Management Is Dead. Stop Managing And Start Coaching!
By Terri Levine, best-selling author, keynote speaker, popular TV personality, and host of “The Terri Levine Show.”
Finally we have realized you can’t manage people, you can only manage things. Behaviors are manageable, and people certainly are not, so we need to stop trying to manage people. We must start to learn skills to coach people to success.
WHAT IS BUSINESS COACHING?
Business coaching is helping people to be inspired to achieve more than they may have ever dreamed possible. A great coach is not a manager who tells others what to do. A great coach invites colleagues to work with them to solve problems creatively and works with people to achieve common goals. Business coaching means you inspire, empower, and energize the people on your team. You seek answers from those you work with and solicit suggestions and ideas of others. People like to be led if those who coach and lead them are empathetic and compassionate.
COACHING YOUR TEAM
Shifting to a coach versus a manager means you are willing to set directions for others and mobilize individual commitment of team members. Great coaches empower people on their teams by letting them know they make a difference. If and when there are problems that show up, never criticize the person. Behaviors or systems are problems — never people. Your job is to coach people into success. Coach them through to solutions.
Ask team members for advice. Coaching is based on asking a lot of questions and inviting your team to give their input. Always acknowledge and honor others, and thank them for their input and contributions. Get team members to add to your thoughts and improve on your ideas and help to achieve the best outcomes.
Coaching teams means the entire team has a hand in ownership and making changes and implementing all ideas. There is a sharing of ownership and no longer is there top-down management. Coaching is collaborative. When everyone feels ownership, things happen. Productivity, profitability, and morale automatically increase.
THE BEST COACHING PRACTICES
Companies that have the most successful coaches have a clear vision their teams get behind. Everyone is working toward a common goal. There are shared values, and everyone is working jointly and not trying to be the star. It is truly a cohesive effort. In fact, there is shared ownership for all the results because it is a team effort. Coaching is used to develop all team members to their fullest potential.
You will enjoy your job more when people self-manage and you stop trying to manage people. Allow people to lead themselves and stop trying to control them and command them. No need to instruct them. Just guide them with coaching and questions and you will soon empower them. They will begin to rely on their judgment and intuition and be empowered and enjoy their jobs more, too. You will notice you have more motivated, engaged, and enthusiastic employees.
Get out there and stop managing and start coaching. Make business fun, and get people excited about working as a team!