"He was the best manager I ever worked for. He took an interest in helping me
from day one. I will never forget how great it felt when he told me that I was really showing talent in the way I ran my group. He was almost always available, in fact he used to seek me out, ask me how things were
going. If I was stumped, unable to resolve an issue, he was always there to listen. He rarely told me what to do, by the end of most of our conversations, I left with a sense of what I needed to try next."
You can learn a lot from a story like that. The coaching manager in this story isn't doing anything terribly sophisticated. He's a good listener, someone who is open and accessible and someone who helps his
employees stretch themselves, solve their own problems, learn and build confidence in the process. The result is an employee who feels really good about working in the manager's unit. That employee is probably
highly motivated to work toward the unit's goals as well. Stories like this offer new coaching managers ideas about what they can do to enhance their leadership effectiveness.
However, some stories warn managers about
what NOT to do. Here is a common one.
"She micromanaged me. She never thought I could do anything right. I got plenty of feedback, but it left me feeling like a failure."
As we say in the book, feedback by
itself doesn't necessarily promote learning and can be demoralizing.
We're only beginning to understand what it takes to be an effective coaching manager. If you'd like to help, send us your stories. Keep us
informed of your progress as you work to become a "coaching manager." E-mail your stories, questions and insights that you feel might be helpful to others. We'll post helpful ideas here in the coming months. Please
note that all submissions are the property of James Hunt and Joseph Weintraub and can be used by CoachingManager.com. No individual names, however, will be used without permission.
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