LEADER AS A COACH

Boss, Manager, Leader, Coach.

We could easily think that all of these could mean the same. The person who you report to/ or work for Could be called your

• Manager·     
• Boss
• Leader
• Coach.

But just because you can call that person with all these names, doesn’t necessarily mean all these are the same.

In the IT industries we use these words interchangeably. However in others these roles mean very different things. For e.g., Sports. Let’s take cricket. From this game's perspective, when you say these words each of them come with a different responsibility. 

Manager, Boss, Coach, Leader

That helps us put some perspective on how different these roles actually are. Coming back to IT industry, we have used all these interchangeably. However, our industry in now going through a transformation where we are no are longer looking for Bosses or Managers.

In fact we are not even looking for just Leaders; we are looking for Coaches. What it means is, as an industry we are moving away from the concept of hierarchy. We had one person who has a list of tasks. Allocates 10 people of all the tasks and once completed he comes back to take the status.

This my friends is history.

In the new age we are looking for leaders who are able to

• Take a task
• Understand the details
• Help the team understand what needs to be done.
• Work along, assist and coach the team throughout the tasks and help them complete the work

This is the future of collaborative working.

So how do we transition from being a manager to becoming an effective Coach? The leader needs to

1.      Lead Vs Boss This is a huge mind-set change that the current managers need to go through. It’s a hard fact for the long time managers to accept.

There is still a lot of apprehension when we talk about a flat team. What happens if everyone is in the same level, who takes accountability? If someone doesn’t do the job, who takes care of that work?

It’s important to understand what a flat team means. Firstly we need to break away from the assumption that someone doesn’t do the job well because they are lazy.

In a flat team a leader as a coach would work with the person who is struggling to complete the work and help and assist in getting the job done.

 That brings me to the second point.

2.      Teach & Assist Vs Command & instruct We are moving away from the concept of 1 person standing on the TOP and commanding. We do not need Task Trackers.

A leader as a coach would stand in FRONT and work with the team to succeed. As a coach we

•  Talk to every single person in the team.
•  Listen to their concerns.
•  Sort their issues.

 3.      Encourage & Reward Vs Blame & Punish

When there is an issue “Address the ‘WHAT’ not the ‘WHO’ ”.

 To sort out an issue it’s important to look at WHAT caused the issue and fix that. We have to restraint ourselves from immediately looking at WHO caused it.

When there is a leak in a pipe. You work to stop the leak. If you kill time talking about who caused the leak, who only waste time and water.

A leader as a coach works on providing constructive feedback and helping the person to do better than assign blame.

 A Leader as a coach needs to encourage and reward. The only thing that is free in life is a ‘Thank You’.

A leader would go a long way when they know how to appreciate. And appreciate genuinely. I cannot stress this enough.

The worst thing you can do is appreciate for the sake of it. Everybody understands a fake “thanks”. It demotivates the person even more.  

 4.      Build Trust Vs Build fear

Trust is a long term game. It’s not built in a week or two. You need to work hard and work consistently with someone to build their trust.

 A leader as a coach

• Is Happy to learn new things, and also from their teammates.
• Doesn’t shy away from admitting when they are wrong.
• Backs their team at all times. There is no 2 ways about this, AT ALL TIMES.
• Empowers your team. “Empower” this is an over abused word these days. It simply means, allow everyone to make their own decision. You don’t need to step into every decision they make. When the decision they take is right, appreciate. When the decision they take doesn't work out, coach them in the right direction. And leave it at that. Next decision time, take a step back and allow them to own it.
• Show integrity. In our work place INTEGRITY is largely undervalued virtue. People don't consider being honest and forthright to be cool.  But let me tell you something. We all have these 2 kinds of people in our life. One - We LIKE them, but don’t necessarily respect them. Second - We like or dislike them, but somehow HAVE to respect them. We hate the fact that we respect them, but we just simply do. We all have that someone in our lives like that isn’t it? Take a minute and think about that person.

The X factor in them, is INTEGRITY.

 5.      Cool uncle Vs Grumpy Old Grandfather

Many of us, I think, have had "Grumpy old grandfathers". They walk into the house and everyone is on high alert. He is cranky and feels entitled. He is hungry and he needs his food right away and he needs it exactly the way he wants it. He likes broccoli, that’s what gets cooked for everyone. No one else preference is considered.

This kind of a boss or a manager is now history.

What we are looking for is the "Cool Uncle".

• He is fun to hangout with.
• He buys us what we want.
• He is our confidant.
• He saves us when we get into trouble, but tells us what we did wrong.
• He teaches us how to drive.
• He advises us on how to take our career further.

He is a friend when we need one and a parent when we need one.

This is the mind set change that the current generation managers need to go through. We cannot be the entitled grumpy old grandfather.

Today’s Leader as coach needs to learn how to be the "Cool Uncle".