Coaching Styles, Part 3 – The Director

Posted on by Scott

Last fall my wife accompanied me on a business trip to New York City. The trip took place a couple of months before our 20th anniversary so it just made sense to tack on a few days to celebrate. During the day, while I was involved in meetings, she explored the city – shopping and scouting out sites she wanted me to see. At night, after my work for the day was finished, we joined the rest of the tourists in taking in the various cultural experiences the city has to offer.

We are typically not advance planners. Most of our vacation plans are made on a whim and each day begins with someone asking “So, what are we going to do today?” But this time was different. Knowledge from my previous trips, combined with advice from friends and family, resulted in a short list of “must-do’s” while in the Big Apple. One of our destinations was the Gershwin Theater to see “Wicked.”

This is a fantastic show. Everything you see and hear from the minute the lights go down is superb – the sets, the music, and obviously the acting. But what you don’t see is just as important as what you do. Obviously, in a production this spectacular there are lots of things going on behind the scenes – and even more work taking place in advance of the show. And right in the middle of all the moving parts is The Director.

Staging a successful venture, whether it is a theater production, a symphony performance or a business, is the job of the Director. While the Visionary creates and communicates the overall vision, the Director must turn that vision into a reality. It is their responsibility to translate the big picture into specific job roles, executable steps and timelines.

In its simplest form, the role of the Director can be boiled down into two words: delegation and accountability. The Director assigns the work and then makes sure the work gets done. Obviously, things are a bit more complicated than that, so let’s look at the concept of delegation a little more closely.

The first step is finding the right person (or people) for each role. Directors must understand the core competencies required for the each position. Different jobs require different skills and abilities. The role of cashier has a different set of associated tasks, and necessary competencies, than the role of security guard. So Directors must know what abilities are needed for each job to be performed properly.

The Director must also be able to articulate the strengths and weaknesses of the staff at his or her disposal. Since the cashier role involves interaction with customers, the Director knows that an outgoing personality and effective communication skills are necessary competencies. They therefore would not assign this role to someone who is introverted and uncomfortable engaging with others.

The Director also needs to know what motivates each employee and under which circumstances they work best. One person may be excited at the prospect of being given individual responsibility for a project while another may cringe at the though, preferring to work in a support role or as part of a team. By understanding the engagement needs of their staff members, the Director can then assign roles with the best interest of the team and the individuals in mind.

How well do you understand the core competencies needed for each of the roles you oversee? How well do you understand the abilities and motivators of your team members? And how successful are you at matching the right person with the right job?

Coaching Styles, Part 2 – The Visionary

Posted on by Scott

I enjoy watching home improvement shows. In particular, I like the shows about landscaping. My favorites are those where the host and his/her team of experts descends on an unsuspecting homeowner and offer to remake their entire back yard. I wish that would happen to me.

Toward the beginning of the show, there’s always a point where the host reveals the master plan. They make a big deal out of unrolling an architectural drawing of their plan for the yard. This is always met with an air of excitement and anticipation by the homeowners. But if you watch carefully, you’ll see something interesting happen when they first see the drawing.

For just a second – before they remember that their reaction is being recorded for national television and they start jumping up and down – their eyes glaze over. They don’t get it. They lack the knowledge of a landscaper and can’t make the connection between the lines on the paper and the potential utopia in their back yard.

And so the host begins to describe it for them. He points out where the hot tub will go. He explains that the big cloud-like circle in the corner is a new tree. See this rectangle here? That’s a new grill for your outdoor kitchen over there.

As the host explains the plan, you sense a change. You can feel the confusion melt away and the excitement build as the picture crystalizes in the minds of the homeowners. Now that they can visualize the end result, they’re ready to get dirty.

To be an effective coach, you have to be like that host. You have to understand that not everyone sees things the way you do. You have to “connect the dots” so that the members of your team see how their individual contributions come together to create the larger picture. This is the job of The Visionary.

The role of the Visionary is often the most difficult. Many mid-level leaders don’t understand the big picture themselves and therefore have a hard time conveying it to their team. Others don’t see the importance of communicating a larger vision feeling it just distracts from the job at hand. And others simply avoid sharing too much information, preferring to keep employees in the dark for fear they will be perceived as unimportant once the masses know what’s going on.

But common sense (and a lot of research) indicates that employees who understand the big picture, and how their job contributes to it, are more engaged. Employees who see their individual role as important to the overall success of the organization are more likely to do their job well than those who feel their work has little meaning. Fundamental to the human condition is the need to feel like we’re part of something bigger than ourselves. Knowing my work means something to someone else makes it mean something more to me.

The day I realized this, my approach to coaching changed. I started talking about the big picture and how our team factors into it. I told them how their individual jobs were critical in order for the organization to achieve success. And as we talked, I could see the change in their eyes. The fog lifted and a spark was lit. They began to make better decisions. They began to identify opportunities for improvement. Now that they see the big picture, they are on fire. And I don’t dare let that fire go out. So I spend more time talking with my team about our vision than anything else.

What vision do you need to share with your team? How do each of them factor into the big picture? How can you help paint the picture for them? Answer those questions and then let’s talk about my back yard.

Coaching Styles, Part 1 – Overview

Posted on by Scott

Being an effective coach is much harder than most people realize. The difficulty arises from the fact that you’re dealing with people. People are irrational, emotional and unpredictable. People have agendas that often differ from, and therefore conflict with, that of the organization. And because every person is unique, effective coaching requires you to be flexible in your approach.

That said, there are four basic coaching styles typically required during any given situation. Which style you use will depend on the individual being coached and the task or situation that forms the basis for your coaching activities. The four coaching styles are:

The Visionary
The Visionary excels at painting the big picture. They are the experts at recognizing and communicating where the team needs to go. They can explain why the direction is important and how all of the pieces fit together to produce the end result.

The Director
The Director’s job is to hand out individual work assignments. Their expertise lies in knowing the skill sets of each team member – the strengths and weaknesses – and assigning tasks to the best player for the job. They also provide accountability to make sure the job gets done.

The Mentor
Mentors are good at teaching new behaviors. They work with individuals to help them understand how to perform certain tasks and develop the skills necessary to excel at those tasks. Mentors are masters at observation and can sense what aspects of an individual’s performance require additional development.

The Cheerleader
Cheerleaders keep everyone focused on the game. They recognize when things go well and provide reward for a job well done. They also recognize when things seem to be slipping a bit and work to rally the troops.

There’s no style that trumps the rest. And while most people gravitate toward one primary style, all four are required to truly be effective. Those managers who have mastered the art of switching from one coaching style to the next will see better results from their efforts. And it follows that those who struggle to adapt their approach appropriately are more likely to be frustrated by the lack of improvement in the performance of their team.

Over the next few posts, I’ll discuss each style in more detail. I’ll offer some clues to help you identify your primary coaching style, although I bet you already know. I’ll provide you with some questions to ask to help diagnose which style is more effective for a given situation. And I’ll share some tips to help you apply each of the styles more effectively.

Leadership Lessons from Paul Revere

Posted on by Scott

“Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere…”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

It was 237 years ago today that Paul Revere mounted his horse and took the ride that made him famous. For years, the American colonists had been trying to shrug off the rules and heavy taxes imposed by the British. Thanks to incidents such as the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party, tensions between the American militia and British occupational forces had reached a boiling point. Revere and other members of the “Mechanics” served as couriers, relaying information between leaders of the American resistance in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and New York.

Revere and his colleagues kept careful watch over the movements of the British, looking for signs that further oppression, in the form of military action, was imminent. When word came that British troops were advancing from Boston to Lexington with the intent of arresting John Hancock and Samuel Adams, Revere was sent to spread the word – alerting the colonial militias along the way. The ride was successful and set the stage for the American Revolution.

The success of Paul Revere’s mission hinged on the ability to communicate quickly and effectively in a time of crisis. Sound familiar? In today’s business environment, where news travels around the world in an instant, timely and effective communication is critical. Here are three lessons in communication I feel we can learn from this historic event.

1. Be prepared to communicate. The time to plan your communication strategy is before a crisis hits, not in the heat of the moment. Revere and others had been watching the British for some time. They knew their own vulnerabilities and spent some time thinking like the enemy. By anticipating likely scenarios, they were able to develop response plans – including what and how to communicate.

Several months earlier, the colonists had been caught by surprise when British soldiers marched on the Powder House, removing a cache of gunpowder. The reaction was widespread panic and leaders established a series of communication strategies to prevent this type of unanticipated movement from happening again. When the time came to act, Revere and his companions knew exactly what to do. No time was wasted figuring out what needed to be said or who would deliver the message. Everything had been determined in advance.

2. Keep the message simple. Popular belief holds that Revere rode through the countryside shouting “the British are coming!” While this is false (British troops were everywhere and secrecy was critical to ensure the message reached as many people as possible), his actual message was just as simple. Going door-to-door, Revere and the other riders passed the message “The Regulars are coming out.”

This simple message conveyed everything a local militiaman needed to know. The British troops – Regulars – were on the move. Gather your weapons and prepare to defend your family, your land, and your property. The simplicity of the message also meant that it could easily be passed from town to town. A more complicated description of the British movements could easily have been confused resulting in misinformation and disorganization.

3. Plan multiple ways to communicate. Boston was the hotbed of British activity. Revere knew that, should events escalate quickly, he might not be able to escape the city to pass the word along. So another rider, William Dawes, also carried the message; leaving Boston by a different route. Having more than one communicator increased the chances that the message would get through. And should both manage to deliver their message, as was the case, communication would be achieved even more rapidly.

In addition, Revere also planned for an alternate method of communication should no one be able to leave Boston. He had arranged for a simple set of signals to alert the “Sons of Liberty” located across the Charles River to any British movement. He knew that the troops would either advance “by land,” marching to the west and then north toward Lexington, or “by sea,” crossing the Charles River in order to shorten their march. Once the British intentions became clear, Revere ordered two lanterns hung in the bell-tower of Christ Church in Boston.

Effective communication is difficult under any circumstance. Communicating in a time of crisis, when others are counting on swift and accurate information is even harder. But by preparing in advance, you can be ready to meet the challenge – just like Paul Revere.

Why Managers Don’t Coach, Part 5

Posted on by Scott

For the past several weeks, I’ve been discussing some of the most common reasons given by managers when asked why they aren’t coaching. Along the way, I’ve shared my thoughts on the relationship between coaching and training, coaching the high performer, the importance of regular coaching and time management. In this final post of the series, I’ll address the issue of coaching skill.

Excuse #5: “I don’t know how to coach.”

Typically, this excuse stems from a lack of understanding. Managers who don’t understand what a coach is, will have a hard time figuring out what a coach does. So let’s begin with some definitions. Simply put, coaching is anything you do to help someone improve their level of performance. Therefore, a coach is someone engaged in activities that help another person improve their level of performance.

Many corporate coaching programs have complicated the concept. Attend a typical class on frontline coaching and you will be inundated with complex forms, charts and processes that require any number of acronyms in order to remember them all. Back at the office, you spread out all of the materials only to find that the idea of coaching, as it was presented, is way too cumbersome. Frustration leads to procrastination and, ultimately, the idea of coaching is abandoned.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Look at that definition of coaching again – anything you do to help someone improve their level of performance. When you think of coaching this way, as the process of helping someone vs. a complex set of activities, it frees you to act. Coaching should focus on providing a service rather than following a particular system. So with this new definition in mind, let’s look at some of the activities effective coaches engage in.

Observation: The act of observing an employee in the act of performing their job to identify patterns of behavior. During an observation, the coach makes notes regarding specific strengths and deficiencies in order to address them with the employee.

Goal-setting: The act of defining specific expectations regarding an employee’s performance. Effective goal-setting involves communicating exactly what is expected of the employee with regard to technique and results.

Role clarification: The act of communicating the importance of an employee’s particular job role in the achievement of the organization’s objectives. Role clarification helps the employee understand how the specific tasks they are charged with contribute to the big picture.

Skill drill: The act of repeating a specific behavior over and over in order to develop mastery. The goal of a skill drill is to create an automatic response to a particular set of circumstances.

Role play: The act of practicing a series of skills in preparation for performing on the job. Think of role playing as a dress rehearsal. The goal is to work out any kinks prior to going on stage. Employees who can perform as desired in repeated practice scenarios are more likely to perform when it counts.

Modeling: The act of demonstrating a set of specific behaviors so that employees can form a picture of the ideal performance. Modeling the behavior you want employees to demonstrate provides them with a visual reference to draw upon while they work to improve.

Praise: The act of recognizing when an employee performs as desired and letting them know about it. Effective praise communicates specifically what you noticed, why you liked it and how important it is to continue the desired behavior. Praise should be delivered as soon as possible after the desired behavior occurs so that the employee makes a strong connection between what they did and the positive feelings associated with your praise. Because of the positive emotions it evokes, praise should be used frequently.

Correction: The act of recognizing when an employee fails to perform as desired and letting them know about it. Effective correction communicates specifically what you noticed, why it is undesirable and how to correct the behavior. By nature, correction evokes negative emotions and should be used sparingly. The goal is to inspire improvement, not fear of failure.

These are just a few of the activities commonly associated with effective coaching. I’ll bet you already do some of these. You may be a great coach and don’t even know it. If this all seems new, start small. Get up right now and go catch someone doing something right. And praise them for it. When you come back to your office, schedule an hour within the next week to perform some observations. Remember that coaching is action oriented. So let’s go coach!

Leadership Lessons from Pocahontas

Posted on by Scott

On this day, in 1614, the Indian Princess Pocahontas was married to English settler John Rolfe.

In May of 1607, 100 or so colonists from England founded Jamestown – the first permanent English settlement in America. One of these early settlers was John Smith, a captain who helped direct the settlements survival efforts. From the beginning, Jamestown found life in the new world extremely difficult. They suffered disease, famine, and frequent attacks by the native Indians led by Chief Powhatan.

In December of 1607, Smith and two others were out exploring and mapping a nearby river when they were captured and taken to Powhatan’s village. Smith’s two companions were killed, but according to his accounts he was spared and released because Pocahontas begged her father to show mercy.

Pocahontas began acting as a liaison between the natives and the settlers, bringing them food and learning their customs. A tentative peace was established. Things seemed to be looking up for the settlers.

But in 1609 Smith was injured in an accident and had to return to England. Without his influence, the relationship with Pocahontas and the Indians faltered. Things steadily deteriorated and that winter was especially hard. Many settlers died.

John Rolfe didn’t come to Jamestown until 1610. He introduced the concept of tobacco farming to the settlers and the friendly natives. Hoping to regain a peaceful relationship, Pocahontas once again took on the role of ambassador. The tenuous peace strengthened yet again.

Three years later, in 1613, a new English Captain named Samuel Argall arrived. Seeking to force a more permanent peace agreement, he took Pocahontas hostage. He then demanded the Indian Chief agree to a more favorable treaty in order to secure her release. By this time, however, Pocahontas and John Rolfe had already fallen in love. She converted to Christianity, taking the name Rebecca. And 398 years ago today they were married, solidifying the peace between their two people.

I find it interesting that one person could have so much influence. Here are two cultures that couldn’t be more different. Their customs, religions, goals, and even language were all different. But Pocahontas took it upon herself to bridge the gap. She saw the potential benefit to both groups in working together.

I don’t know about you, but I think that sounds a lot like today’s workplace. The differences between departments – differences in customs, beliefs, goals, and even language – often lead to silos. Employees can find themselves competing for resources, viewing those from other areas as the enemy. This organizational conflict usually has a negative impact on everyone involved.

It’s pretty easy to recognize these siloed workplaces. Frontline employees don’t have the resources they need to assist the customer. Support departments working in isolation develop duplicate processes and then blame each other when something goes wrong.

But all it takes is one person to reach across the gulf to change all that. One person with the desire to find common ground – that win-win scenario. Here’s how to lead like Pocahontas.

See the bigger picture. Pocahontas was able to look beyond the differences between her people and the English settlers. She could see that, despite the barriers presented by appearance, religion, and language, these were just people trying to make a life for themselves. They weren’t evil or even necessarily wrong, just different.

Be willing to stick your neck out. It had to take a lot of nerve for Pocahontas to intervene in the killing of John Smith. Going against the will of the Chief, even for his daughter, wasn’t normal. But she knew that a chance at peace and mutual benefit was more desirable than war.

Keep working at it. The on-again, off-again peace between the settlers and the Indians had to be tiring. Over the years, I’m sure she wondered if things would ever get better. It would be so much easier to just view the other side as the enemy and wipe them out. The constant threat of war, especially after her capture, had to weigh heavily on both sides. But Pocahontas was persistent in her attempts to build a relationship. She knew that the long-term benefits were worth the effort.

Realize the benefits may be far greater than you think. Pocahontas set out to build a relationship between her people and the awkwardly dressed, foreign speaking colonists. I doubt she thought love would enter the picture. In the end, she not only accomplished her objective, but reaped personal rewards as well.

I think every organization needs a Pocahontas (if not several). Is there one in your organization? Is it you?

Why Managers Don’t Coach, Part 4

Posted on by Scott

A couple of weeks ago I worked with a manager to develop a coaching plan for her team. We spent quite a bit of time identifying goals, skill gaps and specific steps to help each of her employees improve their performance. She was excited about the work we had done and expressed a great deal of confidence in her ability to carry out the plan. The other day I called her up to see how things were going. Right off the bat, I could tell things hadn’t gone quite as well as they could. The level of excitement in her voice was significantly lower than it had been when we first drafted the plan.

She proceeded to tell me that based on our plan, she had held a series of short meetings with her staff to gain their buy-in and begin the process of working on each employee’s development plan. So far, so good. But the next week someone called in sick so she had to cover for them. And then she got a call that she wasn’t expecting and had to deal with that. And something came up at home that demanded her attention. And so the story continued for several minutes. She didn’t have time.

Excuse #4: “I don’t have time to coach.”

This is an all too familiar excuse. I’ve used it and I’m sure you have too at one time or another. In fact it’s so familiar that everyone uses it for a variety of reasons. The lack of time seems to get in the way of many good intentions. We’re all busy. We all have a number of things that require our attention, and inevitably some of it gets pushed to the side.

But this excuse is rarely about time. It’s about priorities.

When something is really important, we find the time to address it. We make the time. We push other, less important, activities to the back burner so that this task gets crossed off the list. In order to prevent this particular excuse from hindering your coaching efforts, you have to make it a priority. Here are five steps to conquering the time/priority issue.

1. Call the spade a spade. The first step is to honestly assess the priority of your coaching activities in relation to the other items on your to-do list. Laura Vanderkam suggests replacing the phrase “I don’t have time” with “It’s not a priority.” If you’re comfortable with how that makes you feel, then perhaps time really is the issue. If not, you need to …

2. Get your priorities in order. I have a hundred items on my to-do list, with some being more important than others. For every high-priority item, there are 10 low priority activities. But it’s the low priority items that seem to eat up my time. In my quest to mark things off my list, I focus on the quick-and-easy, low-priority items. At the end of the day, I’ve done a lot of work, but often feel like I haven’t accomplished much. I’ve found that I need to tackle the high priority items first, otherwise I’ll get sucked into focusing on the little things and putting out fires.

3. Schedule it or delegate it. The high priority items on my to-do list are typically complex, requiring more time and physical or mental energy. As a result, my tendency is to procrastinate – to put off the more challenging tasks in favor of the easy stuff while proclaiming how busy I am. I’ve learned that there are some things I can delegate to other members of the team. They may not complete the job the way I would have, but if I can live with the result, it’s worth letting go in order to free up time in my day for the items that do require my involvement – like coaching. Important items that only I can address go into my calendar. This prevents others from scheduling meetings or other activities that could pull me away from the important task. Scheduling the activity keeps it in front of me and I’m less likely to forget about it.

4. Pile it up or spread it out. If you have several employees to coach, staring at a long list of activities can be overwhelming. Knowing how you work best can help you manage the work load. If you’re a “pull the Band-Aid off nice and slow” kind of person, tackle your coaching in small chunks. Don’t schedule three employee one-on-ones in the same day. If you prefer to yank the bandage off with one quick yank, schedule a day to focus on nothing but your one-on-ones.

5. Use the buddy system. It’s easy to blow off an activity when there’s no accountability. To make sure you don’t postpone or ignore a coaching activity, let someone else know what you’re planning to do. Find another manager and agree to serve as each other’s accountability partner. Share your planned coaching activities and then call each other up to see how things went. Knowing someone else is expecting a report on your progress will help keep you focused on the right things.

Coaching is a critical leadership activity. It can’t be accomplished haphazardly or on the fly. Effective coaching requires a good measure of discipline and time management. I hope these tips help you give coaching the priority, and therefore the time, it deserves.

Why Managers Don’t Coach, Part 3

Posted on by Scott

My first sales position entailed taking inbound phone calls from people wanting to set up new cable TV service. My job was to convince the new customer that, instead of “basic” cable, they really wanted/needed one of our packages that included premium channels, additional outlets and other extra services. Training consisted of two weeks in the classroom learning the products and software along with a few hours here and there listening to experienced reps take calls.

I finished the training class and was assigned to a cubicle. When it came to start taking calls, my supervisor plugged in and listened as I stumbled my way through the first three. As the third call ended, he unplugged his headset and said “Well, it looks like you’re good to go.” He walked away, leaving me to fend for myself. That was the extent of the coaching I received. The next time there was any discussion of my performance was during my annual evaluation – one year later.

Excuse #3: “I coached them last week/month/year.”

This excuse implies that coaching is an event; either a one-time occurrence or even a series of unrelated meetings that have to be spaced out over time. In fact, a lot of well-intentioned coaching programs support this belief. In order to provide structure and accountability to the coaching process, they advocate scheduling each coaching activity, allowing time in between for employees to practice and develop specific skills.

And, to a degree, this is true. When you dedicate time to teaching someone a new skill, it takes time for them to achieve mastery of the skill and still longer before the new behavior becomes a habit. Scheduling a specific time at some point in the future allows the employee to work on their technique and integrate the new skill or skills into their daily work style. But simply walking away until the next scheduled meeting rarely produces the desired results.

As I discussed in the first article of this series, very little of what’s discussed in a classroom training setting ever makes it into real-life practice. A number of factors contribute to this:
• Too much information was presented, so only bits and pieces are retained.
• Information focused more on theory than practical application, so the employee isn’t sure how to modify their behavior.
• The employee isn’t motivated to actually change their behavior.
• Once the employee returns to their normal work environment, they see no evidence that they are actually expected to change.

The point I’m trying to make here is that coaching is a process, not an event. As in sports, a good business coach understands that in order for the team and the individual players to perform at their best, constant coaching is required. And a variety of coaching methods, both structured and unstructured, scheduled and unscheduled, will be used.

Since we’re in the midst of March Madness, allow me to use a basketball example to illustrate. Let’s say a basketball coach wants to integrate a new offensive set into his team’s game. He’ll use a variety of tactics to accomplish this. Possible structured/scheduled coaching methods are listed here along with some unstructured methods [added in brackets afterward].

• In a meeting, the coach will explain how the set works. He’ll detail under what circumstances it makes sense and why it’s so effective. He’ll use diagrams and film of other teams to clarify expectations so that everyone can see clearly what is supposed to happen. [During and following the meeting, the coaching staff will check for understanding by periodically checking with each player to ask questions and reiterate their particular role in the new play.]

• The coach will devote specific blocks of time to practicing the new concept on the floor. He starts by walking through the movement of the ball and how each player should position themselves as the set unfolds. The team will repeat this over and over until they understand what’s required. [Members of the coaching staff will observe how the players move, provide reinforcement, and where necessary pull a player aside for individual attention. They’ll model the desired behavior, have the player practice it and then observe them as they reenter the larger group.]

• The coach will then bring in a defensive squad. This allows the team to practice the play in a slightly more realistic scenario. This will be repeated several times. [Play will start and stop as the coaches observe small tweaks that need to be made. The tempo will gradually increase so that the behavior can be practiced in increasingly game-like scenarios.]

• The new offensive strategy will then be incorporated into a full-blown scrimmage game. The new set will be mixed in with established plays so the team can get used to switching tactics as needed. [Like a dress-rehearsal, this full-blown role play will test to see how well individual players can modify their behavior on the fly. Play doesn’t stop in order to address issues. Coaching takes place in real time. By now the team will have demonstrated an understanding of what’s required and spot coaching and reinforcement takes the place of heavy coach involvement.]

• Finally, the new concepts will be implemented in the midst of an actual game against another team. Once the coach feels his players have grasped the concept to the extent that they can demonstrate the desired behavior repeatedly and consistently, he’s ready to unleash it on the other team. [Even as the game is taking place, the staff is actively engaged in coaching. Players are applauded for demonstrating their new competencies. Others are pulled to the side, or even off the floor, to receive corrective coaching after a missed opportunity. Timeouts are utilized to reinforce the need to properly execute the new skills.]

I hope you see the importance of viewing coaching as an ongoing process rather than a periodic activity. There is a definite need for a system of scheduled, well-structured coaching sessions. But it’s just as important to take advantage of the unscheduled, in-the-moment opportunities to restate expectations, provide positive reinforcement and correct undesirable behavior. Top coaches know that their number one job is the development of the individuals on their team. They never stop coaching.

Why Managers Don’t Coach, Part 2

Posted on by Scott

This article is the second in a series that looks into the reasons managers give for not spending more time coaching. In the first post I looked at the over-reliance some place on the role of formalized or corporate training. Today, we look at another common response.

Excuse #2 – “They’re a top performer. They don’t need coaching.”

Managers are often reluctant to coach top performers. Some of the comments I’ve heard related to this excuse include:

“They’re at the top of their game. What could they possible learn?”

“They’ll get upset. I don’t want to lose them because they feel I’m micro-managing.”

“I don’t feel comfortable coaching them. They’re better than I am.”

Lack of coaching amongst top performers typically results from a feeling of discomfort on the part of the manager. They don’t know how to approach a coaching scenario with someone who’s performing well, so they avoid the issue all together. Unfortunately, this can have less than desirable consequences.

Early in my career as a sales manager, I too held the belief that my top producers didn’t need coaching. One day, this perception was shattered by a sales rep named Linda. I was managing a large call center at the time and on this particular day I had been working with a new rep on her outbound telephone skills. We would take turns making calls so she could listen to me model the technique and then I would listen as she made a call so we could discuss the results.

Linda was one of the top producers on my team and I hadn’t spent much time with her beyond reviewing her numbers and thanking her for her efforts. She noticed I was on the floor working with another employee and during a break she asked why I never worked with her. I replied that honestly, I didn’t feel she needed help. Her production was always at the top and my time was better spent with those who need the most help. Linda convinced me to spend a couple of hours coaching her anyway and the experience was rewarding for both of us. I walked away with a new perspective on coaching that has impacted my career ever since. Here are some of the things I learned from Linda regarding coaching top performers.

They want you to coach them. One of the reasons top performers are, well, top performers is that they’re always looking for ways to improve. In fact, if you ignore them too long, you may find yourself involved in what I call scuba-diver management. This occurs when a top performer feels ignored and subconsciously lowers their level of performance so that you begin coaching them. You work them back to top performer status and then dive back down to coach another low performer. Spending time with a top performer keeps them producing at a high level.

Linda’s performance level hadn’t dropped, but I quickly began to see this pattern in another top performer, Michael. Michael would be top dog one month, but fade into the middle of the pack the next. After a couple months of this back and forth, I realized what was going on. Once I began providing him with a more consistent coaching diet, his performance stayed more consistently in the top tier.

Everyone has something to learn. My reluctance to coach Linda stemmed from a fear that I had nothing to offer. I was worried that my attempts to model would fail or that she would ask a question that I couldn’t answer. I was, in fact, intimidated by her record of performance. But I could tell that she sincerely wanted my time, so I dove in.

During the time I spent with Linda, she was able to pick up on a few techniques – phrases I used or questions I would ask – that hadn’t occurred to her before. She was able to relate specific calls where these ideas would have come in handy and helped her secure more sales. As she took notes and practiced what she’d heard, I knew without a doubt that the time had been well spent.

You get more bang for your coaching buck. Spending time with top performers allows you to capitalize on the skill set that already exists. So your time is spent fine-tuning rather than developing. Let’s say you’ve got two employees to coach. One is an average performer who produces 10 widgets per week. The other is a top performer, producing 50 widgets per week. A 10% improvement in the average performer will gain you one additional widget, but a 10% improvement from your top performer gets you 5.

I’m not suggesting that you leave new employees or low performers to fend for themselves. You need to coach everyone. Your best employees need coaching, although the approach may be different. You have to be flexible enough with your time and coaching skills to accommodate employees at all levels.

Coaching keeps them engaged. When I talk about coaching, most managers think I’m talking about a process that identifies specific skill gaps and works with employees to address them. And while this is often true, coaching isn’t always about specific skill development. I believe coaching is a multi-faceted activity. Ultimately, coaching is any activity that helps an employee do their job better. Simply spending time with a member of your team, showing them attention, illustrates their value to you and the organization. Sometimes a little attention is all that’s required to recharge someone’s batteries.

During the couple of hours Linda and I worked together that day, we discussed her feelings about the organization, her views on particular projects outside of her responsibility, and even her career aspirations. As she talked, I could see the passion she had for her job. She truly loved helping people and felt her role allowed her to match customers’ needs with products and services that would make a difference for them. The opportunity to share that with me, her boss, was obviously important to her. She had an extra skip in her step for several days afterward.

You might learn something. If your top performers are really that good, then they probably have a few tricks to share. I’ve never walked away from a coaching session with one of my best employees without a few new ideas. I pick up techniques that will help another employee, or get inspired to improve an existing process after hearing their feedback.

I was apprehensive about coaching Linda. But I’m so glad I did. She learned a lot and so did I. The things I took away from the time we spent together that afternoon have helped me become a better listener, a better coach, and ultimately a better manager. I doubt she knows just how much I benefited from her insistence that I coach her.

So what are you waiting for Coach? Get out there and spend some time with a top performer.

A Comeback Story: How to Bounce Back From Service Defects

Posted on by Scott

Last night, my alma mater, Western Kentucky University, played in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The Hilltoppers played Mississippi Valley State for the 16th seed in their bracket and a chance to face Kentucky in the second round.

By all accounts, it was an ugly game. With 28 turnovers and 30% shooting, WKU played the part of a losing team – right up until the final five minutes. That’s when the comeback happened. Down 16 points, the team managed to rally and came away with a 59-58 win.

Comeback wins are exciting to see. While it’s stressful to see your team fall apart, the thrill you get watching them pull it back together is priceless. Comebacks happen in business too. Whether the breakdown occurs with a single customer or is widespread, a well executed recovery can make things right. In fact, research has shown that a customer who experiences a problem, but has that issue resolved to their satisfaction, becomes more loyal than someone who never experiences a problem in the first place.

Here are a few tips to help you pull off a come-from-behind win.

1. Apologize. Occasionally I run into self professed “experts” who claim you should never apologize to a customer. They say that admitting you are wrong leads to concessions and a customer base that takes advantage ot you. Apologizing, they say, shows weakness and hurts your place in the competitive landscape.

What a bunch of malarky. When you screw up, the customer knows you screwed up. Refusing to apologize doesn’t hide the fact that something went wrong. Saying your sorry simply communicates that you acknowledge the error. It allows you to move from stating the problem to solving it. When you dismiss the issue (or worse, try to spin it as the customer’s fault), you show that you are out of touch have no concern for the value your customer is supposed to be receiving from their relationship with you. Apologizing doesn’t make you look weak; it shows you care.

2. Acknowledge the impact. Have you ever had someone who keeps explaining the problem even after you’ve apologized for it? That’s an indication that you haven’t properly shown enough empathy. In order for you to move the conversation past the customer’s frustration and into an agreeable resolution, you have to demonstrate your understanding of the extent to which the problem affects them.

Vocalize one or two of the impacts this issue will have on your customer’s time, finances, reputation or family. This gives your apology some meat and aligns you with the customer so that you can start working together again. You can;t start down the road toward a resolution until you’re both on the same page.

3. Explain what happened. There’s a tendency when resolving a customer’s issue to move directly from issue identification to problem solving. But customers want to know that we recognize the root cause. They want to see that we’ve determined the gap in the process that caused the breakdown. Otherwise, they may assume that we’ve simply applied a band-aid solution to a much bigger problem. There’s no confidence that the issue won’t arise again in the future.

I’m not advocating that you engage in a mole hunt or start blaming other departments in fron tof your customer. That shows a fractured organization – one that is likely to encounter additional problems. But a simple explanation of the underlying events that led to the issue can show your customer that you’ve done your due diligence and start to restore their confidence.

4. Agree on a solution. It’s important that you communicate with the customer in a way that allows them to agree to the course of action being taken to resolve the problem. Even if your response is painfully clear, you still need to ask for their agreement.

Customers often feel out of control when they bring a problem to your attention. They feel victimized. Asking for their agreement to a solution restores a measure of control. It also positions you as a partner rather than an adversary.

5. Thank them for bringing the issue to your attention. A customer who alerts you to a problem is doing you a favor. Most of them grumble, walk away and take their business elsewhere – never giving you the opportunity to salvage the relationship. To make matters worse, they start to tell their friends about the rotten service your company has provided. Your reputation is taking hit after hit and you still don;t even know there was a problem.

When a customer tells you about a gap in your service, consider it a gift. And since every gift deserves a “thank you,” give them one. Let your customer know how much you appreciate the fact that they brought this problem to your attention so that it can be addressed. Let them know how other customers will benefit thanks to their action. Let them know how much you value their business.

Even the best organizations have bad days. Problems are bound to arise. Service stumbles happen. But if handled properly, the realationships involved can be strengthened as a result. Oh, and Go Hilltoppers!