Coaching to the Ambiguous

One of the toughest things we go through as leaders when developing talent is assuming some foundational things that are often ambiguous. What do I mean? Let's say you lead a meeting like what I witnessed at a client site where the leader continually states you have to show a sense of urgency. This begs the question will everybody in that room without it being defined have the exact same understanding and definition of a sense of urgency? Of course not!

I believe this presents a unique opportunity for managers and leaders. When there is misunderstanding there is often frustration and confusion. We also have to be honest as managers we cannot lead from our own assumed perspectives. I know in my own company that I have a much different view of certain things just due to the fact that I'm an owner and have financial responsibility of the company. This does not say my employees do not have a respect or concern but how can they truly have the same perspective unless they own part of the company. We often assume people have the same passion or conviction to what we need or the way we do things.

For example, would you and your employees have the following same definitions and expectations of the following areas?:

• Time sensitive
• Sense of urgency
• Relationship building
• Taking / Showing Initiative
• Being Proactive
• Customer care
• Being a great teammate

This is obviously not a complete list but think of the  items I mentioned and what would your employees and fellow teammates really think of these as well as define them? For example, when a manager looks at an employee and  states they have to show the customer they care wouldn't  we all agree we have different definitions of what that would be? Does that mean the employee is wrong or a bad employee if they show less care than the manager who might have a higher definition or set of expectations specific to the term or phrase customer care?

I share all of this not as a point of criticism but rather as an opportunity. Let's take the prior example. What if the manager got angry because the employee did not show the level of customer care he or she was expecting; therefore, the manager may create discontent with the employee when they provide the level of dissatisfaction with the employee's performance. I'm not sure if anyone is at fault because you cannot coach what you cannot define.

One of the things I hear about the end of each year from employees is there frustration and lack of trust towards their managers because things were brought up in their annual review they felt were never mentioned during the course of the year. Again, is anybody really at fault?

Let me provide one more example. Often I will work with sales teams and their leaders in a coaching model that drives performance. I hear so often salespeople saying that they have great relationships with their customers. They say it almost as if they're not vulnerable to the competition. Here is a very interesting observation and coaching question that I share with you. I will ask those people what have they done specifically in the last 30 to 45 days that will differentiate them in the marketplace from an action perspective. Often, I get puzzled looks or ones of confusion. Translation? They really don't have an explanation or definition of relationship building, rather they have their own emotional interpretation of what it is and how they do it. What if we defined relationship building as a series of differentiating actions a sales professional can take that can insulate them on an ongoing basis from the competition? Wouldn't we be raising the bar or expectation that would prompt the salespeople to perform even greater actions?

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