The Manager – Coach and Confidant
Your people are your most precious resource. Only your people can be made to appreciate you and the value you bring to them. All other resources and corporate assets depreciate over time. You need great people in your organization to grow your business.
People leave jobs due to their manager and that person’s poor leadership and managerial skills. People stay at bad jobs due to how great their manager treats and lead them.
Many organizations have managers that were promoted because; they talk a great game (the BS’ers), or performed well on a project, are great at shuffling paperwork, are well networked in the organization, due to nepotism, or were hired externally to make changes within an organization. Many managers are just that – managers and not leaders. There is a big difference between managing and leading.
Bad managers may or may not know they are demoralizing their staff through their words and actions. The worst managers do not believe they are negatively impacting the business but believe the business is declining due to the staff.
One big area I have seen managers and business owners fail at is providing effective coaching to their employees. They believe having that annual review with their staff, beating them up over something they cannot remember 10 months ago, and providing nothing, but negative comments are showcasing their great managerial skills. They are doing it because that is all they know, and they need to check a box to say they did the review.
The fastest and most effective way to increase the productivity and performance of your people is for you to give them timely and relevant coaching and counseling at the proper times in their careers. This is the exact opposite of what many managers believe. People cannot grow without honest, objective feedback and instruction from someone who can look at their performance and tell them exactly how they are doing. The best managers are always communicating with their staff, coaching and guiding them. Correcting them if needed but in a positive and supportive manner.
Everyone needs feedback and counseling from someone he or she respects and trusts to improve and to get better at their work. Many average people have become star performers within their organization as the result of a manager taking the time to guide them and instruct them on how to improve in critical areas of their work.
One of the best managers I have ever met never wanted to run the company. They were very happy in their manager role looking over 50 people who were on the manufacturing floor. The reason being his employees in his division had the highest output compared to other locations the company had as well as the industry average. His employee turnover was unheard of at 99% retention. He told new staff members that they will only work for him for a maximum of 5 years. His goal is to provide his staff with managerial and leadership skills to get a better job within or outside the organization. He had monthly group and one-on-one meetings. He did little talking at all the meetings. He listened. Asked the right questions at the right time. Provided guidance and support to everyone. All his current and prior staff members would walk through fire for this guy. His passion was to be the best manager and develop leaders. Could you emulate his vision and actions?
You need to learn how to give timely and accurate coaching and counseling to each of your staff members regularly. If they are performing below par, take them aside and find out why. Ask them questions. Don’t start criticizing them and threatening them about their performance. You may be shocked to find out that person may have lost a close family member and that has impacted their performance. You don’t know. Treat them with respect and ask questions.
Make sure you are clear about what is expected from your staff. If you just tell them to produce 100 units an hour, that is an expectation. Go deeper. Show them how to produce 100 units an hour. Sit with them. Ask them how they could produce 100 units an hour. What could they improve on to produce more? Be clear on your expectations and be the coach and confidant.
“The number one demotivator in the world of work is not knowing what is expected.”
A great strategy is to have short monthly one-on-one meetings with your staff. The manager is there as a facilitator, the coach, guiding the meeting, but doing the listening and asking questions. To make these meetings effective and to coach your staff, they create the agenda for the meeting. Let them tell you what they have been working on in the past month. What their goals were in the last month and if they achieved them or not and why. They will tell you their goals for the next month and how they will achieve them. You will just ask questions to clarify anything they said and to push them a little bit to learn something new. Improve their production, their leadership skills, whatever it may be. You are the coach. Coach them. Be clear in your communication. No fluffy stuff. Be open honest and caring. Have them always reaching higher to achieve their personal goals and to achieve the goals of the business.
What are you going to do to be the coach and confident in your business?
Contact Biz Coach Steve today to see how he can assist you to get the results you want in your business, steve@bizcoachsteve.com, or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. Need a speaker, contact Steve today.
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