Challenges in Adopting a Coaching Style
by Byron and Catherine Pulsifer, © 2004 As with everything in life you will face challenges. The difference is when taking over a Manager position is how you handle these challenges. Make no mistake, as you change your leadership style to one of a coach you will face challenges. There will be times when you question why am I doing this. However, you must at all times keep the long term benefits of being a coach at the forefront of your mind. You must stay focused on the end result. As William Channing once said, “Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage.” Here are some examples of some of the challenges you will face.
The best way to handle this is to give no answers to the questions. The person may just need to gain a little confidence. By discussing the issue with you, they gain the confidence to make the decision on thier own. When asked a question, always respond with, “What do you think?” Once they give you the answer, ask them, “why did you bring it to me, you knew the right answer all along”. If their response is not what you would have done, consider their response. If it is an acceptable one and gets the job done without violating any policy, keep your opinion to yourself. If their response was not acceptable, then ask questions to get them to look at the situation in a different light. But, never, never give them the answer. Let them identify the answer themselves - that's how they learn!
Time involved - As previously mentioned, coaching takes time, it takes involvement, it takes understanding and patience. Again, staying focused on the end result will allow you to overcome this challenge. Remember the words of Abraham Lincoln, Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time.”
Letting go - Sometimes, one of the hardest issues with coaching is letting go of making all or most of the decisions. Not doing everything yourself, but instead relying on other people knowing that you are ultimately responsible. If you continue to hang on to tasks or issues, then you are not developing your people. They are not learning from you. Elbert Hubbard said, “The greatest mistake a person can make is to be afraid of making one.”
People still focusing on processes rather than on results
You have to continually reinforce the bigger picture. There has to be a lot of discussion to help people move their thinking from one of "process" to that of "results". Individual meetings and group meetings help move people just by discussing the end result.
Developing a consensus - Some people will resist the idea of consensus. They want to be told what to do. They do not want to be part of the process; they do not want to be accountable for the project or decision should something go wrong. At this point, you must reinforce that it is everyone's responsibility. No longer do we work in an environment where one individual is soley responsible. Reinforce the team concept.
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Examples can often provide words of wisdom:
I had an experience, when I first started coaching, that caught me off guard. The person said to me it was not their job; it was managements job and that I was not doing my job. You will hear comments like that and it takes a lot of patience to listen to the comment and then postively explain. (On the positive side, at least the person felt safe enough to say the comment to my face rather than behind my back!) The best way to deal with comments like this is to ask questions (rather than trying to explain). So my first question was, “who understands this issue more?” Of course the employee was the expert not me. Then, my next question was, “Who pays all of our salaries”. The answer, after some discussion was, “the consumer who buys our products.” Next question was, “if you are the expert in this field, and the consumer ultimately pays your salary, then who should be responsible for handling this issue?”
By the time we were finished the employee walked away satisfied, but more importantly, they realized the importance of thier role and their contribution. (The one thing to realize is this situation, is that conversation took about 30 minutes, I could have made the decision in about 5 minutes! But my focus is on the next situation, that employee will not bring it to me, they will make the decsion. So in the long run I saved myself a lot of time and at the same time empowered the employee to use the knowledge and experience they had.)