Tag Archives: coaching

A New Management Technique

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“I found a new management technique,” beamed Mackenzie.

“I’ll bite,” I smiled. “What is it?”

“Fix it,” she replied. “Whenever someone comes to me with a problem, I should just say “Fix it!'”

“Okay, that does shift accountability in the direction of the team member, but it doesn’t give them much to work with.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Mackenzie shot back. “It’s up to them to figure it out.”

“Take this piece of paper and this pencil,” I said. “Draw a picture.”

“Draw a picture of what?” Mackenzie was puzzled.

“Exactly. You are going to sputter around and finally come up with something without any shape or form related to the instruction. It’s not what I had in mind.” I paused.

“But if I said draw something that is round, gave you just enough structure, your efforts would be faster and on point. I will still get plenty of alternative variation. Round like a ball or round like a coin? As big as a planet or as small as a marble? Smooth surface or textured surface? Hard like a rock or pliable like a balloon?”

“So, ‘fix it’ isn’t helpful?” she relented.

“You want the team to solve the problem, but they will solve it faster and generate more alternatives if you give them a structure –
What is the problem?
What is the cause of the problem?
What are the alternative solutions?
What is the best solution?”

Assumptions and Blame

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“I’m done with the drama,” Ellie protested. “I try to promote a positive atmosphere around here, but all I get is bullying and backstabbing.”

“Oh, really?” I asked.

“Yes,” she replied. “Everyone seems to scatter for cover when something goes wrong, blaming other people, scooting out from under any accountability.”

“Are you sure this isn’t an isolated incident?” I wanted to know.

“No, this is more like a constant mental state of the team,” Ellie explained. “People position themselves so they always have an out, denying they have any responsibility. The air of blame is so thick you can cut it. You can feel it in the quiet whispers, the general tone of water-cooler talk.”

“I assume this is not organic evolution,” I smiled. “How did things get this way?”

“It started with our continuous improvement process. We were looking for things to improve on. We made a list, or rather I made a list. No one else could come up with anything.”

“Oh, so you’re the culprit,” my smile turned to a grin.

“Don’t lay this at my feet,” Ellie protested. “It’s the team that can’t get their act together.”

“And, you are their manager,” I nodded. “You describe the team as a group of incompetent players. And incompetence always seeks out blame. Competent people are in the game to get better. So, which do you have? Incompetence or competence?”

Ellie sat in silence before she finally spoke. “I knew you were going to pin this on me. You think my team’s behavior is influenced by the way I see them. As competent or incompetent.”

“Yes,” I agreed. “Our assumptions, the way we see the world drives behavior. If you see your team as incompetent, you will drive blaming behavior. If you see your team as competent, you will drive improvement. So, you better find out what they are good at.”

Shoelaces Untied

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“It’s time for my monthly coaching session,” Manuel explained. “I have some things I need to point out to some of my team.”

“Yes,” I agreed. “Negative feedback is necessary. If my shoes are untied, I need to know so I don’t fall on my face. But tying my shoes do not make me a high performer.”

Manuel looked down at his shoes, to make sure he was not the focus.  I continued, “What kind of feedback do you need?”

“Not a lot,” he said. “I have a pretty good idea when I perform well and when I fail.”

“Most competent people do,” I nodded. “You have a good sense when you are in struggle and when you are in flow. You have internal feedback sensitivities. When you are in flow, your body generates endorphins. When you struggle, your stomach doesn’t feel right.”

Manuel smiled. “That’s me. What about my team?”

“Reality always wins,” I replied. “You biggest job is to get in touch with it.** You are about to enter a coaching session with one of your team members. Giving advice, negative feedback, corrective action may get some shoelaces tied, but your biggest impact is getting your team member in touch with their reality. And, your description doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is their perception, their perception of circumstances, their perception of intention, their perception of performance and their perception of outcome. You only have a marginal impact with advice. You have a larger impact with questions. The best managers are not those who tell people what to do, but those who ask the best questions.”
—
**Shades of Pat Murray

Five Questions

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Stephanie got quiet. “I coach. That’s what I do. But, how do I do what I do?”

“That’s a recursive question,” I said.

“I mean, I think I coach. But, it’s intuitive. I don’t know if I know how to coach. Maybe it’s something I do, but is there a method?”

“Just ask these five questions.”

  • What did we expect?
  • What did we do well?
  • What went wrong?
  • What can we do to prevent that next time?
  • When will we meet again?

Moving Levels of Performance

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“I think we covered this before,” Stephanie chuckled. “I always seem to drop back to training, more training. If I see something I don’t like, the answer is more training. But training doesn’t seem to move the needle anymore.”

“Think about it this way,” I suggested, “if training is something that happens before the behavior we want, and gets the team to a minimum level of performance, then why doesn’t more training move the needle?”

Stephanie paused. “To move the needle is only going to come with practice. Training only tells the team what to do, in what sequence. Training doesn’t observe their behavior, watch their repetition, suggest small changes in method, drill them with more repetition.”

“Stop!” I said. “Listen to your description. Observe behavior, watch repetition, suggest small changes. Does that sound like training?”

Stephanie’s chuckle turned to laughter. “No. Training gets the team to a minimum level of performance. Observing behavior, watching repetition, suggesting small changes is coaching. Higher levels of performance don’t come with training. Higher levels of performance come with coaching.”

Time to Step Up

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“I am ready to throw up my hands. I have come up with eight ways to Sunday for our route technicians to do a better job on their service calls. I am ready to do a Flutie drop kick and just let them deal with it.” Russell commiserated, hoping I would be sympathetic.

“Well, I think it’s a good idea,” I said.

“What do you mean?” replied Russell, still looking for sympathy.

“I mean, I think you should call your technicians together and let them deal with it. Look, the problem isn’t that your ideas are bad; the problem is they are your ideas. If you want your technicians to do a better job on service calls, the ideas have to come from them.

“One of the biggest mistakes young managers make is thinking that you have to solve all the problems of the world. You don’t. Spread the burden. You will be surprised at how your technicians will step up to the plate.”

Connecting Performance and Retention

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Morgan was finally thinking about purpose. What was the purpose of the performance review in the first place? What was the performance review supposed to accomplish?

“Morgan, what is the most critical factor for both team member performance and team member retention?”

At this point, Morgan was gun-shy, he hesitated to respond.

“Let me ask this differently,” I continued. “What is the most critical relationship for both team member performance and team member retention?”

Morgan’s face relaxed. “That’s easy. It’s the relationship between the team member and the manager.”

“Good, now let’s build on that. How important is the conversation between the team member and the manager?”

“Pretty important, I guess,” said Morgan, going tentative on me again.

“Here is why it’s important. The relationship between the team member and the manager is the critical factor for both performance and retention. And the conversation is the relationship.”

What kinds of conversations are happening between your team members and your managers?
___
Conversation is the relationship described in The Heart Aroused by David Whyte.

More Practice

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“Practice makes perfect,” Melanie grinned.

“No,” I replied. “Practice does NOT make perfect. Practice may make you feel better, repeating grooved, routine behaviors, but, those behaviors may still miss the mark. Practice does not make perfect, only perfect practice makes perfect. It’s not the repetitions, it’s the right repetitions.”

“But, you always say that we learn from mistakes,” Melanie chided.

“Learning is making mistakes, but you have to learn from the gap. What is the future state of performance, what is the current performance, and what’s the gap?”

“So, there is some analysis going on?” Melanie confirmed.

“And, often that analysis is invisible to you because you are getting comfortable with repetition. But, it’s just a feeling. What’s the difference between training and coaching?”

“Training gets you started, but practice makes you better. Learning from mistakes only works when you recognize the mistake, and figure out how to do it differently. And, sometimes we can’t see the mistake, or the correction, as easily as someone else. That’s where a coach comes in.”

“You said you had been through training,” I nodded, “and you were able to describe the training, as scheduled, with a curriculum. What about coaching? How would you describe coaching here?”

Melanie paused for a very long time. “In my days here, coaching seems elusive. I don’t know if I can put my finger on it. Underperformance is more likely met with reprimand and training, more training, back to training. I don’t need more training, I need more practice, perfect practice.”

Beginning of Competence

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“What’s the difference between training and coaching?” I asked.

Melanie was a new manager. “I’ve been to training,” she replied. “It’s scheduled, it has a curriculum, it’s disciplined. Someone thought through the sequence of learning, identified specific skills.”

“And, when you emerged from the training program, certificate of completion in hand, did that make you a high performer?”

“That’s was my impression,” Melanie said. “But, that impression turned out to be wrong. The training gave me insight into the way we do things around here, but I was certainly not a high performer.”

“You seem to be comfortable in what you are doing now,” I nodded. “That wasn’t the result of the training?”

“Not hardly. I learned, possessed some technical knowledge about our methods and process, but I was very much a newbie.”

“Technical knowledge, but not competence? On the other hand, you appear competent now. What happened?”

“Practice,” Melanie smiled. “Technical knowledge will only get you so far. Competence requires taking those first steps, hands on, then practice, lots of practice.”

But, Training is the Easiest Option

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“But, training is my easiest and fastest way to get James some help,” Marie protested. “I told you I don’t have time to coach.”

“There is a short story about someone, at midnight, looking for the keys they dropped in the parking lot,” I started. “Where did you drop your keys was the question. Over there, by my car, was the response. Then, why are you looking over here? Because there is more light over here.”

“You are saying I am looking in the wrong place?” Marie asked.

“Training is the easiest and fastest. You can shove James off to someone else, but that may not be what James needs. Training only gets you so far. Did you know I was a champion ice skater?”

Marie was surprised at this turn in the conversation.

“Little known fact,” I said. “At least I will be a champion ice skater if you will agree to be my coach. Two things you know about my ice skating behavior – I have a strong right push off the skate, and my bootlaces are untied. As a habit, I am sloppy about my equipment. The knots in my laces are loose and within minutes, they come apart, the laces drag the ice. As my coach, you want to be positive, but my laces are untied. Do you ignore this weakness, or is it part of your obligation, as a coach, to deliver some negative feedback?”

“Well, yes, I have to tell you to tie your bootlaces,” Marie was hesitant.

“So, I tie my laces, secure. Am I now a champion ice skater?”

“No,” Marie was more sure of her response.

“Training only gets my bootlaces tied. Champions only come through coaching. You have to get my bootlaces tied, but if you want me to be a champion, you have to work with my strong right push. James may understand, through training, about schedules, workloads and capacity, but if you want James to become a champion, it requires coaching.”