It doesn’t come naturally to change a management style that’s got you to your position of seniority. If you can see what you want done or how you want a team member to do something, then a coaching conversation is unlikely to be your first choice of tool.
You might be tempted to use coaching if you see your priority is to develop the other person by giving them an opportunity to do it their way, to come up with their own ideas, and take responsibility for them. That is a real attraction for some of the HR team and senior managers of a multi-national company with whom we are currently working in The Netherlands.
These leaders also see how it can work for them when they are not so certain about what should be done or how something should be done. Then a coaching conversation can increase the range of possibilities, allowing them to make a decision at the end of the exploratory discussion.
It may be much later that they come to appreciate SF as a great way in general to get things done, faster and more enjoyably, by making best use of all resources - theirs and the coachees. For the moment, they like the idea of ‘getting the monkey off their back’ and keeping it where it belongs - with the coachee.
Yes, they are used to ‘fixing it’, by taking on the issue for themselves, or - more subtly - by instructing subordinates on how to do it. So a coaching conversation in which the coachee decides what they’ll do and is clearly positioned as responsible for giving that a go, is rather appealing.
And so we may be getting a coaching culture started. Instead of diving in every time by telling people what to do, these leaders will select a few projects, recognise a few potential conversations, and approach them deliberately in a new style - and notice carefully what results they get.
You might be tempted to use coaching if you see your priority is to develop the other person by giving them an opportunity to do it their way, to come up with their own ideas, and take responsibility for them. That is a real attraction for some of the HR team and senior managers of a multi-national company with whom we are currently working in The Netherlands.
These leaders also see how it can work for them when they are not so certain about what should be done or how something should be done. Then a coaching conversation can increase the range of possibilities, allowing them to make a decision at the end of the exploratory discussion.
It may be much later that they come to appreciate SF as a great way in general to get things done, faster and more enjoyably, by making best use of all resources - theirs and the coachees. For the moment, they like the idea of ‘getting the monkey off their back’ and keeping it where it belongs - with the coachee.
Yes, they are used to ‘fixing it’, by taking on the issue for themselves, or - more subtly - by instructing subordinates on how to do it. So a coaching conversation in which the coachee decides what they’ll do and is clearly positioned as responsible for giving that a go, is rather appealing.
And so we may be getting a coaching culture started. Instead of diving in every time by telling people what to do, these leaders will select a few projects, recognise a few potential conversations, and approach them deliberately in a new style - and notice carefully what results they get.
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