Workplace team needs a good coach
By Michael Kinsman
Originally published in The San Diego Union-Tribune
May 1, 2000
Imagine your teen-age daughter or son saying, "Hey, dad, let's
spend some time together this weekend." What do you do?
Of course, you drop everything you had planned for the weekend and
devote your full attention to the child. You don't get many
opportunities like that.
Mark David, a career coach, thinks workplace managers should react
the same way when employees ask for guidance.
"As a parent, if you don't go into your kid's room and schedule
time with them, they're 22 and out of the house before you know
it," says David, author of the new book "Coaching Illustrated."
"It's the same way with employees," he says. "(Managers) have to
make the time to be with them."
He doesn't think very many managers do that, however. That's why
it's important for the employees to take the initiative.
Coaching is an overlooked part of the manager's job, David says.
Coaches are supposed to identify things that others don't and
develop a game plan for making people better workers.
"You don't find it in the job description," he says. "Job
descriptions, from what I can see, are objective based: Here's your
goal, here's your target. Upper management doesn't really care how
(managers) get there."
Trust and respect
He believes that job descriptions should be revised to include
building trust and respect with employees, telling them the truth
and creating a culture free of threats and intimidation.
"When you get down to it, those are the only ways (a boss) can
drive productivity," David says. "Relationships are how you get
things done."
And, he says, relationships don't develop out of a 10-minute chat.
They happen when people take the time to get to know each other and
develop bonds through the experience of working together.
There is no shortcut to a long-term relationship.
David is concerned that some managers, particularly in the world of
high-tech, think they can effectively manage through technology.
"There are some absolutely brilliant workers who become managers
but don't have the interpersonal skills to be a manager," he says.
"They really want to manage by e-mail. You can't do that."
David acknowledges that there aren't enough hours in a week for
supervisors to spend time with all employees. There are enough
hours, though, to deal with what he describes as the "teachable and
coachable."
"This can be any partner within the business unit," he says. "They
are the people that listen to what you say, implement it and can
spread it to others."
It takes time to find those people, though, and it won't happen
unless people take the time to get to know those around them.
Continue to Page 2/2... >>
|
