The work culture at Northeast Consulting Group is centered around having a team oriented environment that allows people to feel happy, safe, and comfortable in the workplace. We feel as though this allows our people to achieve professional successes and even develop personally by overcoming their fears of speaking up, public speaking, and stepping off of the sidelines and up into the spotlight. So, when we saw this article from the Harvard Business Review about how you can't be a great manager without being a great coach, we decided we had to share it with our team and the community.
YOU CAN'T BE A GREAT MANAGER IF YOU'RE NOT A GREAT COACH!
The most motivating condition for people in the work place is feeling like you're making progress at something that is meaningful to you. If your job involves leading others the most important thing you can do is to help your people feel like they're experiencing progress. Easier said than done, right? The only way that someone in a leadership role can achieve this is by gaining an understanding of what drives each person. Know their goals, dreams, aspirations, and what they want moving forward. Then, build connections between those and the workplace mission and objectives. This is how you help people learn and grow on an ongoing basis. But, doing this once of twice will not make the difference. Having REGULAR communication around development (coaching conversations), is essential. The biggest thing that separates highly effective managers from average managers is one thing, coaching.
Anyone who has been around the job force over the last few years and has frequently changed positions tends to know that coaching isn't what most managers are expected to do. Most managers think that they don't have time to have these kinds of coaching conversations with their people and if they do have the time, they feel like they lack the skills to have the conversation effectively. If managers aren't getting actively involved, then employee growth is stunted. When that happens, then the engagement and retention of the employees decreases and work morale and turnover increases.
If you're a manager already or aspire to be one there are simple things that can be done right away to make you more effective. They don't require you to spend money and go back to school, or attend a training seminar, or to buy books on "how to be a manager." Just start by engaging in regular conversations to help support your teams ongoing learning and development. Here are the top five tips to help you get started!
1. Listen Deeply.
Remember that annoying feeling you have when you're trying to get an important message across to someone who clearly has a lot of things on their mind? Well, don't be "that person." If you're having a conversation with one of your people, focus on them completely and actively listen to what they're saying. Put away your cell phone, shut down your email, and close your office door to eliminate distractions. Start the conversation by asking questions such as, "How would you like to grow this month in the company?" Or, something similar. What you say isn't nearly as important as the intention you have behind what you're saying. create a connection with your team member that will make them want to open up to you and help them think more creatively.
2. Ask, DON'T TELL.
As a manager, you're probably used to sharing, right? You have a high level of expertise and you're using to giving direction. This is great for when you're clarifying instructions, or leading a project, or giving advice to someone who asks for it. This is NOT okay for when you're trying to have a coaching conversation. You have to restrain your impulse to provide answers. Your path is not your team members path. Open-ended questions, not answers, are the tools to coaching. You succeed as a coach by helping your team members articulate their goals and challenges and by helping them find their own answers. If you're always giving your people the answers they will never grow.
3. Create A "Developmental Alliance."
Supporting your team members' developmental goals and strategies is essential to increasing your effectiveness as a manager. For example, say one of your people would like to develop by gaining a deeper understanding of some of the other services your firm provides. To achieve this, you suggest that she accompany you a team site visit in a different location, interview the users, and create an article on the experience to post on your firms blog. Now, the follow through on that suggestion is essential. You need to make sure that the individual in question has the authorization, space, and resources necessary to carry out the developmental plan. Follow-up is critical to build trust and to make your coaching more effective. The more you follow through the more productive your coaching becomes, the more your employees trust you, and the more engaged they become.
4. Focus On Moving Forward Positively.
While venting can provide temporary relief, it doesn't generate solutions. Take a moment to acknowledge the frustrations of your people, but then encourage them to think about how to move past them. Ask questions to help lead them in the right direction and focus on positive solutions to negative problems.
5. Build Accountability!
In addition to making sure you follow through on commitments that you make to employees in coaching conversations, ti's also useful to build accountability for the employee's side of implementing developmental plans. Accountability increases the positive impact of coaching conversations and solidifies their rightful place as a key to the organizations effectiveness.
What will coaching your employees do for you? It will build a stronger bond between you and your team, support them in taking ownership over their own learning, and help them develop the skills they need to perform. Also, it FEELS GOOD! So go ahead and take the jump. You'll love the thrill of coaching conversations that catalyze your teams' growth!
Northeast Consulting Group, Inc. is a privately owned marketing company that specializes in brand building and public relations. Our job is to help the companies that we work with continue to grow and expand. The culture at Northeast Consulting Group is committed to providing our people with the skills they would need to be able to advance within our company. To learn more about the career opportunities within our company please visit our website: www.ncg-corp.com
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