Sands Academy, Elevate Series: Effective Coaching

Las Vegas Sands Team Members are offered training and development courses through Sands Academy to enhance their skillsets, promote effective leadership, and prepare them for new roles and responsibilities. Sands Academy’s Elevate Series focuses on providing tools for leaders to manage their teams and build relationships to ensure success within their departments with each course dedicated to different aspects of training including “Effective Coaching.”

The effective coaching class is often paired with the “Effective Feedback” class as the two go hand-in-hand as there must be feedback in order to help someone successfully achieve a goal. Team Members were reminded that coaching in the workplace is meant to be a conversation that helps people develop their skills, achieve success, and reach their potential by using language that inspires.

“That’s the key—you have to know your Team Members so you can talk to them and understand what they have to say,” Sylein Burgos, Manager of Talent, Human Resources Training & Development, said. “We’re all human beings and we all do things differently.”

Team Members were encouraged to use the “GROW” method (goal, reality, options, and way forward), a mnemonic method that helps to comprehensively execute coaching skills. By establishing a goal that is agreeably attainable, managers can use that information to help shape the discussion and set the tone. Reality helps both Team Members to be aware of the current situation and evaluate and identify obstacles that may be keeping them from attaining certain goals. Helping a Team Member explore their options allows them to find different ways to improve their performance. Looking forward also helps solidify a Team Member’s goals by writing them down, and giving them something to follow-up with.

The class was prompted with multiple scenarios and asked to recommend the best way to approach and solve the team conflict through communication, helping, teaching, and challenging Team Members. Rocio Flores, tower manager of housekeeping administration at The Venetian, has taken three Elevate classes and enjoys how much she learns each time. She referred to the “Active Listening” activity where students were asked a round of questions that were meant to trick the listener if they did not listen carefully. With active listening skills, managers will be able to understand things from the speaker’s point of view.

“This time, I learned I need to listen,” Flores said. “Always make eye contact and be sincere, don’t sugarcoat. Just be honest.”