As a trainer, turning managers into coaches is a real
challenge. We'd probably all like to think that all
managers can become coaches - but can they?
There are perhaps three reasons why it is extremely
difficult for managers to become coaches:
- Managers are time bound. Results have to be achieved to
a certain standard within a certain time. Coaching takes
time.
- Managers are performance oriented. They have been
charged with getting results. Often the employee's
potential problem to be addressed through coaching, may not
seem to relate to improved results.
- Managers often have a personal style that is more
directive than consultative. It is thus hard to switch
gears from telling and selling to listening and supporting.
1. Manager are time bound.
After training managers with effective coaching skills, I
often get the comment "Gee, that takes time. Wouldn't it
be easier to just give them a suggestion of what they
should do?".
Managers need to experience "being coached" and solving a
real problem of their own, to be sold on the benefits of
spending time coaching. Only training that provides an
opportunity for managers to personally experience the
benefits of coaching, can sell them on the need to spend
time coaching.
2. Managers are performance oriented.
Andrew Mayo's excellent recent article "Everybody wants to
be a coach" addressed the need to link coaching to
performance and the organisation's strategic intent, very
well. Andrew made the point that if coaching is to be
successful (and linked to achieving performance goals as
well as personal development), then it is essential to
ensure the manager passes authority for solving the issue
to the direct report. Managers can see the logic in this,
but can they change their natural behaviour?
Having worked with managers for a number of years who are
well intentioned to coach their people, they still find
this a difficult concept to grasp in practice. So much so,
that often the coaching session becomes a performance
counseling session and therefore does not always gain the
commitment of the direct report. The payoff however in
mastering this challenge, is to see the direct report take
real ownership for their development knowing that the
manager was the catalyst. It is only when managers grasp
this (or they experience it as a direct report themselves),
do they see the relevance and importance of such a time
consuming activity as coaching.
Of course, there is a related issue here ' does the direct
report trust the manager as "coach"? If the manager has
not previously built a culture of trust within his/ her
team, then it becomes increasingly difficult to be seen as
a non-biased coach.
3. Personal style.
Does a manager have it? Can it be developed? The final and
often most difficult challenge for the manager as coach, is
to remain non-directive - merely asking questions,
summarising, listening and only giving advice when it is
asked for and then only at the appropriate times. For many
managers, this is a major challenge as their normal
directive style is the polar opposite.
On one leadership development programme I am involved with,
I have the opportunity to ask managers to rank their
natural style used when problem solving (or handling
performance issues) with their people on a continuum
ranging from "tell exactly what to do and how to do it"
through to "ask questions, listen and paraphrase". 80% of
manager rank themselves toward the directive end of the
continuum. This is then confirmed in practice coaching
sessions.
I used to run training sessions where the participants did
a theory plus self report exercise to discover their style
as a coach. Often the understanding of coaching and the
application, were quite different. One HR person, who had
studied coaching for 12 months, scored fantastically well
on the coaching inventory and knew all the theory.
However, when it came to practise sessions, her style was
directly the opposite. This was not uncommon.
I now have the luxury of working with managers on a two
week residential programme where they can see coaching
being modelled, understand the theory, experience being
coached (on real issues) and practise coaching others. As
trainers, we need to look for a variety of learning methods
that include modelling, understanding, experience and
practice.
Improved performance through effective coaching should be
the goal for managers as it does have a real payoff for
both the manager and the organisation. At a more basic
level, the challenge for us as trainers, is to provide the
learning stimulus for the normal manager to change his or
her spots.
----------------------------------------------------
Bob Selden is the author of the newly published "What To Do
When You Become The Boss" ' a self help book for new
managers. He also coaches at the International Institute
for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland and the
Australian Graduate School of Management, Sydney. You can
contact Bob via http://www.whenyoubecometheboss.com/
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