5 Habits Managers Need to Break


The 5 Habits Managers Need to Break

Without question, these are interesting times for organizations. Managers are challenged to achieve increasing productivity all while using the mantra of "do more with less". One significant tool managers can use in achieving that goal is coaching staff for greater engagement toward results. But coaching your staff is not always easy or straightforward; in the thousands of 360 Management feedback profiles we've administered during coach training, staff have shared some key actions that managers need to stop repeating. While most of us prioritize to-do items, we rarely "posteriorize" - that is, take the time to reflect on those things we should stop doing. Below is a listing of 5 habits that actually undermine the goal of coaching for superior productivity, habits you need to break if you want to coach your team to success.

1) Stop Solving the Problems of Others

Too often, managers fail to realize that they are training their direct reports to dump monkeys on their backs. Coach them in a manner that engages their own reflection and assessment of possible solutions.

2) Stop Telling - Start Asking

Building on the "stop problem solving", stop telling your Direct Reports (DRs) what to do - instead, coach them by asking for their ideas and solution options. Sometimes it's as simple as asking "What do you think you should do about it?" or "What do you suggest to resolve this?". This engages a team member or employee by making them part of the solution. Research shows that millennials in particular value collaborative leadership styles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXrX23OLS50


3) Stop Multi-tasking and Listen!

From observing thousands of 360 Feedback processes for managers, it is clear that managers need to be focused listeners. This means fully engaged listening, without the distractions of phone calls or checking emails. How valued do you feel when you're talking to someone who doesn't look you in the eye - but instead reads their emails as you speak? (Perhaps while saying, "I'm listening"!)

4) Stop Talking to the Mirror

If you are a manager and you are communicating with all of Direct Reports the same way, then you're not being effective - guaranteed. Stop coaching in the same way you'd coach yourself. Effective coaches and leaders recognize that there are different behavioral styles, and they coach or communicate according to the listener's style, not their own. If you don't know the styles of your team, you are guaranteed to be mismanaging some of them unknowingly. Check out our series on Coaching the DISC Styles for more information.

5) Let go of Control

Many managers strive to control the behavior of their Direct Reports. That is mismanagement that undermines engagement. In some cases it results in extreme micromanagement. Good coaches and leaders coach staff at the level of choice, not the level of action or behavior. If your DRs were hired well in the first place, the most productive approach is to coach staff for alignment so that they want to achieve the performance that the job requires. Micro managers tend to be "disengagers" or they engage staff to seek employment elsewhere.

Which habit do you observe in managers you have worked with? For you managers, how many of these habits do you need to break?

Tim Ehrbright

Trade Sales Consultant at Pella Windows & Doors of North Carolina and Southwest Virginia

9y

Leaders have to lead, meaning let your staff find success through trails & tribulations, the good ones will figure it out! Support & Listen!

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Sudeshna Dixit

2 Decades of Practical Supply Chain- “Leading Transformational Logistics Solutions” | DEI Advocate

9y

@ Marc A Lavoie, CHRP- Endorsing it !! Very rightly said !!

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Marc A Lavoie, CPHR

HR Generalist & Leadership Coach

9y

Stop thinking you have the right to "manage" people. You manage task, process and environment...you "lead" people. Big difference in terms of the approach issues and carve out options you think are available to you to get work done through other people.

Raghu Bandi

Regional Operations Manager-South at DP World

9y

Interesting observations...need to really try them to particularly point 1,2 & 5...

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Jason Adam

Software Engineer @ Cash App

9y

I really like this article. Too often the skills that got a person to their management role don't directly transfer to success at the next level. It's all about adapting to maximize the potential of your employees.

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