How to become a successful ‘manager coach’
By Paul Falcone
Managers coach employees by focusing on career and professional development, guidance and feedback rather than just giving directions and telling people what to do. Put another way, managers teach employees how to fish rather than simply giving them one.
It all stems from three key things:
- The types of questions they ask
- Their ability to help their team members think outside the box
- Their goal to teach critical thinking skills that help employees raise their self-awareness and self-confidence
Almost any manager can display leadership wisdom. It’s all about developing a bond of trust with staff members, pushing appropriately to stretch someone’s mindset about what they’re capable of and respectfully challenging assumptions and narratives that people sometimes tell themselves that must be unlearned.
The “manager coach” in action
The leader-as-coach model is built upon concepts from Robert Greenleaf’s white paper “The Servant Leader,” originally published over half a century ago. Its teachings are just as relevant today as they were back when they were originally published:
- The servant leader is a servant first (by putting others’ needs ahead of their own and expecting others to respond in kind).
- All people being coached—no matter what their point of origin—can come away more self-aware and self-confident than when they began.
- Good coaches listen with their eyes and hearts in addition to their ears.
This all falls perfectly in line with Gen Y and Z priorities, which include, among other things, career and professional development and working for a management team that cares about them.
It’s this “personal touch” in the coaching relationship that pierces people’s hearts, makes them fall in love with their company and builds strong ties to a leader who can ultimately become the best boss they’ve ever worked for.
The right questions drive the best outcomes
All motivation is self-motivation. As a leader, you’re not responsible for motivating your employees because, by definition, you cannot. But you are responsible for creating the conditions where people can motivate themselves.
That may sound like a subtle difference, but it’s profound: Know your people, understand what motivates them, set them up for success and step out of the way.
Everyone needs room to master their craft and learn their trade just like you did. You will rarely find a healthy manager-employee relationship on better footing. This happens when a leader asks questions. These questions should foster an achievement mindset.
They should also foster career and professional development needs. Think about one-on-one opportunities where you can ask or share questions like these with your direct reports:
- How can I help you tie your professional-development plan or a stretch assignment to what interests you most at this point in your career?
- How can we build an “achievement mindset” together where you’re focusing on building out your resume, bio, LinkedIn profile or annual self-review? How can we quantify your achievements going forward? (By focusing on increasing revenue, decreasing expenses, improving customer satisfaction or saving time.)
- Are you able to do your very best work every day with peace of mind?
- What can we partner together on to make things better for our team?
The coaching construct comes from a good place—a willingness to put your employees’ needs ahead of your own, help others grow in their careers and “pay things forward” to a new generation of leaders in your footsteps. “Growing leaders,” it turns out, is an outstanding investment in your own career and a noble goal.
The universe knows that you cannot give away anything that you do not already have. To make great leaders, you must already be one yourself.
What emanates from you returns to you—karma is real. By giving away leadership wisdom, you confirm that you already have it to give. Selfless leadership and the leader-as-coach model confirm your achievements and benevolent intentions in paying things forward.
Become known as a great people developer and “turnaround” expert. You may find that it will help you scale your career better than just about anything else.
You may likewise find that team retention and productivity soar—after all, no one wants to leave a great manager or team for a 20 percent increase in a place where a new boss may spit fire and throw chairs.
Set your goals around becoming a “manager coach” and build your employees’ self-confidence so they can thrive. Then watch as management practices, team alignment and leadership reputation fall naturally into place.
Paul Falcone (www.PaulFalconeHR.com) is principal of Paul Falcone Workplace Leadership Consulting, LLC. Find the full list of his books at Amazon.com/author/paulfalcone. Subscribe to his YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/@paulfalconeHR.
