I used to believe that in order to get managers, superintendents and supervisors to be ‘better’ at interacting with their teams in-the-field, ‘better’ at safety leadership, ‘better’ at understanding what safety is all about et cetera, you needed to firstly train them and then get someone in to periodically coach them to make sure they were doing what they said they were going to do and to keep them on the straight and narrow. There is no doubt in my mind now that I was WRONG.
To start with, the idea that we need to make people ‘better’ implies that they are not good to begin with. Hardly a way to encourage cooperation and engagement….
Then I learned that coaching is all about the player (I was using the word “coachee” but feel that ‘player’ better represents the fact that the player has a lot more work to do than the coach, as it should be). The agenda of the interaction between the coach and the player is all up to player and so it is only when the player wants to change or improve some aspect of their life that the word ‘better’ ever comes into the equation. You cannot coach someone on what you want them to get better at, only what they want to get better at.
So, coaching is important. It will make a difference, but how best to do make it happen?
If you bring a coach in and have them coach your people, they will make a difference, quite often a lasting one. But if you bring a coach in and have them develop, mentor and coach your leaders as they learn to be great coaches for their teams you have a sustainable and on-tap resource that will make a huge difference over the long term.
It is a bit like the old proverb “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” I have seen so many people become much more effective in all areas of their work once they understand the impact they can have as a coach in addition to their impact as a leader and manager.
So, for me, the answer to the question is simple; if you want to make a sustainable impact in the effectiveness of yourself and your teams, learn how to be a coach! Learn the skills, the models, the tips and tricks in using a coaching style in your leadership and management activities and start kicking some goals :).