5 Benefits of Clearly Defined Coaching Goals

If you don’t know where you’re going, how are you going to know when you get there?

In the coaching side of my practice I sometimes run across clients that have been previously told to ‘improve their performance’, but not what part(s) of their performance actually need improvement. When coaching a client/employee it is important for both the coach and the client/employee to have specific goals and timelines.

Goals have to be established in order to give direction and purpose to the coaching session whether it is a client or an employee. Ambiguous goals are usually never achieved and may cause frustration, at a minimum.

Defining Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time  driven (SMART) goals will plot a marker in the horizon. It’ll act as your beacon. Without that beacon you are navigating blindly.

Having no clearly defined goal causes frustration for both you and your client/employee because there never seems to be any improvement or progress. It creates a constant cycle of failing to meet some objective – a cycle that will keep repeating without a clearly defined goal.

Setting a clearly defined goal gives you and your client/employee direction and purpose. Imagine being handed a bunch of tools and materials and told to build something without a clear vision or goal of what is to be built. 

The same holds true for developmental goals. It is not good enough to tell your employee they must improve in sales or build widgets faster. These types of goals create more confusion because they do not know where to start because they don't know where they're specifically going.

Here are 5 benefits to establishing clearly defined goals upfront for your client/employee:

• Both you and your client/employee have a better chance of starting in the right direction together

• Coaching time is more efficient once goals are discussed upfront

• You are able to plan ahead of the session and prepare targeted questions

• Coaching session are direct and avoid meandering

• You, as the coach, will come across more clear, instilling confidence in your client/employee

Going back to the building analogy, you may end up building a stool when what was really needed was as birdhouse. Clearly defined goals are the cornerstone of effective and successful coaching. 

By establishing clearly defined goals you help to set your client/employee up for success.

For more information about coaching and mentoring, or to see how The Cobalt Group can help you with this or any other business or leadership challenges you are facing, Contact us.

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