There are two broad skill areas needed to be an effective coach, namely communication and interpersonal skills. Communication skills are essential for effective coaching. Unless a manager has the ability both to listen to employees and get them to understand what effective performance is and how to achieve it, coaching will not succeed. In addition to active listening, managers need to be specific and descriptive in communicating with employees. This can increase the chance that an employee will understand what is expected and will offer less resistance to coaching.

In addition to communication skills, interpersonal skills are also important to effective coaching. HRD staff members can design and conduct programs to help managers and supervisors develop and practice these skills. Training programs that use behavior modeling and role playing have been effectively used to build coaching skills.