We hear the term "coaching" often in today's workplace. We know that managers should be coaches to their employees, but what does coaching really involve? In both sports and academic competitions coaches rally up their teams and help ensure success. It’s the same in business. Bottom line, an effective coach in the workplace has a genuine interest in helping others improve their performances. It could be teaching an employee a new task or skill, guiding a coworker through a difficult workplace challenge, helping facilitate a necessary change, recharging a colleague’s motivation or, perhaps most importantly, collaborating with employees on their individual career paths. In short, successful coaches work with and through others to increase organizational performance, ensure productive workplace relationships and enhance employee development.