Organizations often succeed or fail due to leaderships ability to motivate and coach their respective teams. Many leaders, when asked, respond that an employee’s ability to be coached is critical to said employee’s performance. If coaching is critical to performance then why do so many leaders struggle with it? Although this list could be much longer, I will give you my top 2 reasons why most leaders fail at coaching.
Confusion Between Coaching and Training
Leaders often fail at coaching and developing employees because they confuse coaching with training. They try to apply short-term solutions to long-term goals or strategy. Leaders attempt to teach a team member on a process mistakenly believing that this is coaching, which it is not. Teaching a sales process, entering leads into a CRM, and how to fill out paperwork is training; not coaching. Unfortunately, most leaders don’t understand the difference between the two.
A quick way to determine if your leaders are struggling with coaching versus training ask yourself this question. Are they only coaching when results or performance is sub-par? Don’t get me wrong, you definitely have to coach when performance is suffering. However, if the only time a leader is coaching is after poor performance; then they are more than likely engaging in training and not developmental coaching.
Poor Coaching Relationship
The second reason most coaching projects fail is due to a poor relationship between the leader and the employee. Most leaders agree that a coaching relationship built on trust often produces better outcomes. Despite this obvious fact, very few leaders are trained in relationship building especially as part of the coaching process. Most organizations erroneously assume that leaders already possess this crucial skill. When in fact many new leaders struggle with building relationships and ultimately coaching.
This issue could be easily resolved with better mentorship and training programs for new leaders. Despite the obvious fact that strong and trusting relationships produce better outcomes when coaching others, most organizations do not offer training on the subject of coaching and coaching relationships. When was the last time your organization had you complete an LMS training or workshop on the importance of relationships in coaching? If it was in the last year, was there a lesson on the importance of relationships in coaching? Was there even a training on coaching at all? I rest my case.
How to Avoid Making These Two Mistakes
Despite both of these mistakes being fairly common and obvious they are often ignored or dismissed when looking back on a failed coaching project. Some of this is due to the simplicity of the issues. We just assume that if we promoted them to a leadership position, they must be ready to lead and ultimately coach. Sometimes this works out and other times our new leaders were simply the best salesperson. Just because they were a great salesperson doesn’t mean they are ready for leadership. The skills that make an individual successful in one position do not always transfer to the new position. Step one is making sure your leaders are working at the appropriate level.
Step two, as already mentioned, is having a coaching program in place that starts with mentorship and training for all new leaders. Even if they were leaders at another organization a basic “how to coach” training can do wonders for team performance. Even small improvements in coaching ability can have huge impacts on team dynamics and performance. Which can often mean the difference between success or failure for your organization.
Many organizations preach the value of coaching, but do not invest the resources necessary to create great coaches and leaders. If you believe as I do, that coaching is truly a critical skill for leadership then your organization, no matter its size should have some manner of structured training around coaching. Coaching needs to become engrained into your organization’s culture. This starts with not just saying how important coaching is, but by putting your money where your mouth is and investing in your leaders to give them the coaching skills necessary for success. You must ensure that leaders understand the difference between coaching and training and that strong relationships create better outcomes. Addressing these two mistakes won’t solve all your coaching issues, but it will greatly reduce them and give you better performance over the long term.
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