An Article by Cheryl Smith, Founder of Our Coach
If coaching in the workplace didn’t exist, we’d need to invent it.
Think about that. Over the last decade, the way people interact with their work and their employers has altered greatly. Empowerment, continuous change, greater emphasis on leadership and teamwork, and the need for flexibility have all created a workplace where coaching is not only the smart way to manage people — it’s perhaps the only way that works.
It no longer makes sense to command and control people when they themselves are responsible for their results. Nor can job-specific training and rigid procedures help people cope with shifting career requirements. A coach approach to managing in the workplace prepares people to make the most of their skills and aptitudes, to recognize the opportunities that best suit their talents, and moves them from motivation to action.
Coaching is sometimes confused with consulting. A consultant provides skills and/or resources to help the client do what they do more effectively. Conversely, manager-coaches help their direct reports acquire these assets themselves so they become better equipped, more resilient, more “employ-able.” In a consulting relationship, the consultant does the work and takes responsibility for the result: in coaching, the coachee is responsible for their own outcomes.
The Manager as Coach
A prevailing myth is that workplace coaching requires a horde of external coaches or coach-consultants working alongside management. There may be situations in which this is necessary — rapid, tumultuous change, for example — but for most organizations, getting managers to incorporate coaching into their skill set is what works best. Coaching builds on traditional management skills, adding components that encourage personal growth and development, leading to breakthrough performance. It’s become a core management competency in the modern organization.
How do managers acquire these skills? They can learn directly from a coach-mentor or they can take a coach training workshop. Coaching is a comprehensive approach to managing people and it requires a complete re-think of workplace relationships. A hands-on clinic is usually the best way to learn and practice coaching skills.
A word of caution; while many managers think they engage in coaching already, their understanding often comes from the sports world. Although there are many concepts in common, it’s the differences that create confusion and form the distinction between the sports field and the workplace. For example, the sports coach is seen as the expert who likely played the game once and knows the ins and outs of how to play. Whereas the leader-coach is likely not an expert in every job position, but rather knows what outcomes are needed from each player. Coaching in the workplace is not about knowing the answers, but about knowing what questions to ask to support team members to create their own game plans.
Over the years I have worked with leaders in many different countries who believed that coaching is really telling others what to do, how to do it and then sending them on their way with a pat on the back and a you-can-do-it positive attitude. This point of view quickly changes once we start to explore the foundational principles coaching is based on. The first principle I put forward is this: coaching is based on the belief that people hold their own answers within.
Embracing this principle then allows managers to make the paradigm shift needed to fully engage in coaching, vs. simply telling, or being the source of all solutions. Once we get to that place, then the work begins on the skills needed to be an effective organizational coach. Before fully embracing this principle, someone always asks the obvious question: “What if “they”[coachee] really don’t know?” Good question. How would you reply?
Think of coaching along a continuum where the focus shifts from you (the coach) to me (the coachee). In between the coach wears many hats, from manager, mentor, consultant, teacher or trainer. But always returns to the coachee for the commitment or action steps. For example, a manager may teach a direct report how to initiate a procedure or take responsibility for a project. And then return to a coaching question to support the individual to be successful in taking on the new responsibility.
Remembering the first principle of coaching allows the leader to change the nature of the conversation to one that promotes self discovery, solutions and commitments. An effective leader-coach needs to build a repertoire of powerful, open, discovery questions. When you let go of being the source of all solutions, it frees up the conversation to be exploratory and developmental. You could even call coaching the true meaning of empowerment in the workplace.
Marilyn Duggan, director of human resources for Methanex Corporation, has been encouraging managers to develop coaching skills for years. “I think coaching is the key to getting the best from people,” she says. “Coaching helps overcome the disconnect that often happens between people.”
One of the benefits of the coach approach is that managers are better equipped to delegate. Delegation through coaching is about “getting things done through people,” says Duggan. “Not telling, but helping them discover. They feel better, and you can delegate confidently—confident that they’ll come back to seek support.”
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