By Daniel Robin
Whether you’re a group manager or executive, member of a dedicated work team, or an entrepreneur out on your own, you’ve probably noticed an increased reliance on collaboration and co-operation to get things done. The days of the lone wolf or the aggressive, cut-throat bully are over. Effective managers have realized that treating people as mere factors of production isn’t very productive.
Yet, despite the importance of having whole human beings showing up for work, most organizations still talk of empowerment but struggle to achieve it. Step one: commit to building a culture where people at every level are given the tools and training, the skills and strategies, the authority and responsibility needed to share power, build trust, and get recognized. Once the commitment has been made, don’t say much about it, just make it happen collaboratively and highlight the results as evidence of the commitment.
Letting Go of Control
Leaders of hierarchical organizations have resisted “handing over the keys to the car” because they’re not sure if we can drive. The task is to let go of control in favor of new structures and agreements. Be gone layered hierarchies built on information, bureaucracy, and power over others; welcome instead structures that help transfer knowledge and pertinent performance data to those who need it. Letting go is perhaps the hardest change there is, one that often elicits fear, anger, and ambiguity. That may explain some of the chaos and uncertainty of late.
The problem with upper management’s ambiguity is that it can look and smell like a trick, like yet another power trip — and people can mistake it for insincerity and claim to “smell a rat.” Fear and incongruence ain’t pretty. If people pick up a message of false empowerment (“You are now empowered. Trust me on this. Now get back to work.”), when the laughter subsides, cynicism remains to fill the gap left by the empty promise.
Building a Trust Culture
Even when employees are given all the power and responsibility they can handle, management’s motive is suspect: the “gift” seems conditioned on improved performance (guess what: it is!). This equal treatment must be acknowledged as a right, not a privilege, not something with strings attached, as if the cars keys can be yanked back for the slightest infraction.
At the core of this changing employment contract is an unspoken promise: “You handed us the new gameplan, now coach us to play the game.” This means that new skills and structures must displace the old autocracy. The role of management is changing from managing others to providing an environment where people can self-manage.
To make the shift as smooth as possible, people in team-based organizations are learning how to provide such an environment with coaching.
The Art and Practice of Coaching
Similar to a sports coach who aims to bring out an athlete’s best performance, coaching in a workplace setting helps guide people to their own answers, making “empowerment” a reality.
We’re often asked what constitutes coaching versus other styles or approaches. From the viewpoint of the person doing the coaching, there are eight essential elements that, taken together, differentiate coaching from other methods, like teaching, consulting, or counseling. The elements are shown in the wheel below:
1. Be present: Before coaching someone, pay careful attention to the signals that indicate rapport. The more you can be present, the better you will be as a coach. It would be a mistake to push through resistance or to coach when you are distracted. Instead, being present means being on their agenda, available to what they’re up to, able to let them know you understand their situation, challenges, resistance, fears, etc. Like rapport, this element is foundational to all others.
2. Clear Goals: Assuming that you and the client are clear on what’s wanted would be a mistake. Set clear immediate goals and long-term direction with “What do you want?” and “How will you know when you’ve got that?”
3. Ask vs. Tell: Giving unsolicited advice is not only disempowering, it’s unnecessary. Resist the temptation to “give them a fish;” instead, teach them how to fish for their own answers. If you feel compelled to offer advice, it can be packaged in a way that puts the person fully at choice and in charge. For example, try “I have an idea that you might find useful; mind if I check it out with you?”
4. Agreements: Unclear or incomplete agreements produce misery and suffering. “Oh, you thought I meant this Thursday!?” This also includes effective agreements for how they want to be coached. Clear agreements can contribute to setting an atmosphere of mutual respect and shared power. Effective coaching turns up the volume on accountability to agreements, replacing the need for “command and control.”
5. Recognition: Being present provides some recognition, while verbal acknowledgement builds the client’s enthusiasm and positively reinforces what’s working. Warning: Do not fake praise. The skill is in finding out what it is about this person and their performance that’s praise-worthy; be sincere and generously encourage what’s wanted.
6. Feedback: Let their mistakes be their best teacher. Live by “no failure; only feedback” and only give constructive suggestions for improvement. Learn to gently confront areas that need attention. Separate the person from the issue. Provide both observation and interpretation so you can openly discuss differing perceptions.
7. Structure: Instead of allowing fire-drills and chaos to rule the day, design reasonable action steps to reach achievable goals. Structures are for supporting, not burdening, the client. They assist the client to remember their commitments, to systematically assess and adjust priorities, to increase their capacity to focus, and to track progress for on-going learning and process improvement.
8. Intuiting: The opposite of structure. Note that intuition is different from opinion or interpretation. Intuition usually comes from a “gut feel” or other body signals. An effective coach knows when to throw away the plan, be pragmatic, and how to politely invade or challenge the client’s assumptions to prevent catastrophe.
Most high-functioning people already possess skill at coaching — they just need to understand how and when to use those skills to build trust with the client. Managers and team members gradually add new coaching skills and distinctions to their interpersonal repertoire.
The ultimate goal is to condition the client to use their own resources when you’re not around. And if you think being coached feels good, check out being one.
Advantages of Coaching
For the Coach
× Better employee performance
× You don’t have to have all the answers
× Shared responsibility, which frees you up to innovate, focus on building relationships
× Unleashed creativity
× Agreements upheld more often
For the Client
× Better results with less effort and less stress
× Employee feels more intrinsically motivated and in charge
× Increased commitment to doing their best
× Increased self-esteem and confidence
× More creativity and support for innovative problem-solving.
