Today’s article is a guest post from Sean Conrad of Halogen Software.

Chris’ recent post on The Power of No got me thinking. Especially where he encourages HR pros to say no to things managers should be doing themselves.

There’s a litany of items that fall into this grey area. HR has to report on engagement metrics for example, but the drivers of engagement aren’t solely in their hands – right?

Same goes for coaching and development. It’s not exactly a job you can pin squarely on HR even if the reporting metrics come out of the department.

But HR – you can definitely guide managers on this front. Let’s put it in context.

Empower Your Managers

Talent management can be a struggle for most organizations, because let’s face it; it’s a lot of ongoing work – not just for HR, but for your managers.

Maybe you’ve ditched the paper and have a good system in place for the annual review process and comp etc, but do your managers “get it” day to day? Are they in the talent management game?

If you want true employee engagement, you aren’t doing it alone. Every executive, every manager needs to understand that coaching is part of their job, whether they like it or not. And more importantly, you need to be providing them with the training and tools they need to make conversations about performance the rule, not the exception.

1. Create Dialogue

Empowering managers as coaches can be done in a number of ways, but first and foremost, it’s about creating a dialogue where managers are consistently discussing performance. This may be in a weekly update, monthly check in or quarterly mini reviews, but ideally HR will work with managers to create an approach that works within their organization.

Encourage your managers to regularly take notes on performance so they’re able to provide timely and relevant feedback on an ongoing basis, and have what they need come that monthly check-in.

2. Establish Expectations

Establishing expectations about coaching is key.

Managers need to understand that they are not only there to work with employees on current job functions, but to discuss career aspirations and their long term growth as well. The focus should be on individual development and achieving those individual goals that tie back to organizational objectives.

Consider providing training on communications and other key areas such as competencies, identifying high potentials and putting employee needs first. What may come naturally to one manager, maybe a real area of struggle for another, so clearly articulating your organization’s approach to coaching can make a critical difference in the success of your talent management programs.

3. Create a Mentor Program

You can take coaching one further by creating formal mentoring programs, where mentors receive ongoing training on working with their mentees, and their workload is adjusted accordingly.

We learned a lot about this approach from one of our customers in healthcare. Mentoring programs are particularly relevant in settings like this where employee engagement is critical to delivering top notch patient care. Often in these scenarios new hires are mentored, and the process is clearly laid out for the mentor, including weekly reporting on the new hire’s progress.

This type of relationship from the get-go sets the employee’s expectations and sets the pace for coaching within the organization.

Help Managers Become Better Coaches

So, are you, the HR pro, accountable for whether or not your talent is being coached on an ongoing basis? You can comfortably answer “no” or at least “not entirely” to that one.

But by putting some solid coaching principles in place with your managers, you can answer “yes” to the more relevant question: “Is HR is providing the best possible guidance to managers on how to become stronger coaches?”

Sean Conrad is a senior product analyst with Halogen Software. He can be reached at sconrad@halogensoftware.com.