I’ve said it many times, the best way to teach a concept is to model it. I learned early in my career that people listen to what you say, they believe what you do. If you want your employees to be coached and to grow, you need to be coached.
The great part about being coached is that you don’t need just one coach. You can have several, all coaching you on different things. You’ll hear often about professional athletes who had a personal coach for years, but then they switched. It wasn’t that their old coach wasn’t effective anymore, but they needed something different.
To be a great manager and model coaching, do the following:
Pick a skill that you need to improve. This could be learning more about profit/loss statements and project estimation or how to use the latest technology effectively.
Find a coach. You don’t need the most knowledgeable person in the industry, just someone who knows a bit more than you.
Set up a plan to learn what you need to learn. How will you coach help you?
Tell your team. Share with them what you are doing, your progress, and when you meet your goal. Talk about the things your coach does and says.
By doing this, you not only grow your skills, but your team sees an effective model of the process. In addition, they believe it is important because they see you doing it.
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