What is the hardest part of managing other people? Is it being held accountable for results that are not your own? Is it handling the pressure of ensuring results and financial returns? Is it making difficult gut decisions throughout the course of each day? 

Depending on who you speak with, each of these could very well be management’s most difficult aspect. But one thing that is sure to be near the top of the list is the challenge of having to hold people accountable each day. A boss and an employee are just two different but equal people. But in the work context, the former is tasked with overseeing the performance of the latter, and by definition this will be a hefty challenge.

Last week I wrote about the fact that asking GOOD QUESTIONS is a leader’s most unrecognized tool. Along this same vein, there is another highly UNDERUTILIZED tool available to managers. When used effectively this tool greatly aids in turning employee accountability painful to palatable.

The Tool

Yesterday one of the managers that I lead put an employee working a position that he was not equipped to handle. The manager’s intent, to push and grow this employee, was as pure as could be. But the employee simply was not ready, and it showed. 

When the problem became clear, I pulled the manager and candidly explained the situation. I told the manager that, in my experience, an employee must show both ABILITY and adequate STEWARDSHIP in easier work positions before advancing them on to harder positions. You would think that challenging an employee with more when they are lacking one or both of these qualities would cause the person to measure up. While this occasionally will happen, usually the opposite occurs. The manager acknowledged that she understood and would make the needed adjustment moving forward. I thanked her and we moved on and had a strong, positive remainder of the day together! 

Great managers use the tool of VERBALLY COACHING their people, and they do it early and often!

Matthew Kelly’s book ‘The Culture Solution’ (per word probably the most valuable book I’ve ever read) says that “The music of a dynamic culture is made up of six notes”. The sixth and final note is “Grow your people by creating a coaching culture”. Kelly proposes that “A leader’s No. 1 role is to coach his or her people”. 

The first aspect of this is that people will struggle to grow if they are not coached. Even sports legends like Tom Brady and Michael Phelps had team and individual coaches who helped them be their best! Employees are certainly no different. Coaching is to an employee what sun/water are to a flower. Consistent, daily coaching leads to GROWTH over time.

A second aspect at play here is obviously VERBAL coaching. This requires paying attention to others, noticing, and then having the courage to open one’s mouth and speak. When we’re not too busy to actually slow down and notice, how often do we encounter the opportunity to coach someone else, for their benefit, but we choose not to? Keep in mind that there is a big difference, both in intent and actions, between COACHING and REFEREEING!

Coaching often means correcting: “John, thanks for responding so quickly, but please ensure that you proofread your emails before you send them in the future. Thanks!”.

Coaching should also include encouraging: “Anna, thanks for not only responding so quickly but also for wording your reply concisely and enthusiastically. This is a great example of displaying our Core Value of Excellence. Good work!”. 

Third and finally, coaching is by far most effective when done in the context of a coaching CULTURE! One person doing all the coaching, or sporadic coaching here or there, can be somewhat helpful. But when everyone in charge is clear to employees that maintaining a coaching culture is a priority, things can advance at warp speed.

In Closing

Much more could be said here about coaching as a manager’s most underutilized tool. But for now, are you convicted to help others around you grow? Are you verbally coaching numerous times each day? Are you working to grow and maintain an entire culture where coaching is normal and welcomed?