Behavior is the action, response, and reaction of an individual towards any stimulus. Behavioral coaching is the way to facilitate learning, performance, and development of an employee or the team which ultimately leads to the growth of the organization.
It is a third wave psychological approach, which means it focuses on looking forward rather than backward to achieve sustainable behavioral change in a relatively shorter frame of time.
Behavioral coaching is an integration of various disciplines of psychology like clinical, developmental, social, and industrial-organizational psychology. Apart from psychology discipline, behavioral coaching also integrates management and philosophy.
Main aim here is to increase the effectiveness and happiness of employees in the workplace so that they can work better. It includes helping employees on a varied range of levels like social, intellectual, motivational, emotional, etc.
Main Objectives of Behavioral Coaching
Behavioral Coaching looks to improve action and behaviors to achieve the desired goals. It generally involves empathy path, leadership path, and helping change path. All these pathways help to change one’s and other’s behavior for the better.
Levels in Behavioral Coaching
- Level 1: Behavioral performance/outcome – To identify ‘what’ should be done to achieve the desired outcome or behavioral change.
- Level 2: Environmental Factors – To identify ‘where’ and ‘when’ behavioral techniques should be taught. It is determined by the organizational culture.
- Level 3: Capabilities – To identify the ‘how’ the actions or behaviors are selected, monitored, and analyzed for behavioral coaching.
Why Behavioral Coaching is Important
Behavioral techniques allow gathering data from specific and targeted behaviors which are related to the professional skills of an employee. Changes in the targeted behavior can be easily measured and evaluated through behavioral change instruments.
Through behavioral coaching, employees can improve the behavior which helps in developing professional skill and this lasts for a longer time. Employees are trained to be more comfortable and alert and take control of the unforeseen circumstances. This helps employees to manage themselves in every organizational situation and improve their confidence level.
What does Behavioral Coaching Incorporate?
- Defining behavior and emphasizing the positive or negative consequences of each behavior
- It defines the employee’s current status in terms of behavior and not in terms of personality styles
- Selecting a target behavior that needs to be changed in order to improve professional skill. Targeted behavior should be associated with professional skill
- Understanding the targeted behavior and providing techniques to change it
- Exploring the changes that have occurred after implementing the provided behavioral techniques
- Changes can be seen in motivation, beliefs, and emotions which can result in improving the behavior of the employee
- Assessing the environmental events which can create an impact on behavior of the employee
- Providing techniques which can improve the interaction between environmental events and behavior, in order to improve the behavior
- Conclude it by sufficient follow-ups through a coachee self-coaching strategies and monitoring from coaching’s side
Arenas for Behavior-based Coaching
Behavior-based coaching can be applied to executive coaching, leadership coaching, business development coaching, career coaching etc.
Behavioral coaching is the need of the hour because it helps to understand our behavior and how can we change it for better.