At Reverb, we love helping managers hone their coaching skills. Manager as Coach is something we want to help nurture in all people leaders. What we mean by this is that your role as a manager is less about managing the time and tasks of your direct reports, and more about being curious, and enabling and supporting your team to do their best work.
We often hear from first-time or early in career managers that they don’t know “how” to be a good coach. So today we want to offer you some quick, practical tips for how managers can start to dial up some of their coaching skills.
1. Try on Vulnerability. Get comfortable with the fact that you are often not the subject matter expert and you do not have all the answers.
What does being a vulnerable manager mean? Brené Brown describes vulnerability best in Daring Greatly as “uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure.” Vulnerability takes courage, and when managers demonstrate that courage, they draw their teams in, which in terms helps build psychological safety and foster trust. Managers can demonstrate vulnerability by saying they don’t know the answer, asking questions to learn more, and admitting failure.
2. Demonstrate Empathy. Listen empathetically to your team. Solicit their thoughts and input. Allow your direct reports the opportunity to reciprocate these same things.
Want to learn more about empathetic leadership, read this recent blog on Empathetic Leadership.
3. Be Curious. Dial up your curiosity by asking powerful and thoughtful questions. Where do you start? We’re here to help.
Here are 5 powerful questions you can use when engaging in a conversation with your direct report:
- What have you already thought of, or what have you already tried?
- What really matters here?
- If you had a magic wand, what would you do?
- What outcome would be ideal?
- What result are you trying to achieve?
Managers who demonstrate good coaching skills can still hold their team accountable. Don’t forget to ask ~ What are your next steps?
Interested in learning more about helping your managers build coaching skills, schedule time to learn more about our Coaching for Managers workshop or sign up for our Open Enrollment work here.
Need help cultivating more empathy in your team or organization, talk to our Leadership Development team about we can support you in that effort.
Looking for more powerful and curious questions, check out this article from Workhuman for a comprehensive list of 42 coaching questions.
