Why Don’t Managers Coach More
There are hosts of reasons why managers are reluctant to use a coaching style of management. When you are deep in your daily workload, it seems like a gigantic leap to include coaching in your management toolbox. I’ve created a list of potential reasons why managers feel coaching won’t work for them…see if any of these reasons resonate with you.
What Is Coaching
Are you clear about what coaching provides for you and your employees? Coaching is a management buzzword though many people haven’t fully comprehended what it is and how it can benefit them. There are all types of coaching: executive, personal, career, spiritual, relationship and not last, manager’s ability to coach their team members. What if you don’t understand what coaching is and the value it offers.
Don’t Know How to Coach
Are you telling yourself that it’s too complicated to do and you are just not good at it? Anyone can learn the skill of coaching when they see the value and are willing to stretch himself or herself to learn something new.
Before you assume you have limited skills in this area, think about times that you have listened to your employees, planned goals and deliverables, held your employees accountable to completing the work and respecting each of them for what they bring to the table. You may know more than you think. What you may need is a system to help you implement coaching as your primary management interaction with your employees.
Not Enough Time
It takes too much time is one of the top reasons that managers expressed when they think about coaching. What if the time invested upfront would ultimately save you time and add to your department’s productivity and the overall happiness of your employees.
Culture
No one supports coaching at your company, and they are only interested in speed and the bottom line. What if you could increase your bottom line results by implementing a coaching style of interaction with your each of your team members?
A Good Manager Provides The Answers
Many managers are proud they are the point of contact for solutions. Coaching puts that responsibility on the employees to provide solutions. A manager’s job is to develop people and not necessarily provide all of the answers.
Can’t Trust Employees
Do you believe that you have to micromanage your employees, keep them on the narrow path to get work done? The coaching style of management starts to reform employee’s level of accountability so you can relinquish micromanaging.
Too Many Direct Reports
You have too many people that report to you, and you can’t possibly give them all the time and attention they need and still manage the department. What if you could learn a system that would provide you with the 1:1 coaching relationship and still meet your bottom line?
Coaching is a powerful motivational tool. Initially, the coaching style of management feels awkward, yet once you master the process, you will see a big difference in your effectiveness with your team members and their levels of productivity.
Final Thoughts
I’m writing a series on coaching for managers, and this is the first of many posts that will address coaching as a management style. Included in the follow-up posts will be about the coaching process, how coaching creates change, basics of coaching, coaching opportunities, how to communicate using coaching, how to measure your success after implementing a coaching management style.
As you learn the mechanics of coaching, your comfort level will increase. You will attract stronger employees as well as upper management’s recognition that you produce the best results. If you want to develop your ability to manage employees effectively, then decide to utilize coaching as your management style.
Pat
