Consistently delivering quality employee coaching can be a challenge. In today’s blog we’ll explore the importance of supporting your coaches with coaching management software and unpack the difference that YakTrak made to Origin Energy’s frontline coaching.

So, you’ve rolled out a new coaching program but find embedding the program for the long term is a challenge?

Embedding new processes, behavioural and people capability frameworks can be tricky to stick with, particularly when the focus for many leaders is on administrative tasks and attending a multitude of meetings. As a result, most organisations don’t realise the return on investment of their coaching programs. The failure to embed coaching at work leaves frontline sales and service team members without the regular coaching conversations they need to meet requirements and build capability.

This is where a system to support your team leaders and frontline can help. Coaching management software provides the critical support that your coaches and team members need to embed coaching effectively.

Tracking coaching conversations is key

Do you know how regularly your team members meet with their team leaders? Most businesses don’t have a way of tracking coaching conversations. Without this visibility, how can you know if coaching is being done consistently, well, or at all?

Coaching software, like YakTrak, can help hold leaders accountable for prioritising time with their frontline team. It can also help leaders maintain focus so they are coaching to the right frequency and right behaviours for your organisation.

Software that collects data on the quality of goals and the progress towards completing goals provides visibility on the impact coaching and people development activity is having on outputs, helping businesses know if their employee coaching programs are working.

Improving results at Origin Energy

“YakTrak clearly improved both the frequency and quality of our coaching. Without YakTrak we would not have moved the dial as far as we did with NPS and improve the quality of our conversations our agents are now having with customers.”

– Origin Energy

Starting with an A/B trial, Origin Energy wanted to see if an increase in quality and quantity of coaching from leaders at the frontline would improve results. The A/B trial’s metrics were customer service and revenue output.

Compared to the control group, the group who used YakTrak:

• achieved 13.75% higher sales
• improved customer satisfaction by 25%.

YakTrak’s coaching software aligned with Origin Energy’s existing coaching and conversation frameworks, helping to measure best-practice cadence and leadership activity, while giving users a coaching management app that gave them visibility and control over their progress towards their goals. 77% of frontline team members said that YakTrak led increases in coaching and development.

All of Origin Energy’s group leaders said that YakTrak helped them improve results and the four top sales teams in the period were YakTrak users.

Businesses need visibility over coaching

To get the best results out of your employee coaching activity you’ll need software that provides accountability and visibility. The platform you choose should collect the data your business needs and be simple to use. Look for software that:

• helps hold leaders at all levels accountable for coaching their people
• collects data on the quality of goals and tracks progress towards them
• includes reporting and review mechanisms that will help you understand the impact your coaching and people development activity is having on outputs
• allows team members to be involved and engaged in the process (including access to notes and forms)
• provides a central location for documenting employee behaviour and performance activity.

YakTrak gives you powerful visibility, provides a one-stop-shop for all your forms and documentation, is easy to implement and simple to use.

Time to brush up on your employee coaching?

If you’re asking “what skills do you need for coaching?” Look no further. Coaching your team to success can be challenging, so we’ve put together a collection of employee coaching resources with practical tips and advice. Learn how you can avoid some of the common errors leaders make when coaching. Check out our employee coaching resources.

Photo by Amy Hirschi on Unsplash