How Managers Can Use Coaching Skills

by Tim Hallbom & Ashley Warrenton Smith

We interviewed a sampling of 30 successful managers who ranged from entrepreneurial companies to Fortune 50 and from Chair & CEOs to front line managers. We asked them to identify the challenges they faced in obtaining high performance from direct reports; how they currently coach direct reports to achieve higher performance; what coaching meant to them; whether they had ever been coached and, if so, what worked for them about it; skill sets that managers need to be effective at coaching; and, finally, have most of the managers they worked with had the skill sets they needed to coach effectively.

1. Ask high impact questions that draw out the highest and best thinking in your direct reports to help them develop their own answers and move them to action.

2. Focus upon what is working rather than to try to “fix problems.”

3. Stay focused on the results you want.

4. Build rapport & trust—make it safe for reports to speak their minds.

5. Hold your direct reports accountable. You get what you expect.

6. Listen deeply with your eyes, ears, & heart.

7. Model what you desire from your direct reports. Walk your talk.

These bullet points are from an article we wrote (Summer 2005 edition) for the Journal of Innovative Management.

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