The Manager and the Coach: Reflections on Coaching as a Management Practice

Those who know me know I am a long-time believer and practitioner of coaching. A bit more than ten years ago, I became a certified coach through the ORSC Accredited Coach Training Program. Since then, I have practiced coaching both in and outside of organizational settings.

As such, I have witnessed how coaching as part of a manager's toolkit can address some of the problems all organizations struggle with - including retaining talent, improving individual performance and charting individualized growth journeys.

To understand how, let’s start with a definition, and two caveats.

Managerial Coaching: What It Is, and How It Differs from Personal Development

First, a definition: managerial coaching is the use of coaching practices and tools to help an employee achieve high job performance, job satisfaction, happiness and growth.

While there are commonalities with the role of a personal development coach, it’s important to see the difference and boundaries.

Let’s start with the commonalities: managerial and personal development coaching will typically rely on a common agreement, seek to identify the coachee’s needs and expectations and shape a trajectory of growth and improvement. They also often use similar tools (more on that later).

But there is also a key difference: managerial coaching centers on job performance and organizational objectives. It may touch on personal development aspects, but the focus is not on the coachee’s personal life. That is why a personal development coach can delve into the coachee’s life and relationships in ways that would feel out of place to a manager.

Caveat: Being a Manager Does not Instantly Make You a Coach

The use of managerial coaching comes with a caveat: it does not posit that every line manager should become a coach, or act like one.?

Not every manager has the desire or the aptitude to coach, and that’s perfectly okay. And, as a coach and a manager, you should be able to identify that you are not the best fit for every person and every situation – whether because of your coaching style, your relationship or other factors.

But there are ways to address these cases and still deliver the benefits of coaching to employees.

One, you can have other coaching and mentoring schemes between employees, such as carefully selected office buddies, that can help avoid the pitfalls and limitations of hierarchical relationships.

Two, we should encourage the practice of having certified coaches as a resource within the company. These coaches can both act as a coach to employees and train managers to becoming better coaches. I have had several first-hand experiences where calling on certified coaches and developing alternative coaching relationships proved highly effective.

A starting toolkit for managerial coaching

Certified coaches can also help managers adopt tools and practices that set up managerial coaching for success.

For managers, an important realization is that successful coaching relationships require structure, dedicated tools and time windows that are separated from daily tasks. To that end, here are three tools and practices I have found particularly useful.

●????? First, you need a structured approach to coaching conversations. Coaching conversations don't just happen - they need preparation on both sides, specific questions and regular meetings (every month, for example) that focus on competencies, not tasks. Something I also find particularly productive is to have question templates, such as Start / Stop / Continue, that can elicit a richer and more open conversation.

●????? Tests and feedback tools can be eye-openers: many know that I'm a big fan - and certified professional - of TMA's Talent Analysis and 360-degree feedback, which I helped implemented in Hexagon's Asset Lifecycle Intelligence division. The Talent Analysis tool is a great conversation starter that steers away from strengths/weaknesses to understand what drives, motivates and energizes a person - but also the team as a whole. Do they want meetings to jump rapidly to decisions and practical details? Do they thrive on deadlines, or can they keep the ball moving in a long-term project that lacks them? At an aggregate level, it's a great way to see what your team likes, but also what collective pitfalls you should look out for.

·?????? Integrating Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) helps you obtain deeper insights. One reason I find NLP essential and integrated it into my practice is its power as a tool for success. NLP employs various techniques to understand the mind and language, enabling deeper, more meaningful conversations. It helps create the ideal conditions for effective communication by fostering focus, rapport, and attention to subtle elements like language patterns, underlying beliefs, and non-verbal cues.

Lastly, one of the ideas that NLP brought to me is that good coaching takes time. Your goal should be to have an open conversation that brings a few deep insights, not tick off a 20-item checklist.

What benefits?

Over the years, I've seen the use of coaching deliver a range of benefits that go both ways - they help both the coach and the coachee develop and grow.

The first benefit is a formalized, two-way, open conversation about the job, performance and expectations.

One of the most demoralizing experiences as a team member is going to your annual performance review with the belief that you did great, only to hear that you didn’t meet your manager’s expectations. Regular coaching conversations help align expectations and performance. They also establish better, broader and earlier conversations that consider behaviors, skills and interests, not just output.

A second benefit is achieving an individualized path to growth, happiness and job satisfaction. All too often, career progression is seen as linear and uniform, with advancement measured by the job title and the number of direct reports. But what if a person sees themselves as an individual contributor, rather than a manager? And, if they are attracted to a management position, what drives them? Where are they likely to thrive or to struggle?

Adopting a coaching approach will ensure that these questions are asked early on and given continuous attention - and avoid wasting talent, energy or skills through delayed conversations or unsuitable career paths.