How HR can be ‘good coaches’ to employees

Employees need HR pros to be their coaches.

Women in particular stand to benefit from such a relationship, according to Lois Frankel, executive coach and author of Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office: Unconscious Mistakes Women Make that Sabotage their Careers.

Frankel shared with HR Brew what insights people leaders can glean from her book.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What will HR pros learn from your book?

I would hope an HR professional would learn how to help women work through the maze of a workplace that is run predominantly by white males…In other words, how do you help women and coach women to advocate for themselves? I think HR professionals can be and should be coaches to everyone.

How can HR pros be good coaches?

To be a good coach, first of all, you have to have relationships with people. If you don’t have a relationship, an existing relationship with someone, they’ll see the coaching as just your way of trying to get more work out of them. So, what precedes the coaching is really building strong relationships with all of the people who depend on you for your HR skills.

Then, your job is to help the employees see where they’re going out of bounds…If I were to say to you, “I noticed you doing some things that are going out of bounds in our particular workplace. Would you like me to give you some ideas for how you can get on the field and win the game?”...So, you notice I also ask permission, that most people are going to say, “Yes, of course,” particularly if I have a good relationship with you.

How can HR coach employees with remote, hybrid, and in-office schedules?

By making sure that you have regular check-ins with people. It’s a lot easier when you’re in the office and everybody else is in the office, and you’re observing people…It’s a lot harder when it’s remote. At the same time, there are remote meetings, and people are on Zoom calls, and you are still observing. Your job, as an HR professional, and as an HR coach, is to observe behaviors and provide feedback to people about where their behavior is going out of bounds.

It’s your responsibility to set up a one-on-one with each employee, either at the office, or by phone, or by Zoom, where you can really continue to build this relationship. And, it’s not just about giving feedback. It’s about asking, “How do I help you do your job better?” When you think about what a coach is, the earliest definition of a coach is a vehicle or vessel that takes people or goods from one place to another, and so our job as a coach is to take people from the place where they are to where they want to be in their careers.