5 Ways I Coach Different To You
Why a coach bolsters your leadership and doesn't undermine it
A few years ago I sat with a Franchisee Group that owned a string of locations to discuss the possibility of me working with their location managers. Improving marketing, staff motivation, and general business processes were all on the agenda. When I discussed the service of coaching as a solution, one of the owners turned to me and said, "isn't that what our group manager is meant to be doing? Coaching our location managers...?"
It is a legitimate question. In the modern workplace it is common for senior staff to coach their direct reports in whatever context is relevant. In this case, the Group Manager would spend time with the individual managers to discuss all details when visiting. To coach them. So why would they need me? I'll tell you what I told this client...
1. A Coaching Style vs A Coach
Being a manager with a coaching style is to ask a lot of questions and use a coaching framework like GROW instead of an old school approach based on telling people what to do and expecting them to get things done because you told them to. This is valuable as a coaching style is proven to engage and motivate people more than a telling approach. A coach on the other hand is 100% devoted to helping an individual find solutions beyond the obvious. Time is carved out intentionally and purposefully to develop an individual's thinking and capability. Very different to a leader using coaching language and framing in real time while 100's of random problems are thrown at them every day.
2. You obsess about your business. I obsess about coaching
I love listening to you. Unpacking and unpicking the challenges you are facing and problem solving through the complex issues of your day. I know you spend most of your waking hours thinking about your staff, clients, KPI's, and competitors. While you obsess over these things I am obsessing about research, models, coaching frameworks, and performance theory. I was once introduced at a conference before taking the stage as a Performance Expert. I wasn't expecting this and my first words to the audience was "I'm no expert, I just do all the reading so you don't have to". This time spent on being the best educator I can be is a luxury you do not get.
3. You live in yours. I live in theirs
There is one thing I will never get used to - being invited behind the curtain of people's businesses. It is a highly trusted and sacred moment every time I train, mentor, or coach anyone in their place of business. Over a decade of this has taught me more than any Bachelor Degree or MBA ever could. The stories are real, rich, and full of insight. While you live in your business and solve problems for your clients and community, I live in other people's business almost 100% of the time. It keeps me relevant to current day challenges people like you are facing. I am grateful for the lessons as well as the privilege of being able to transfer these learnings across industry.
4. There is only one of you. There is infinity of me
I know you are being pulled in a million directions. And, that is before you try and have a home and family life! No matter what systems we use or how capable we are, there will never be enough time. And coaching takes a lot of time. That is why I use a flipped-classroom approach, where the learning is done online before coaching meetings take place. With an online curriculum ready for learners, people can consume me all over the world simultaneously. It means a lot of people can access my support, while making our one-on-one meetings richer, deeper, and more impactful. In most moments, there is only one of you to go around.
5. You have more important things to do. I don't
Coaching your staff is imperative. But, the way you do it is to use coaching language in functional conversation wherever relevant. Whereas for me, it is all I do. Literally, I spend days doing nothing else but coaching. It is the most important thing I do. I literally have nothing else better to do. Coaching is a small fraction of what you do. An important fraction, but it is a small focus compared to my world, where it is a majority focus. And, when I sit down with a client, it consumes 100% of my attention.
I thought it important to clarify the difference between my coaching and what you do - a leader with a coaching style. Often, people feel like a coach for their staff is a black mark against themselves. As if they are somehow failing in their duty as a leader. I'm here to tell you that is bollocks! A strong leader partnered with an aligned external coach or mentor is a potent mix. Not only do staff get new and different stimulus, they also gain a deeper understanding of their challenges and a process for systematically working through them.
These are my observations I hope helps people to shrug off the idea leaders have to be across everything and do everything to be a good leader. You don't. In fact, it is simply impossible and any expectations beyond this are out of sync with reality. When we coach in our respective ways the partnership is relentlessly powerful.
