In July 2006, the people at the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), polled readers to their newsletter about their biggest coaching challenges and the resources needed to tackle them.  Here are some findings, direct from CCL's current newsletter.

"Nearly half of the respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that juggling their coaching roles with other managerial roles presented a challenge. This is not an uncommon concern, but what is important for managers to know is that coaching doesn't take as much time as they think it does. When managers have acquired sound feedback and coaching skills it's not difficult to set those skills into motion and establish practices that are not time consuming. For example, timely behavioral feedback provides ongoing coaching without waiting for yearly performance development conversations. Also, the essence of coaching is not about solving the problem but about asking the appropriate probing questions in order to unlock a solution. When managers develop their questioning skills and behavioral feedback skills, they foster the natural learning process in a very efficient way."

My only quibble with this is that I think it makes the process more complex-looking than it is in reality.  What we're talking about is part of the job of everyone who's responsible for the performance of a group and for the growth and welfare of group members.

The way most performance adjustment happens is through a conversation between the boss and a subordinate. I suggest that bosses use every occasion where they come in contact with a subordinate as an opportunity to address performance and growth issues.

You can call this "coaching" or not.  It's part of the leader's job.  And, as CCL points out, most leaders don't feel like they get the help they need.  Less than 30 percent of poll respondents think that their organization provides the necessary resources for them to meet their coaching challenges.

And what kind of resources do they want?  Here's what CCL says:

"Respondents indicated that the coaching resources they would most like their organizations to provide are "books and articles" (53%); "external training programs (50%); and "coaching partners" and "in-house training programs" (49% each)."

Yes, it would be good to give managers timely and high quality training in the skills they need to talk productively with subordinates about performance and improve both morale and productivity.  But until that happens in most companies, other resources can be a big help.

There are lists of such resources for Coaching and Communication on the Three Star Leadership site as well as many other skills.  I also encourage you to check out my latest book, Performance Talk: the One-on-One Part of Leadership that addresses the specific issue of a boss talking to subordinates about performance.

Wally Bock helps leaders at every level improve the performance and morale of the group they're responsible for. His latest book, Performance Talk: The One-on-One Part of Leadership, makes learning key leadership principles almost effortless because it teaches through a story, the way human beings have always learned complex lessons best.

Performance Talk just got a rave review from Don Blohowiak. Read about it on his Leadership Now blog.