Change Your Mindset from Managing...to Coaching

We are fascinated with the concept of coaching vs. managing (we love sports, you know).  So, we asked our friend and coaching guru, Garry Watanabe of Performance Coaching, how to change the manager's mindset from managing to coaching.  

Here is his response:

"The key is to examine the mindset that you take into the interactions that you have with your people.  In my experience, coaches take a mindset characterized by three factors.

The first is a strong developmental perspective, an overall intent or purpose to help the performer grow, develop, overcome challenges, or be more successful.

The second is they are biased in favor of personal contact, leveraging the awesome power of personal or eyeball to eyeball attention so that it becomes a very ‘human’ encounter.  When given the option, coaches will generally try to close the distance, particularly if the message is more complex or they can expect some resistance from the coachee.

Third, the interaction is driven by caring.  If you think back to high school and the teachers who were the very best at getting the more challenging kids to learn difficult material, how did they do it? It had everything to do with the fact that everyone knew that these teachers truly cared about the students and communicated that message in a thousand different little ways that you just can’t fake.  And that’s what created the trust that enabled those teachers to reach those students.

Without the right mindset, the skills and process of good coaching can be experienced as manipulation. With the right mindset, the skills and processes become very powerful tools to build commitment in people."

All our favorite managers have been coaches not managers.  The idea of being managed gets our hackles up.  But, the idea of being coached?!  Put us in, coach!  Let's win this!

Have you been coached or managed?  What is the predominant style at your company?  We'd love to hear.