6 Ways to Identify Your Most Coachable Candidates and Employees

6 Ways to Identify Your Most Coachable Candidates and Employees Organizations worldwide have embraced workplace coaching in recent years, and for good reason Coachingcan improveemployee interpersonal skills by 50 percentand reduce employee stress by 35 percent, among other benefits.Every business wants to improve employee performance, but for any coaching program to be effective, businesses need to hire employees who can work within that program employees who are, in other words, coachable.How can recruiters and hiring managers know whether theyre hiring someone truly coachable?Ive spent my career coaching both professional athletes and working professionals. In that time, Ive learned a lot about what coachability looks like both on and off the field. Coachable individuals are defined by a growth mindset, which manifests in six key characteristics1. DesireIt is difficult to coach anyone who doesnt want to become better. A fundamental first step to sel f-improvement is the desire to improve. An employee who maintains a desire to improve has nearly limitless potential, but one who doesnt care will never truly assimilate into your organization.2. FaithEmployees who believe in themselves and their abilities have what I call faith. Psychologists have found that people with certain beliefs about themselves will subconsciously seek evidence that supports those beliefs. Therefore, people who believe in their abilities to learnand groware more responsive to coaching than thosewho dont.3. CommitmentTo quoterenowned management expert Peter Drucker, Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes, but no plans.Its true Employees cant make a meaningful contribution unless they are committed to themselves, to others, and to your business. Hiring for this trait may sound like a no-brainer, but it is easily overlooked when we are too focused on hard skills and past experience.4. Self-AwarenessResearch shows people are a lot less sel f-aware than they think they are. Hows that for self-awareness?True self-awarenessis not simply having a thorough understanding of your own strengths and limitations.According toorganizational psychologist Tasha Eurich, true self-awareness requiresalso getting feedbackfrom others to understand how the rest of the world sees you. Self-aware candidates will seek that feedback, and thus be amenable to coaching.5. Willingness to LearnBeing willing to learn dovetails with desire, but it takes things a step further. Roger Federer, one of the greatest tennis players of all time, did not just have a desire to overcome his top rival Rafael Nadal he was willing to learn difficult skills to make it happen. Federer developed a topspin backhand that could be taken early in order to volley Nadals killer topspin forehand. Federers willingness to learn and then master this skill was an incredible feat. Employees who are willing to learn new skills even when the old ones have proven effective for quite some time are essentialto maintaining a coachable culture.6. OpennessSomeone who is open doesnt react poorly to criticism or correction, but takes it in stride. This quality can be tested in an interview by asking a candidate to prepare a role-relevant presentation. After the presentation is over, provide feedback and request changes, then watch to see how that input is received. If a candidate bristles or refuses to incorporate feedback the next time they give the presentation, they might not be as coachable as you would hope.Knowing what to look for in coachable employees is an important component in creating a truly coaching-focused organization. Once more coachable employeesare hired, managers might think about coaching the same way professional athletic coaches do The coach is held responsible for poor performance, not the player or employee.When managers adopt the paradigm of the professional athletic coach that they get paid according to how much their people improve that is when performance breakthroughs start to happen.A pioneer of the modern-day coaching movement, Alan Fine ispresident of InsideOut Developmentandco-creator of the widely recognized GROW Model.