Manager Or Coach?

I was talking with a TEC member the other day during our regular One On One. My member was feeling more inadequate than normal. CEOs are like that sometimes. He stated he really wasn’t a very good manager. He was trained as an engineer and liked engineering very much. This managing stuff was very difficult for him. He wasn’t trained in it, wasn’t good at it and didn’t expect much in terms of improved performance as a result.

We talked about the role of managers. Among other position objectives, managers are required to organize the work, staff the organization and train the workers. While CEOs are generally more interested in the “leadership component” of being the Chief Executive, managing necessarily comes into the equation. This did not help my member get over his current disenchantment with his job.

Fortunately, his TEC group participated in a presentation by Resource Specialist Jim Cederna at a recent TEC meeting. Jim brings a wealth of business knowledge and some extremely practical management tools to TEC members who work with him based on his years of running substantial companies – most of them in troubled situations when he arrived.

One of the most interesting tools in Jim’s toolbox is a simple process that replaces the dreaded performance evaluation. It puts the manager in the role of coach, rather than boss. It allows the employee to set their own performance plan based on his or her understanding of what success looks like. It provides feedback to the worker. The process minimizes the need to “manage” people. No defensiveness. No hard feelings. No stress. Just coaching.

The analogy is a good one. Great coaches expect high performance, but only to the level expected by the athlete themselves. Great coaches know when to give their player a pat on the back and when to give them a kick in the butt. Coaches never take the field. All work must necessarily be done through others. Micro-managing is not possible. Effective delegation is mandatory.

My TEC member felt better about being a coach. He experienced great coaches in his earlier years as an athlete. He agreed to take some of the Jim Cederna tools and put them into practice in his company. My member felt certain his "management results" will be significantly better based on his new coaching frame of reference.

What do you think? Would you rather manage people or be a great coach? If you would like more information on the Jim Cederna coaching process, please contact me at dennis@globenational.com.