Are you Coaching your People?

In many organizations today, managers are asked to coach their direct reports. Would you say, as a leader, that you can heed to this demand successfully? In my years studying and working with companies on this topic, I have observed that many executives are ill-equipped to even answer this question. Why? For one, managers tend to think they are coaching when they’re just telling their employees what to do.

According to Sir John Whitmore, a leading figure in executive coaching, the definition of coaching is “unlocking a person’s potential to maximize their performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them.” When done right, coaching is phenomenal in supporting productivity and

engagement; most people find it more motivating to bring their expertise to a situation than to be told what to do. Many global studies have been done that show that most managers do not understand what coaching is. They often think it is the same thing as mentoring, others even confuse it with training, therapy, and consulting.

When initially asked coach, many managers instead demonstrate a form of consulting, meaning, they simply provide the other person with advice or a solution. You will regularly hear managers say, “First you do this” (this is training) or “Why don’t you do this?” (this is advising or mentoring).

What then is coaching and how does it work? How can coaching become the tool that differentiates you as a leader and catapults the results your people deliver? Coaching is the skill of supporting a person to set a specific goal, analyze the various routes to get there, create a road map towards the goal, and take the actions needed to achieve the results. As a leader who coaches, you will use various techniques to get this done and provide an accountability mechanism to help the person keep up with their action plan. The key technique used in coaching is evoking awareness. This is done by asking questions that bring forward deeper awareness and new insights. These questions are not a formula that you have pre-designed to lead the person. Good questions come from what you hear the other person say; a good coach is a good listener. The results of this process are amazing. The people you lead feel trusted, you make use of their knowledge and strengths to get things done and you build a team of people who take responsibility for their work. Coaching is also powerful in enhancing innovation. It gets your people to think beyond the obvious. It digs for a deeper motivation for doing things because it is a very Of course, the other interventions also have their place. For instance, those who are taking on a new task need training, those being groomed to take on a new position can be mentored by someone who has been there, this is where consulting comes in. The point is knowing when each of these is the most appropriate and applying it accordingly.

Coaching is associated with champions or high performers. It helps you polish your already talented people to be more effective. For this reason, coaching should not be used as a remedy for poor performance. Those being coached are trusted to make decisions and to follow through to get better and innovative solutions. These cannot be poor performers, who in my opinion, need more training and mentoring. A company should give the best coaches to their best talent; just like in sports. The high potential athletes or teams are the ones who get more professional coaches.

Are you ready to differentiate yourself as a leader by coaching your people? If so, begin by learning some basic coaching skills; then identify the people you want to invest your time in and begin to coach. The results will amaze you!

Find a coach for yourself too. You are already good at what you do and that is why you are in a leadership position. To play at an even higher league requires a professional coach who will help you cast your vision further, remain focused and achieve the results you deserve.

Coaching is associated with champions or high performers. It helps you polish your already talented people to be more effective.

By Irene Kinuthia PCC, Professional Certified Coach Email: ikinuthia@strathmore.edu