Why EDDIE Is The Best Performance Coach

This past week I was watching my oldest son at hockey practice.  During one of the drills, the two coaches instructed the team to skate two-by-two down the ice, passing the puck between each other as they skated in order to improve their passing skills.

Although my oldest son is only eight, I’ve likely already spent over a hundred hours watching him practice. For some reason, today the coaches’ method of teaching of this skill became very clear. Their approach to teaching the skill consisted of seven steps:

Explain why the skill was necessary.

Ask the team members to demonstrate the skill one time.

Present to the team their observations (any changes necessary).

Demonstrate the skill to the team.

Highlight the key points in the demonstration to the team.

Ask the team to practice the skill several times.

Observe team members and provide one-on-one feedback.

Nothing Earth-shattering here, of course; particularly if you coach a sports team or have watched your children learn a new sport. What struck me about this approach was that it achieves several of the key objectives necessary for successful coaching of an employee, including why adopting a new skill set it necessary and including the employee in the learning of the skill.

But the most important aspect of this training is something that leaders at all levels, including those in the executive suite, seem to forget. People absorb information primarily in one of three different ways – kinesthetic, audible or visual.

This simple rule is something that is often missed by many educators, trainers, corporate coaches, and yes even consultants.

So what does this mean to you?

How to Use E.D.D.I.E. as a Performance Coach

For starters, if you are attempting to alter or change how an employee or group of employees performs, you can’t expect to be successful unless you apply the E.D.D.I.E. method – Explain, Demonstrate, Document, Incorporate, and Encourage.

Explain why a change is necessary.

Demonstrate the skill to the extent of the employees’ experience.

Document the key steps of the skill in writing.

Incorporate the changes into the employees’ daily routine.

Provide ongoing encouragement to the employee as they adopt the new skill.

By applying the E.D.D.I.E. approach to helping employees adopt a new skill, the primary means by which any employee absorbs information is automatically addressed.

This week when interacting with your employees, take a few minutes to test the E.D.D.I.E. approach. Try this out on your employees and observe whether other leaders in the organization follow this approach.

If you’d like to learn more about how to incorporate the E.D.D.I.E. approach in your coaching or into the coaching of leaders within your organization let me know, I’ll send some further information on how to quickly adopt this approach.

©Shawn Casemore 2017. All rights reserved.