Originally published by the New Orleans City Business on January 5, 2021.
Question from Tony M: Craig, we have a new chief human resources officer who keeps reminding us to manage our employees less and coach them more, but she does not give us any direction or guidance. What is the difference between coaching and managing? How do I get to be a better coach for my team?
Tony, this is a great question. The word coaching is really overused these days and so few really understand the significant mindset change needed to be a resourceful coach to their employees. To be clear, coaching your employees is significantly different than the work I do as an executive coach, but there are plenty of commonalities too. Let’s get started:
Adopt the mindset of coaching
Changing your leadership style and mindset to be more of a “coach” means investing more of your time with your employees. That is a challenge for just about all of us. With increasing workloads and limited resources, how can you justify the investment? For me, I think it goes back to my personal experience as an employee on one rung of the ladder… and my experiences as a CEO, a different rung on the same ladder (I always answered to someone). When my boss believed in me, allowed me to make mistakes and grow from them, I was able to contribute more long term with my creativity, productivity, and the ability to work more autonomously. I was more engaged, and I no longer needed the “direction” more traditional managers feel they need to give to employees to get results.