Become a More Effective Manager
Learn proven techniques to coach your people to higher performance.
About This Specialization
In this Specialization, you will learn the essential skills to coach people for improved performance. You will learn from Executive Coach and UC Davis Instructor Kris Plachy, who has created and transformed dozens of teams through coaching. She will share best practices, research, tools and models for coaching effectively. You will learn how effective managers use coaching to establish clear expectations and accountability, how to assess performance, and how to conduct coaching conversations that build awareness and get results. In the capstone course, you will apply insights about management and coaching to develop your own coaching practice and tools.
Created by:
5 courses
Follow the suggested order or choose your own.
Projects
Designed to help you practice and apply the skills you learn.
Certificates
Highlight your new skills on your resume or LinkedIn.
Courses
- Intermediate Specialization.
- Some related experience required.
COURSE 1
Managing as a Coach
Upcoming session: May 29 — Jun 26.- Subtitles
- English, Vietnamese
About the Course
Do you (or do you want to) manage employees? Have you ever wondered how to get better performance out of those you manage? Are you unsure if you are communicating effectively with your employees? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then this course – and its associated specialization – is for you! Leadership and management responsibilities have changed dramatically, particularly in the last decade. In order to be an effective manager in increasingly fast-paced and complex organizational environments, coaching has become essential. In this course, you will learn what coaching is and learn how to differentiate between it and all of the other myriad roles managers are expected to perform – managing, mentoring, leading, and training. You’ll learn about the importance of strong leadership and learn to describe your current point of view as a leader, and evaluate when to adjust your thinking in order to be more effective in managing and leading in a rapidly evolving workplace. And finally, you’ll be introduced to the Thought Model, a coaching technique you can use to develop better thinkers and better performers. So if you’re ready to learn all about how to be a more effective and valued manager using coaching techniques, join us as we explore more successful managing through coaching!COURSE 2
Setting Expectations & Assessing Performance Issues
Upcoming session: May 29 — Jul 3.- Subtitles
- English
About the Course
If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there. One of the most important roles of a manager is to ensure everyone knows the destination. The most effective managers set expectations and assess their employees’ performance against those expectations, and take a coaching approach to helping them get to the destination. That’s exactly what you’ll learn to do in this course! You will explore how to collaboratively develop expectations with those you lead. When you encounter expectations that are not being met, you’ll learn how to use "Coaching Algebra" to determine the underlying issues that are impeding performance, and how to respond as a manger-coach. We look forward to you joining us as we explore these essential coaching topics!COURSE 3
Coaching Practices
Current session: May 22 — Jun 26.- Commitment
- 4 weeks of study, 2-3 hours/week
- Subtitles
- English, Vietnamese
About the Course
In order for coaching to be most effective, it’s important that there is strong culture of coaching and accountability which you will learn how to incorporate into your one-on-one meetings in this course. We’ll discuss strategies in coaching great employees who are highly motivated, consistent performers, and poor performers. We’ll explore specific tools, such as a coaching agenda, you can employ immediately in your coaching conversations. You will learn how to use the "Coaching Algebra" technique in typical performance scenarios managers encounter. Finally, you’ll walk away from this course with some concrete strategies on how to coach other coach-managers. If you are ready to begin creating a coaching practice within your own organization, please join us in this course!COURSE 4
Coaching Conversations
Current session: May 22 — Jun 26.- Commitment
- 4 weeks of study, 2-3 hours/week
- Subtitles
- English
About the Course
Throughout the Coaching Skills for Managers specialization, we’ve discussed many topics for improving coaching conversations with our employees. It is now time to put all of that theory and discussion into practice and examine great examples of common coaching conversations! Note: This course builds on all previous courses in the Coaching Skills for Managers specialization. It is highly recommended that students complete or be familiar with the topics covered in those courses before taking this course. In particular, you should be familiar with the coaching strategies and tools discussed in previous courses (such as the 5 whys technique, resisting what is, among others), and should have a full understanding of the Thought model and the various components of it: circumstances, thoughts, feelings, actions, and results. By the end of this course, you will be able to demonstrate appropriate and effective strategies when engaging in coaching conversations with those that you lead. By exploring and analyzing common coaching scenarios that are acted out in this course, you will have a great sense of what works well and not so well during such a conversation. Specifically, you'll be able to better differentiate between a developmental coaching approach and a directive management style, discuss new strategies and techniques for dealing with both mind set and skill set gaps, describe how to use the feedback loop effectively in a conversation, and demonstrate the use of good questioning techniques and the thought model to not only help an employee identify issues, but help the employee really change their thinking. The final assignment is all about actually having a coaching conversation with another person where you can apply everything you've learned in this course and throughout the Coaching Skills for Managers specialization. Again, it is highly recommended students complete the other courses in the specialization before taking this one. This peer review assignment, in particular, will be difficult to complete without knowledge of the topics covered in these courses. After going through the course materials and completing the assessments, you will be able to have more effective one-on one-coaching meetings with those you manage and deepen your understanding of the essential practice of coaching conversations.COURSE 5
Designing and Implementing Your Coaching Strategy
Upcoming session: Jun 12 — Jul 10.- Subtitles
- English
About the Capstone Project
In order to be an effective manager in increasingly fast-paced and complex organizational environments, coaching skills to develop and get the best work out of employees has become essential. Throughout the Coaching Skills for Managers specialization, we’ve discussed many topics for improving coaching conversations with our employees. It is now time to put all of that theory and discussion into practice as you solidify your coaching philosophy, develop your coaching practice and agendas, and demonstrate mastery at handling everyday coaching conversations! Please take note that this course builds upon all previous courses in the Coaching Skills for Managers specialization. While not required, it is highly recommended that students complete or be familiar with the topics covered in those courses before taking this course in order to be most prepared for the assignments in this course. You will use the leadership point of view developed in Course 1 to articulate your coaching philosophy, and produce clearly defined expectations for people on your team, as well as Key Performance Indicators you will use to evaluate performance, building on your work from Course 2. You will use the techniques learned in Courses 3 to prepare for and practice coaching conversations, and use what you have learned to provide feedback to your other colleagues in this project-based course. By the end of this project-based course, you will have developed and refined your entire coaching strategy to roll out with your team. Specifically, you will be able to define your coaching philosophy and explain it to someone else, develop a tailored coaching practice along with coaching agendas for your team in alignment with your organization's goals, and have an effective and productive coaching conversation with those you supervise.
Creators
Kris Plachy
CEO and Founder & Instructor
FAQs
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