Manager as coach and “Walking the Talk.”

Posted by shonagarner on Wednesday, April 6, 2011 · Leave a Comment

Manager as coach and “Walking the Talk.”

Why my trip to Ireland will help me “walk my talk”!

Recently, I’ve been running a number of workshops for clients which help the managers attending to feel a bit more confident about coaching their staff. These are short workshops: nothing fancy; just a “quick and dirty” overview which I hope gives participants enough to help them understand what coaching is, how they can easily adapt it into their management of their staff, and some simple practice so they can feel a bit more confident when they go back into the office the next day.

I find they come along to these sessions with a mix of questions and feelings about what coaching means to them but, the more I talk to managers, the clearer it is there are some common themes emerging.

Here are some of the things I’ve noticed they feel or want to know:

· How on earth do I coach someone?

· How is coaching different to managing?

· Is coaching always appropriate?

· How do I coach someone who doesn’t want to be coached?

· How do I find time to coach?

· I don’t feel confident enough to coach.

These managers may find themselves being encouraged through their own line managers, or HR, to develop a “coaching approach”, but quite frankly, are at a loss about quite what this means and how to go about it.

Now, you could even take a degree in coaching if you wanted – but here’s the thing: you don’t have to study in such depth to be a great coach: many of the world’s best managers haven’t, yet they still do an amazing job; and simply having a qualification in something doesn’t mean you’re going to be good at it! (How many managers do you know who have the MBA but are leaving a trail of destruction behind them in the office?)

So we spend some time in these workshops, answering those common questions they have and looking at what I call “the fundamentals” of coaching: the principles and qualities which make for an outstanding coach; and guess what? The same principles and qualities and attributes come up over and over – no matter which group I stand in front of.

And three of those qualities are integrity, credibility and respect.

Great coaches are people you look up to: people who have a certain level of skill, but who don’t brag about their ability. People who elicit respect because they respect others. People who have high standards, and who challenge others, but they impose the same standards on themselves too.

They “walk the talk”.

What does this mean to me? It means I can’t challenge my staff, can’t expect them to reflect on and improve their own performance, if I’m not willing to reflect on and improve my own. It means in the same way I expect my staff to set personal goals, I need to set my own, and they need to see that I’m also striving to improve. It means, when I’m standing in front of participants at my workshops, I want them to know that I’m on a performance improvement journey too. It’s not a case of “do as I say, not as I do”.

That’s “walking the talk.”

And that’s why, for the last 7 years, in one form or another, I’ve had coaches coaching me. Why I’m off to Ireland to meet with a coach and mentor this month, and a group of other, like-minded individuals, who want to be stretched, to reflect on their performance, and to get better at what they do. I’m going to come away with some goals and some action plans. I know achieving those goals is going to take me out of my comfort zone – but then, as one coach taught me, by definition, anything you’ve not already got or achieved is by definition, out of your comfort zone, or you’d already have it.

Manager as coach: 3 questions you need to ask yourself if you want to coach your staff

So if you’re a manager who wants to know a little more about how to coach your staff, try starting with these questions first:

1. When was the last time you honestly reflected on your own performance and set some personal goals?

Unless you’re Mr or Mrs “Perfect”, then I guess there’s room for improvement!

When I teach the 4 core skills of outstanding managers, I always ask participants to rate themselves on their ability in each of those 4 core areas. I ask them, on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being, “I’m brilliant at that”, how they would rate themselves in each of those 4 skills. If they answer anything less than 10 they have some actions! And if they answer less than 6 they almost certainly might want to set some personal goals to help them improve that score.

Why do this? Because, as a manager or coach, you’re going to be looking at other people’s performance and encouraging them to take action.

By going through the same process yourself, you understand how it feels, (particularly the discomfort of moving out of our comfort zone), and you demonstrate that you believe in this process for everyone, including you! , including you!

As my kids would say: “respect!”

2. When was the last time you actually applied something you learned?

Sending people on training courses isn’t what is going to solve a performance issue. What they do with that learning when they get back might!

When did you last apply something you learned, with a demonstrable result?

Or are you guilty of going to training courses, coming back, sticking the stuff on the shelf, and going back to how you were before?

If you do – how can you expect your staff to do what you won’t?

3. What work goals are you currently working on right now?

If you‘re looking blank at this stage – need I say more?

Think of someone who has inspired you to take action. Chances are it’s “because they walk the talk.” It’s because you can see they clearly believe in what they’re doing, they’re living it, and so it inspires you to do the same.

Before you even think of taking that coaching qualification, ask yourself, “am I prepared to walk the talk?” If your answer is “No”, save your time and money!

Me? I’m off to Ireland to stretch my comfort zone! I’ll let you know what actions I commit to when I get back!

Interested to know more about using coaching skills as a manager? You can find out much more about coaching in our online management resources.

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For more information to help you with the people side of management,
including how to improve employee motivation and get the best out of your team, take a look at these great resources: