Reasons why Managers Should Spend More Time on Coaching
As you'd expect, the Xenonex team are passionate about the benefits of coaching and have the skills and experience to support you in embedding a coaching culture within your own organisation. We see the results of successful workplace coaching on a daily basis.
Given our upcoming Coaching Skills Workshop (Thurs 14 Jan 2016) I thought this made interesting reading. It's taken from an original article by academics (and coaches) Joseph Weintraub and James Hunt where they carried out research on managers who coach and what distinguishes them.
There are managers who coach and managers who don’t. Leaders in the latter category are neglecting an effective tool to develop talent. We’ve been researching managers who coach and what distinguishes them. What has stood out in our interviews with hundreds of managers who do coach their direct reports is their mindset: They believe in the value of coaching, and they think about their role as a manager in a way that makes coaching a natural part of their managerial toolkit. These are not professional coaches. They are line and staff leaders who manage a group of individuals, and they are busy, hard-working people.
Achieving this mindset is doable. It comes down to whether the business case is sufficiently compelling to motivate a manager to develop a coaching mindset. Managers need to ask themselves a few questions: Does your organization (or group or team) have the talent it needs to compete? If not, why not? Have you done a poor job hiring, or are people not performing up to their potential? It’s really either one or the other. If the latter is true, it’s your job to help get them to where they need to be.
For managers who want to start coaching, one of the first steps is to find someone who is a good coach in your organization and ask her or him to tell you about it. What do they do? Ask why they coach. Listen and learn.
Second, understand that before you start coaching, you need to develop a culture of trust and a solid relationship with the people you will be coaching. In spite of your good intentions, all the techniques in the world will make little difference if those you are trying to coach don’t feel connected to you in some way. The relationship you develop is more important than the all of the best coaching methods that are available.
Third, learn some of the basic principles of managerial coaching that will help you develop your own expertise as a coach. One of the core lessons for managers is that coaching isn’t always about telling people the answer. Rather, it is more about having a conversation and asking good, open-ended questions that allow the people you are coaching to reflect on what they are doing and how they can do things differently in the future to improve performance.
Finally, the mindset should be focused on the people you are coaching. Always remember the main principle: coaching is about them, not about you.
If you are keen to develop your own coaching skills as a manager then join us on our forthcoming one day workshop. The first Xenonex “Introduction to Coaching Skills” Workshop will take place on Thursday 14th July in Leeds. The day is aimed at those with people management responsibility who are looking to develop a coaching approach as part of their management toolkit.
Attendance at this event offers a 10% discount on any of our ILM level 3, 5 and 7 coaching programmes starting in 2016.
For more information call 01423 876371/0113 322 9234 or email jo.watson@xenonex.co.uk.