Coaching Staff is easy when you know what to say
Sue is a new manager with a team of eightwho are all aged 20 something and are all white collar staff.
Her boss is a very time poor middle manager who gives her very little direction or support. Yes he's very busy too and holds a responsible position in the finance industry.
A few months ago he sent Sue to a one day introduction to management training
event to help her master some of the basics. She called me afterwards as she was trying to absorb all the information.
By the end of the training she'd gained an overview about time sheets and scheduling and project delivery and the basics on setting key performance indicators with staff and budgeting, planning, delegation and reporting.
Interesting - yes. Useful yes. She returned to the office feeling charged up and ready.
It didn't take long however for her euphoria to wear off when she encountered staff who came to her desk one by one with a list of their own problems and challenges, infighting and complaints and requests. And she realized how very little she knew about managing PEOPLE.
Honestly I felt just a little sorry for her. THAT is an overwhelming place to be.
But there's an even worse problem than that. If new managers are not trained, guided, and shown how to manage the day to day staff challenges that are inevitable, they adopt an ad-hoc approach to people leadership through a nonstop series of trial and error.
It's a big zigzag path to people management and many new managers give up along the way and simply begin to copy what are often poor leadership styles from others around them.
Some time ago I took a survey of my customers and the #1 thing that came from that survey was precisely that: Endless confusion about how to handle staff issues. The feeling of not knowing the right things to say or the correct approach to take.
So I decided to take action.
I used my own coaching expertise and I asked my younger clients and coaching colleagues what they KNOW are the most challenging staff scenarios that new managers face and then we set about writing a series of coaching scripts to address the top 30 scenarios.
These are literally simple scripts that we as coaches use with our clients when they face their most challenging staff scenarios such as:
What to say to a staff members who are: Constantly late, insecure about their jobs, overly emotional at work, are producing poor results, have bad attitudes, are reluctant to delegate, can't seem to learn from their mistakes, and many more.
Let's take the first one and see what a coaching script might look like:
Coach Talk to overcome the Blame GameWhat do you say when staff blame others? First, realise that it's your job as coach to set the team up for success by encouraging standards and ground rules for behaviour. Invite the team to set their ground rules for working together to create a positive and collaborative unit. If you've done this and staff still play the Blame Game, this approach may help.
Case Study: Greg has been leading a task that is running behind schedule and it appears quite a few people may be impacted. Greg has started blaming everyone else for the delays. His manager wants to address this behaviour and encourage Greg to take responsibility. A coaching discussion will help.
Coach: Greg, thanks for meeting with me. We both know that your ABC task has fallen behind schedule and quite a few people will be impacted. What concerns me more however is to hear that you have been blaming others on the team. Can you fill me in on what's driving that? State what you both know to be true and give him time to explain anything that might be rumor.
Coach: I hear what you are saying Greg.I know this is a complicated situation. We can never change what others do but it's true that when we point a finger at others there are usually three fingers pointing back at ourselves. What could you personally have done differently to get a better outcome? Encourage Greg to start looking at his own behaviour.
Coach: Great. Can you think of anything else that you could have done to ensure the tasks stayed on track?
Coach: OK good insights. Blaming others may temporarily deflect the attention onto others Greg but ultimately the responsibility rests with the task leader to set the project up for success and ensure everyone has what they need. Do you recall the ground rules the team set for working effectively together? What do they include? Listen and nod in acknowledgement as he recalls the ground rules.
Coach: Do you still agree with them?
Coach: So what do you think you might need to watch in yourself so you adhere to those ground rules?
Coach: Are you prepared to try that next time?
Coach: Excellent. You've got the ability to be great leader, Greg. Go for it. END
When companies invest in teaching their budding leaders simple coaching approaches early in their career, they are setting them up for success for a lifetime.
The question is: How long will you wait before you give them the tools?
Watch 60 minutes of free Workplace Coach Training here.
Coaching Staff is easy when you know what to say
By: Juliette Robertson
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