Making The Shift From Manager To Coach. Through our on-the-ground, practical experience garnered from working with 100’s of leaders in the mid-market and SME space, it’s become evident to us that employees want their managers to be coaches, not bosses. Best practice suggests the best managers have frequent, meaningful conversations with their employees on a consistent basis.
At GROW, we believe that enhancing your working relationships with people is of utmost importance to create a high performing team. Shifting from a managerial mindset to that of a coach is the best way to build these relationships. Coaches focus more on individual engagement. They understand they need to utilise their employees’ strengths and talents to drive business success. Clear expectations are set and feedback that optimises an individual’s performance is provided to increase the overall effectiveness of a team.
Managers as a coach
The best manager for any team is the manager who can influence performance of their team. The path to success in a fast-moving, highly competitive, and technology-driven world is to develop high-performing teams who able and willing to operate collaboratively and proactively by providing them with the appropriate resources and the freedom to do great things.
According to a study of management conducted in 1994, you need to go beyond the traditional notion of management. Traditional management focused on controlling, supervising, validating, rewarding, and punishing. Instead a coaching approach to management where a climate of communication, respect, feedback, and trust is created.
“In my experience, the basis of coaching comes down to conversation”, says Roberg. Coaching within the business environment means having the ability to convey value for a person, from where they are, to where both the employee and you want them to be.
Part of your responsibility as a leader is to optimise employee performance and potential. This is best done when the employees’ role is objectivised and both management and employees understand what success and good work look like, against agreed measurable accountabilities. The coaching conversation provides the most effective environment to safely discuss and shift employee performance and behaviour. Research confirms that managers who initiate coaching or carry out coaching themselves not only get better results out of the employees coached, but also help strengthen the employee attachment to the organisation.
The power of one-on-ones
The use of one-on-one conversations is the most important tool for any manager wanting to make a shift from manager to coach. Consistent One-on-one conversations have a very powerful impact in your employees’ working lives. Two people connecting on a frequent basis promotes the most important ingredient for fostering effective connections. Being available to engage with one another and the giving of your time sends a clear message to the other person that they are valuable a key ingredient in fostering effective work relationships. To achieve optimal results, it is imperative to form meaningful work relationships within your business.
How to effectively conduct a one-on-one
At GROW, we have learnt through experience the value of having consistent one on one conversations and what elements must be in place to ensure these conversations are productive. In his previous blog, ‘Building blocks to an effective on-on-one’, Roberg provided insight regarding the impact of one-on-ones, as well as the best way to use and lead up to them. In addition to his previous blog, Roberg now further unpacks the following five elements that managers, as coaches, should take into consideration:
Frequency of engagement
The frequency will vary depending on the logistics and nature of your business. ‘Nine lies about work’, a book published in 2019, states that research shows that the number of people a person can manage is directionally proportionate to the number of people that he or she can meaningfully have a one-on-one with weekly. Our Optimal Frequency Formula at GROW includes meeting for a direct report once a week, twice each quarter with your peers, and any other key people at least 4 times a year. Following this formula has shown to be powerful within our organisation. We know that when we aren’t connecting as much as we should, the relationship needs to be started up again before we operate as seamlessly as we do when we are connecting regularly.
Qualitative connection
Consistency and quality give you optimal connection. Qualitative elements include, the physical environment, planning, preparation, and the quality of the conversation itself.
Physical environment factor
Providing a quiet space with no interruptions removes possible distractions from the task at hand. Using a neutral venue is preferred, as it enhances the engagement, especially when people who rank differently within the business meet. An environment such as a high-ranking employee’s office reinforces the distinction between a boss and direct rapport. With online and telephonic meetings being our current life, it can feel impersonal and disrupt thinking by not being able to see body language and emotive cues.
Avoid having tough conversations using technology. If face-to-face is not possible, online, with cameras on is preferred.
Planning and preparation
It is important to your employees are given enough lead time and warning to allow them to prepare their thoughts. Consistent scheduling will promote this as employees and manger know when this conversation is expected to take place and can therefore prepare accordingly.
Confirm the context of the conversation. What do you want to learn, understand better and discuss? Provide clarity on why the meeting is taking place; what you want, and what you don’t want. From a dialogue perspective, prepare to ask questions? What are your concerns? What are you frustrated about?
Effective conversations
The hallmarks of an effective coaching conversation include asking good questions and listening for meaning. The manager and employee prepare questions based on what he/she wants to learn and understand better. Then both parties need to actively listen, listening for both what has been said and what has not been said, looking out for nonverbal ques (body language, tone, expression) A conversation with these characteristics is characterised as a’ dance’ where both the manager and employee dialogue to unlock insights and new learning, leaving them both smarter and more aligned at the end of the conversation. Making The Shift From Manager To Coach
How GROW can help you
While some managers instinctively know how to coach, others need to be taught. Our focus is to implement formulas that help leaders and managers to transition from bosses to coaches. By so doing, we help leaders and their teams to unlock their potential, so that they build a profitable, impactful and sustainable business.
If you would like to know more about Managers (leaders) as Coaches and listen to other valuable insights from Coach Matthias Roberg please visit the full presentation here.
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