MGMT90227 Chap.6 Performance Management and Coaching
Performance Management and Coaching
Entrepreneurial performance management is a recurring learning cycle rather than an annual judgement event. Planning clarifies expectations, monitoring supplies evidence, development builds capability and recognition reinforces valued contribution. Objectives express direction while key results make progress observable.
Coaching can use the GROW path to build ownership, while effective feedback stays specific, forward looking, two-way and focused on action. Leaders still direct when urgency, risk or capability makes that appropriate. Planning creates a shared understanding of expected outcomes, priorities and responsibility.
Goal-setting works best when goals are specific and challenging, people participate, feedback is available and the result remains within their influence. An objective states an aspirational destination, while key results make progress observable. A measure should serve the objective rather than replace it.
Narrow metrics can produce local optimisation when customer value depends on several teams or when employees control only part of the outcome. Monitoring and review shorten the learning loop. Regular conversations examine progress, changing assumptions, dependencies and needed support before a gap becomes entrenched. Development can then combine practice, resources, coaching and more direct instruction.
Recognition signals valued contribution, but a ranking or reward should not ignore system conditions. When several people miss the same target, strategy, capacity or coordination may be the better level of diagnosis. Frequent status demands without a decision or support merely increase reporting. Coaching helps another person learn and unlock potential.
GROW moves through the desired Goal, present Reality, possible Options and the Will or way forward. Non-directive questions, listening and reflection can build diagnosis and ownership. Direction remains legitimate when urgency, safety or a capability gap requires it.
Effective feedback contributes information to the Reality stage by describing observable action and consequence, inviting the recipient's account, staying focused on the future and offering support. It addresses the problem without turning behaviour into a judgement of character. Technology may help identify patterns in structured performance information, but context, spot checks and human oversight remain necessary.
Employees should understand what data informs decisions and be able to correct error. A case answer should investigate both individual capability and system conditions, state the expectation, choose coaching or direction deliberately, agree support and action, and name the review evidence.
This balanced approach preserves accountability while using performance management to improve work and capability rather than merely record a verdict.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Plan, monitor, develop and recognise
- 02
Specific and challenging goals
- 03
Objectives and key results
- 04
Short feedback cycles
- 05
Non-directive coaching
- 06
GROW conversations
- 07
Action-focused feedback and human oversight
Worked example · free
Coach a missed milestone
- 6Agree the goal and the performance expectation.
- 6Explore reality through facts, dependencies and the employee's account.
- 6Generate options and add direction only where risk or capability requires it.
- 7Agree the chosen action, support and review point.
Key terms
- Performance cycle
- A recurring sequence of planning, monitoring, developing, recognising and reviewing performance.
- Objective
- An aspirational and energising statement of the result sought.
- Key result
- An observable measure of progress toward an objective.
- GROW
- A coaching path through goal, reality, options and will or way forward.
Performance Management and Coaching FAQ
Why use shorter performance cycles?
Changing venture work makes annual feedback too slow. Short cycles surface blockers, test assumptions and support development while action is still possible. They add value only when evidence informs decisions, rather than becoming constant status reporting or surveillance.
When should a leader direct instead of coach?
More direction may be appropriate when risk is immediate, urgency is high or the employee lacks the capability to act safely. Coaching is useful when the person can diagnose, learn and own the response. Leaders can combine both within one conversation.
What makes feedback useful?
Useful feedback refers to observable action and consequence, invites the other person's account, stays focused on the future and problem, and offers support. Specific evidence gives the recipient something they can repeat or change and reduces vague personal judgement.
Exam move
Draw the performance cycle and the GROW path from memory. Practise converting vague judgements into specific behavioural evidence and a forward-looking request. In case answers, examine individual capability and system conditions together, then name the expectation, support, accountability and review evidence rather than choosing blame or excuse.
Write one objective with observable key results and challenge whether the measures could distort behaviour. Rehearse a coaching dialogue that moves through Goal, Reality, Options and Will without hiding the standard. Then rewrite a personal judgement as action-focused feedback and choose when urgency or risk requires more direct instruction.
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