Myths About Coaching as a Manager
- Myth # 1 : Leading means having all t the answers and telling people what to do : if you’re coaching, you’re not leading.
- As managers, most of us receive years of training in being forceful, articulate advocate. Along the way we are praised for our ability to solve problems, answer every question, and give timely advise to others.
- That’s why coaching – and particularly the initial step of asking more questions – can feel uncomfortable first.
- Giving advise may generate short term result, but it can rob the people we lead of deeper learning and development.
- When you help you help an employee find the answers themselves , they build their self-awareness, creativity resourcefulness and competence.
- Deeper learning takes place when ownership of a solution comes from employee.
2. Myth # 2 : Only certain people should coach as manager.
- Some managers worry they don’t have the right personality or work style to coach effectively.
3. Myth # 3 : Coaching Is too time consuming
- It’s true that coaching does require an up-front investment of your time in order to gain time in the long run. It’s true that it probably will be faster for you to take charge and give advise or order instead of coaching – but only in the short-term.
- By investing time in coaching you are helping people to become more capable and self-reliant, needing less and less direction from you.
- Myth # 4 : Coaching conversation are just pleasant, warm and fuzzy.
- Coaching is not just having ‘nicer’ interactions; it also involve maintaining a strong focus on goals and results.
- Manager-coaches should discover, appreciate and affirm their employee’s strength and to cheerlead now and then.
- When employee become sharper and deeper, the value of coaching surfaces, helping employee get to the next layer in their thinking. This is not about asking interrogative, drilling or judgmental questions, but rather gently challenging powerful, curious questions that will mover them toward greater insight, and ultimate, into committed action.
- For Example : What are the next steps you know you need to take? What’s holding you back? What needs to be handled for you to move forward?
- Myth # 5 – If you’ve received coaching yourself, then you inherently know how to use coaching skills with other people.
Source :
( Coaching for Engagement, Hancox, Bob, et.al. Pg. 29)