We simplify coaching. And, we’ve proven that simple works. The POWERformance Group grew out of years of working with managers on communication skills. We discovered a huge gap between perception and reality — managers thought they were coaching, but: • Their coaching comments were vague, superficial, lacking in both direction and motivation. • Too often their focus was what’s wrong but no suggestion for fixing it. • Or, the other extreme — too much praise and nothing to encourage growth. • They were recapping the past with zero emphasis on the future. Only about 20% of managers were hitting the mark of meaningful coaching. That’s why we created what we call a smart coaching language. With more than 25 word prompts and formulas in hand, ineffective coaches made a complete turnaround. That 20% of effective coaches blossomed into 80% and even higher when senior leaders provided reinforcement. When managers become fluent in a coaching language, there are lots of benefits: • They’re eager to coach. • They know what to say and how to say it. • Their coaching confidence score is high. • They earn respect from their team. The really big benefits, however, come for team members: • They know where they stand. • They know exactly what to do to improve their performance and they act on that understanding. • They feel like their managers care about their success. Here’s what we believe: Along with learning about personality types, how to be inclusive, and other valuable management development skills, learning a coaching language should be a pre-requisite for earning a manager-as-coach “degree.” Expecting managers to coach well every day without giving them the language to do that is unrealistic. When there’s a chasm between expectations and reality, the result is stress, disappointment and frustration for both managers and team members. The solution is simple. Give managers the words and great coaching will follow.