Highly Effective Management in 10 Minutes or Less

Highly Effective Management in 10 Minutes or Less

What’s the biggest barrier your managers and leaders have to coaching their people more often? Lack of skill? No. Lack of commitment? For some sure, but not for most.

It’s lack of time. They are overwhelmed and overcommitted. They don’t think they’ve got time for coaching.

So it’s always been. Even while proclaiming the value of coaching in his influential Harvard Business Review article “Leadership That Gets Results,” Daniel Goleman shrugged his shoulders and claimed, “Many leaders told us they don’t have the time in this high-pressure economy for the slow and tedious work of teaching people and helping them grow.” A decade later, a report from BlessingWhite called “The Coaching Conundrum” cited “no time, no time” as the biggest barrier to why managers don’t coach.

And it feels like we’ve only gotten busier in the meantime.

On the one hand, people are right. Nobody has time for coaching if you hold the mistaken belief that manager coaching and executive coaching are similar. Executive coaches typically have the luxury of showing up regularly – once or twice a month – and having a focused hour with their clients. But it turns out that that’s a terrible role model for most managers.

Coach in 10 minutes or less

For those in-house, coaching has to be fast, and at Box of Crayons our stand is that if you can’t coach in 10 minutes or less, you don’t have time to coach. What’s more, coaching can’t be additional work on top of what you already do. You have to think of it as a way of transforming your current interactions. You can’t pour any more water into the glass – you have to change the colour of the water in the glass. And finally, it has to be a near-daily occurrence. The metaphor is drip-irrigation rather than the occasional flash flood.

Two of the best tactics for being able to coach in 10 minutes or less is knowing how to start your conversations more quickly and how to finish them more powerfully.

Here’s how you do that:

Start fast

Ever been trapped in one of those meandering conversations that seems to be taking an eon to get anywhere interesting, and you see your life ticking away? Of course you have. Ever been the one who’s been doing the trapping? The answer’s probably “yes” to that as well.

Over the years, I’ve noticed one of the key marks of a powerful leader/manager/coach is his or her ability to get to the heart of an issue quickly. And if there’s one great opening question that will get you there most of the time, it’s the Kickstart Question: “What’s on your mind?”

You’ll notice that it’s an open question, and it gives the person you’re asking the choice of what to talk about. But you’re not saying, “Talk about anything.” You’re saying, “Tell me what’s exciting, overwhelming, all-consuming and anxiety-provoking. Tell me about something that matters.”

In addition, you’re playing to two of Daniel Pink’s (a best-selling author on business, work and management) key motivational drivers: autonomy and mastery, and perhaps even purpose as well. Autonomy, because you’re asking them to make the choice rather than telling them what to do. Mastery, because you’re inviting them to decide what matters most. And purpose,because you’re giving them the opportunity to focus on the stuff that truly matters.

Here’s an idea: Blow up the agenda of your usual one-to-one meetings, and instead begin by asking employees, “What’s on your mind?” You might be surprised to see where the conversation goes. I’ll bet you dollars to donuts it’s a more interesting conversation for you and for them.

End strong

A favourite definition of what coaching is comes from Sir John Whitmore. In part he says that coaching is “helping them learn, rather than teaching them.” It’s a useful distinction, isn’t it? Less teaching (“Let me tell you what to do”), and more learning (“Let me ask you what you think”).

But how do you encourage learning? People don’t learn when you tell them stuff. They don’t even learn when they do things. They only really learn when they have a moment to reflect on what just happened.

My favourite way to help make that happen is by asking what I call “The Learning Question,” which is: “What was most useful here for you?” You get three bangs for your buck. First, you help them find the value in the conversation that they otherwise might miss. Second, you get feedback on what you’re doing right so you can do more of that the next time. And finally, you keep framing every interaction with you as a useful one. That’s only going to contribute to a positive working relationship.

Here’s a thought: When you finish your next team meeting, rather than rushing off to the next thing, spend two minutes and go around the room (virtual or not) and ask: “What was most useful here for you?” See what impact that has as your team meetings evolve and change, as you (and they) uncover what is (and isn’t) useful.

Bookend it

These two questions – The Kickstart Question, “What’s on your mind?” and The Learning Question, “What was most useful here for you?” – are the “Coaching Bookends.” Start your conversations more quickly and get to the stuff that matters faster. Finish your conversations more strongly, and extract the value of what’s there. Do this, and you’re well on your way to being able to coach in 10 minutes or less, and building your own coaching habit.

Originally published in the May/June 2016 edition of Your Workplace magazine (vol. 18-3).  Inspired People. Outstanding Results. Reprinted with permission. www.yourworkplace.ca.

 

 

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ABOUT MICHAEL BUNGAY STANIER & BOX OF CRAYONS

Michael Bungay Stanier is the Senior Partner and Founder of Box of Crayons, a company that helps people and organizations do less Good Work and more Great Work. They're best know from their coaching programs that give busy managers the tools to coach in 10 minutes or less.

Download free chapters of Michael's latest book The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever here.

Already read it? Fantastic! If you felt so moved, an Amazon rating/review
is always greatly appreciated.

Colleen Tucker

Senior Customer Success Engineer at CentralSquare Technologies

8 年

Great tips, Michael. Thanks for sharing.

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Simon Geoghegan

Principal @ Yellow House Inc. A leadership development company focused on sales leaders. We grow sales leaders from the inside out!

8 年

Great article! I love the idea of '10 minutes or less'. It could apply to a lot of interactions we have in organizations that generally come in 30 or 60 minute increments.

Majid Bashir

GM Commercial - Bay West Off Dock Terminal, Supreme Off Dock Terminal & Sky Media Off Dock Terminals (Bilal Group)

8 年

This is excellent !

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Angela Prestil, I-CUDE, CUDE, ADE, AADE

Empathy || Member Experience || Employee Engagement || Credit Union Difference || Passionate Development Educator

8 年

I really like how easy these concepts are to work into daily conversations. It shifts the focus off of the manager and onto what's important to the employee.

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