Managers as Coaches – 6 Key Tips

My son’s rugby team lost this weekend on the back of a big training week - and to make matters worse there were 3 yellow cards! The coach was furious!

 “What happened out there? You forgot everything we practiced! I cannot play this game for you!”

 At practice, the rugby coach spent two hours with this team of 20 11-year olds. They focused on the line-out, passing and handling drills and ruck and maul. So much to remember, or so much to forget. The training occurred four days before the game and not in a real play environment….. add that to a team that on the day was under huge pressure as their opponents were top of their division. 

 No wonder that they started panicking. They didn’t know what the one thing was that they needed to focus on, when the pressure was on.

 This got me thinking about the Coaching and Mentoring programs for Managers we are running at the moment.

Is it too simplistic to compare our coaching in our business environment to what happens on my son’s rugby team? Maybe.

But maybe it highlights what we as coaches need to do for our coachees – keep it simple.

Our experience as Learning & Development consultants is that managers often over-complicate the coaching process without realising it.

 They overanalyse and overthink how they are going to deliver the coaching.

They postpone coaching as they wait for the “ideal time”.

Due to being time-poor, when they do finally get around to coaching, they coach on all aspects of the role at once. As a result, their coachee has difficulty deciding what they need to focus on to achieve their goal.

So if you’re currently running your own internal programs and looking for pointers, here are the Peopleconnexion International team’s tips to keep you on track:

1.   Just start

Don’t wait any longer. There is no benefit in waiting for the “right time” to coach and mentor an employee or launch a program.

 What are you really going to lose? There’s a quote coined by Henry Ford that really sums up this mindset: “The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay.”

2.   Keep it simple

How do you take the topic that you are coaching on and identify the low hanging fruit?

What is one behaviour/ one thing that the coachee can change that will have a large impact? What is your strength as a coach and how can you help your coachee by giving feedback and helping him to gain self-awareness and insights in order to focus on the gaps and desired performance?

3.   One step at a time

Do not over complicate the coaching session by being too generic or lack specifics. When we change behaviours we need to focus on one thing at a time. Break it down for your coachee.

4.   Keep it short.

Coaching is about conversations, great questions and listening effectively; as you challenge thinking and assumptions, provide assessment and drive results. Spend the right amount of time to achieve this. All the while focusing on the one thing.

5.   Apply as soon as possible.

How can the coachee apply this as soon as possible? What can they do today, tomorrow? What is the impact on the business?

6.   Feedback

Acknowledge the gains, acknowledge the attempts and acknowledge the failures that have arisen by trying something new and it not working out the first time. Those are all positive behaviours as most of us didn’t walk the very first time we stood up.

I’d love to hear any advice you have from running internal coaching initiatives in your organisation – feel free to leave a comment below. I’m off to phone the rugby coach with a few tips…..wish me luck.

For information some of the successes we’ve had with our Coaching & Mentoring programs in PNG and how we can develop capability in your organisation, please contact me directly via [email protected] or visit www.peopleconnexion.com/training