The Effective Manager

10Ask for More—Coaching

The third critical behavior for effective managers is to ask for higher levels of performance: Ask for More. The Manager Tools Coaching Model allows you to help each of your directs grow their skills without you spending more than 5–10 minutes a week on their improvement efforts.

Most managers with some experience have been in at least one situation in which they knew they needed to help someone grow. One of their colleagues, or someone from HR probably said, “You really need to coach him.” Maybe one of their directs was performing reasonably well, but needed help in one skill area to get to the next level. Or, a direct was struggling enough that their future was in jeopardy.

But no one knew how. Or, it involved weeks and weeks of developing a detailed six-month improvement plan (which no one else had ever done before). So, they let it gather dust on the back of their desk, and never got to it.

But there's a better way. And there needs to be, because we're obligated as managers to get the most out of our directs as we can. If a direct is capable of more/better/higher performance, the manager is obligated to work hard to make it happen.

Coaching is the least often used tool in the “Management Trinity.” There are some good reasons for this. One On Ones are the most powerful tool, and once managers start having O3s they never want to let them go. Feedback happens next, but it's hard for many managers, so they stumble. Many managers are afraid of introducing ...