Early on in our work with managers, we learned that some managers are simply masterful at coaching, but most were not so great at it. Yet whether managers were good or bad at coaching, it became clear to me that when it comes to managing people, so much of the real action takes place during coaching conversations.
The problem is that most managers only coach employees when they encounter a recurring performance problem. It might be missed deadlines or poor work quality, or a behavior issue, a bad attitude or something like that. When it starts to look like a problem isn't going away, that's when most managers decide to bring the employee into the office and coach: "There is a problem with your performance, and we need to have some coaching sessions until we 'coach' you out of this problem."
By this point, of course there are probably some bad feelings. The manager might be thinking, "What is your problem?!" And the employee might think, "Gee, why didn't you talk to me about this sooner?" Often the only next steps the manager can articulate at that point amount to, "Don't do this again" or, "Don't keep doing this." This leaves both the manager and the employee wondering when the problem will recur. Don't forget, if this is a recurring problem, that's probably because the employee either doesn't know what steps to follow to avoid the problem or else he or she has gotten into a bad habit that causes the problem to recur.
By the time a problem is recurring, it is too late to start coaching. The time to coach an employee is in advance, when you can still set that person up for success. For example, if you have an employee who chronically misses deadlines, then don't wait until she misses the next deadline to coach her. Start coaching that person up front when the deadline is set. The next time you set a deadline, start coaching on meeting the deadline. Help her establish intermediate benchmarks along the way. Every step of the way, help that employee make a plan for meeting those intermediate deadlines. Check in with the employee frequently. Talk through the accomplishment of each step in advance. Maybe you want to make sure you know how long each step takes and are the steps moving along at pace? If you do that, 99 percent of the time the employee is going to start meeting her deadlines.
Start coaching employees when problems develop but coach those employees every step of the way. You need to coach employees when they are doing great, you need to coach employees when they are doing just OK, you need to coach employees and help them develop good habits before they ever have a chance to develop bad habits.
BONUS MANAGEMENT BEST PRACTICE
Whether or not you consider yourself a real "natural leader," what natural traits and characteristics do you have that might HELP make you a more effective leader? Name those traits in yourself. Next to each trait, make some notes to yourself about what you could do to bring out more of that trait in yourself. What could you do to highlight that natural leadership strength?
