Leadership vs Management Page 6

If you’ve reading along in our series about leadership vs management role, you have learned several key strategies and noted a few challenges. But, we’re not quite finished. Let’s move on to information concerning even more challenges that a coach will face.

Getting People To Understand The Boundaries
There are times when people think with this new coach’s style allows them (as team members) to do whatever they please, however they please. There are boundaries, however, no matter what type of leadership style is in place. The most important aspect here is that you, as the coach, clearly communicate the boundaries to the team.

Here are a couple of suggestions to help team members to understand what the boundaries are:

– Ensure your company clearly states its values. If your company does not, then develop team value statements. Value statements help people make decisions. The boundary is denoted when decisions contradict or conflict with the companies values.

– Ensure expectations are clearly communicated. By communicating expectations, (goals, targets, objectives, whatever you want to call them), you help to define what the boundaries are.

– If your company has a mission or vision statement, then talk about what this statement means in relation to the bigger picture and in relation to the teams’ role. Again, if there is no mission or vision statement then develop a team statement.

Developing trust
To get team members to say what they really think and having them be open and upfront is quite a unique challenge. Previous leadership styles discouraged people from speaking up. So to expect people to change overnight and truly believe it is okay to say what you think may take time to develop trust. You may find they are saying one thing but thinking another. You have to put the issues on the table rather than letting the issues go undetected or unaddressed.

People who are stuck
Some people are stuck in old ways and refuse to change. They think if they ignore this latest fad long enough it will go away. They attempt to influence those around them to resist this latest change. This can be frustrating, however, a good coach is able to identify those with that type of mindset and work with them to move forward. There comes a point, however, that when a person refuses to change it is best to for them and your team that they be released from employment. It is important to realize that not everyone will adapt to this new philosophy no matter how hard you try.

As a Coach, Who is Your Customer?
When taking over a Managers position and being responsible for coaching a team, an important question to ask yourself is this: who are your customers?

If you were to ask me when I was a Manager who my customers were, I would not hesitate to tell you the consumer, the shareholders, my boss. But in the changing environment we are in, as a coach it is important to realize that my biggest customer is the people I am coaching.

If I want them to make the decisions, if I want them to grow and develop, if I want them to develop the business, then I had better realize that my first customer is the people I am coaching. I should constantly be asking myself what their needs are, what can I do to make their job easier, and, how can I help them become better at what they do. So often you hear leaders state that they are coaches. But, when you look at where their priorities are, it is not with their people; it is usually with the outside customer.

Customer service is of the utmost importance in order to survive in relation to global competition that companies are facing today. But, your focus must be first with the inside customer, your people!

Performance Reviews
Performance reviews can be most revealing. We do performance reviews on staff. We ask for feedback from customers on our performance. Yet do we have performance reviews done on ourselves by those that we coach? This suggestion is very threatening to many leaders. However, it is a most effective way for coaches to both learn and grow.

On the one hand, you may not agree with all the comments you get back from your team. But the important thing to realize is not the comment itself. The important aspect is how you can change your behavior to help the person understand what it is you are doing.

As an example, here is a comment that I heard about my coaching style. I was told that I was moving too fast and was being unrealistic in my expectations. Rather than argue with the person about this comment, I realized that if the person was thinking this way I had not done a good enough job communicating why we needed to do, what had to be done faster due to the competition and for the survival of our business. I learned that I had to develop my communication skills further. I had to develop different and better methods of communicating so that everyone could see the urgency of moving much quicker than they had to in the past.

The one thing that strikes me is that as we progress in our career and take on a leadership role, the person who does our review is not the one that we most influence.

Think about how much more effective leaders would be if their own team was an integral part of their performance review. I have seen, first hand, the results of this review process which lead to a leader’s change in the way they acted and treated their team members.

Try a team based review process. The first time you try this review process, it probably is best to do it without asking team members to sign their names. You eventually need to know, however, who is making the comments so that you can address a particular issue with a particular staff member, or, if it is a negative comment shared by all team members, you may need to modify your style. But initially, so there is no threat to individuals and if you want truly honest feedback, do not have people sign their names.

This type of review will be the best development you will ever receive.

A Vital Ingredient
A lot has been written about managing and coaching over the years and some of this information has come from former managers who really understand the difference between being a manager and a coach. Since I have had the opportunity to report to many managers (and have also been a manager for many years) in the past, I have observed many different management styles.

But, the most effective style I have experienced is the one that began with the respect for each individual; the one who treated each individual as unique and took the time and energy to assist that individual to learn so that he/she could do their job effectively, and the one who mentored him/her by guiding them along a career growth path so that they could gain the experience needed to be considered for promotion.

Not every person is suited to be a coach even though they may have been a great employee, or even if they were an effective manager. As well, not every highly skilled and knowledgeable employee will make a good coach and leader. The essential quality that is needed for a great coach or leader is people skills, and the capability to acquire additional people skills as they continue to develop by undertaking different and more challenging assignments.

To Manage or To Coach

Allow people to manage their own work.
If you coach people, people will manage the work.
By attempting to manage people you are limiting their potential.
A manager is a title, it does not guarantee success.
Coaching is an action, not a title and actions result in successes!

To be a coach requires:
C haracter to be of strong character to show leadership
O ptimism optimistic; see the future not the present
A ction – the ability to take progressive action
C ompassion – the ability to show compassion
H umor having humor relieves stress in the workplace and yourself

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