If you stay around
long enough in an organization, you will find yourself moved to
management. This is not a bad
thing. Managers have responsibility. They can direct resources to meet needs and
to move toward the accomplishment of goals.
Managers do more than deal with money, space, and materials,
however. They must deal with people
When you become a
manager, you will have people on your team who report to you. You are expected to be their supervisor. If you look up the word “supervision” in a
dictionary, you will find synonyms such as “control,” “regulation,” and “govern.”
This reflects one
particular approach to being a supervisor, but I suggest that you consider a
different paradigm. What if you saw yourself as a coach rather than a supervisor? Both coaches and supervisors are leaders,
but they take a different approach to their responsibilities. The synonyms that go with coach are “teacher,”
“trainer,” “educator,” and “tutor.”
Too often, a supervisor
is afraid that people are going to do something wrong. On the other hand, a coach challenges people
to do their best and discover what they do best. A supervisor is afraid of failure; a coach
helps a person learn from failure. A
supervisor keeps things under control; a coach pushes the boundaries.
If you want to be a
coaching leader, you need to do three things well.
First, ask powerful
questions. A coaching leader does not
provide all the answers but asks the right questions so that people can learn
how to do things for themselves by becoming more self-aware as well as more conscious
of their environment.
Second, seek
clarity. A coaching leader helps a person understand both the boundaries and
the possibilities of a task. Let’s be
honest. Some tasks are not much fun but
come with the job; however, there are tasks that provide the possibility of
being creative and fulfilling. A
coaching leader helps the person he or she works with to discover how the make
the latter enjoyable by clarifying what is expected and providing the freedom
to be excel.
Third, create accountability. A coaching leader not
only provides accountability but offers it as a gift. The coaching leader helps the person with
whom they work to discover who can come alongside to support, identifies
milestones to help provide a sense of achievement, and celebrates completion of
the assignment.
Are you a supervisor or a coaching leader? Which would you rather be? It’s up to you.
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