Top 5 Ways Managers And Leaders Can Be More Effective Coaches

Imagine having a team of self-starters who truly take ownership, enjoy their work, and feel proud of their contributions. I’m Dan Crompton, leadership coach, and in this post, we explore five effective ways managers and leaders can become better coaches to their teams. By applying these strategies, you’ll foster a more engaged and proactive team environment.

Transcription:

Imagine you could be surrounded by a team of self-starters. Imagine you had a team who really took ownership, who really turned up to work, loved where they were cared about, were proud of the work that they do.

I’m Dan Crompton leadership coach and here are the five ways that managers and leaders can become more effective coaches to their teams. The first method is never to answer a question. As leaders, we’re getting questions all day long from our team. And do you want to be supportive? You want to leap in and give them the answers.

By leaping in and answering it, you’re taking away their ownership. It’s kind of become your problem to fix. So, what do you do instead? Ask that everyone comes to me with two possible solutions with every question or challenge that they’ve got, and a couple of things will happen there.

First of all, they’re much more likely to figure it out for themselves. And second of all, if they haven’t, then it’s much easier for you to invite them into a conversation about the two solutions that they come up with. This isn’t abdicating your responsibilities as a manager. This is actually taking more time to get them to think about the solution.

Step 2 is to ask questions that you already know the answer. I had it recently with a client who had a salesperson who was underperforming. The easiest way forward would just be to tell that person, oh, you need to sell more of this product.

Asking questions that you know the answer to, that sounds a bit like this. Who do you think is the best salesperson on the team? What do you think they’re doing differently? When we look at these numbers, what can you see that’s difference between your sales and their sales? You get the idea.

As a leader, you know the answer to all those questions, but by taking a bit more time to ask those questions of that person, it’s going to lead to meaningful change, not just someone what to do once.

The third step is to move the thought bubble from your head. I mean by that is we always have the thought bubble over our head and we’re constantly thinking, what would I do in that situation? What have I done in that situation? What did we do in the past? It’s all these thoughts going on above your head.

If you can move your focus from your own thought bubble to the thought bubble over your team members head, your role should suddenly shifts from having the answers and giving the answers to facilitating someone else’s thought process in order to find a solution.

The fourth way that leaders can become better coaches for their teams is to take time. I remember when I was being taught how to do a massive budget, the easiest way for my manager to teach me that would have been just to do it himself, to have me lean over his shoulder and watch.

What would I have learned from it that way? Instead, he took the time he got me to hook up my laptop to the screen and said right, item number one out of 600 What number are you putting against that item and why?

And why might I say that’s wrong or where have you got that idea from? What other information do you need? After spending that time with me, could I do that budget 12 months later? Absolutely you bet.

The fifth and final way is to plan the pause. The sort of language that most managers use might actually be tripping you up. Let me know if there’s a problem. Is everything OK? That kind of language feels like you’re doing the right things. But actually, each of those examples requires the team member to actually stand up and say, ohh, wait a minute, something wrong.

To counter the hierarchy trap, you need to plan the pause rather than saying, let me know if there’s anything wrong with this. Say: off you go. Let’s have a meeting at 12:00 tomorrow or 12:00 next Tuesday. We can review your progress.

You are ensuring that there’s time when they will have your guidance and your support rather than requiring them to stick their hand up and say, oh, I think this might be wrong.

So, all of those five ways to become a better, more effective coach for your teams. You should feel a bit strange doing them. They take practice. I promise you they do not feel strange to your team members who are receiving them, and you’ll end up building a team that takes ownership and is super proud of the work that they do.

Key Takeaways

• Never answer a question directly: Encourage team members to come with two possible solutions for every question or challenge they face.
• Ask questions you already know the answer to: Facilitate meaningful change by leading team members to discover solutions through guided questions.
• Shift your focus from your own thoughts to theirs: Help team members develop their thought processes by prioritising their perspectives over your own.
• Take the time to teach: Invest time in teaching and guiding rather than simply providing answers or doing the work yourself.
• Plan the pause: Schedule regular check-ins to review progress, ensuring team members have your support without needing to flag issues themselves.

These strategies may feel unfamiliar initially, but they are essential for cultivating a team that takes ownership and feels proud of their work.