Let's move on to look at how coaching can help address a gap in performance. Almost any sort of problem can be described as a performance gap €“ the difference between what's happening now and what we would like to happen. Any manager needs to become skilled at analysing the causes of poor performance. It is no longer adequate for a manager to be a subject matter expert or solo high performer. The successful manager of today has to be a facilitator of high performance from their team: they have to be a performance coach.

As far back as the 1970s Thomas Gilbert (author of The Behaviour Engineering Model) found that the reasons people do not perform as expected is caused by a combination of things, usually in this order:

• Inadequate information
• Poor working environment or inadequate tools
• Poor incentives
• Lack of knowledge
• Lack of skill
• Poor motivation.

Most people want to do a good job. Poor performance is more often caused by can't (lack of knowledge, skill or information) rather than won't (lack of motivation or deliberate defiance). Bear this in mind when looking at poor performance. Are your people clear about what they should be doing? Have they got access to all the information and tools they need? Do they have the requisite knowledge or level of skill? If the answer to any of these questions is no, then you have at least part of the solution.