in here and the guys over in the sales office, it's a musketeer thing. It's all for one and one for all. And you have to create that kind of mentality. People buy people first. When we employ people here and we employ people because they are unusual than different. They think outside the book. There are different types of people. You know guys came to meet you in a check suit, a totally tartan check suite and this guy was unusual but he was actually capable of being able to deliver as well. Hattie Bryant: Where is this guy now? Jon O'Keefe: Well, that's actually Nick. He's our technical director. Nick: I actually turned up in a tartan suit. And he actually said to me, “He's either good or he's mad.” And he made the decision that I was good. Jon O'Keefe: I employed a copywriter because his last job on his CV, he was a human cannonball for a circus. So you look for unusual people, as long as they've got a skill base. Hattie Bryant: And Anne Beiler built from zero to four hundred in million in sales by focusing on making sure employees feel good. Ahmad Chabbani pays attention to the personal growth of each person at Ommex. Ahmad Chabbani: We can't teach you everything but we can introduce you. He can build a good personality of you. He’s a smart guy. Hattie Bryant: The key to success with people is clear thriving companies are led by great communicators.