“Do You Have What It Takes to be a Good Coach?” showing our research on the connection between coaching effectiveness and employee commitment. This blog also provides a link to take a coaching evaluation to see how you compare to outstanding coaches. This follows from Jack Zenger and Joe Folkman’s recent webinar on becoming a better coach. Click here to view the webinar.
In their latest Harvard Business Review blog, Most Managers Think of Themselves as Coaches, Jack and Joe report on the results of the survey completed by over 2,000 readers. The survey measured three styles on a scale of coaching versus directive leadership:
• Collaboration over giving direction
• Acting as an equal rather than an expert
• Prefers discovery to giving advice
Three-quarters of survey respondents preferred to use a coaching approach rather than directive leadership. Top managers expressed the strongest desire to be collaborative and supervisors were the lowest. This aligns with how many supervisors — often mistakenly — believe their role is controlling, directing, and problem solving daily operations. Many haven’t seen any other leadership style or been trained how to be effective coaches.
This survey was based on self-assessment. And there’s often a big gap between knowing what leadership or coaching style is most effective and doing it. Our 360 assessment data consistently shows that self-perceptions are only half as predictive of results like engagement, customer service, safety, profitability, etc., as the perceptions of direct reports, manager(s), peers, and others. One reason for that is that we assess ourselves by our intentions whereas everyone else can only rate our behavior.
What’s your coaching style preference? What kind of coaching behaviors does everyone see from you? How do you know?
Want to discuss this post? Contact us!