Unlocking Potential: The Manager as a Catalyst for Growth

Transform your managerial role with key coaching skills! 🚀 Learn why humility and listening are essential for employee engagement and loyalty. Tune in with Ed Drozda, The Small Business Doctor. #BusinessGrowth #LeadershipTips 

Transcript

Ed Drozda: 0:11

​Welcome to The Water Trough where we can't make you drink, but we will make you think. My name is Ed Drozda, The Small Business Doctor, and I'm really excited you chose to join me here as we discuss topics that are important for small business folks just like you. If you're looking for ideas, inspiration, and possibility, you've come to the right place. Join us as we take steps to help you create the healthy business that you've always wanted. Hi folks, this is Ed Drozda, The Small Business Doctor. I want to welcome you back to The Water Trough. I was thinking back to the day when I decided I was going to be a coach back in the late 1990s, which seems like an awful long time ago. I guess in fact it is quite a bit of time ago, and a lot of things have changed since those days. When I was engaged in the training and certification process coaching was a thing, but it was not what it is today. Today there's a coach for just about everything you can imagine. For those of us that have chosen coaching as a profession, I believe there's a necessity for formal education and training. In some cases certification as well is required for us to do our jobs. But, more and more the coaching role is being employed for those in managerial positions. In such cases, formal training and certification may not be practical, but it is important to have a fundamental understanding of coaching practices and what can be effective in your role. Traditional management is a top-down sort of arrangement where the manager basically sets the stage, declares what will be done, monitors it being done, and the subordinate follows through and does those things. That is in a nutshell, the traditional approach. When a manager adds coaching tools to his or her portfolio things are a little bit different. The manager still has the responsibility of getting things done through people and must do so with effectiveness and with efficiency. But when they throw in the coaching tools, things are a little bit different. The approach is more from the direction of the individual versus the task. The responsibility to get the job done remains. That has not changed at all. But on the other hand, it is the way in which the manager seeks to get things done, taking into account the personality of the employee, the level of preparedness of the employee. Taking into account the resources that the employee has available to them. It is if you will, a softer version of the traditional management style. I'm not suggesting that the manager has to acquiesce to things over which they should have control. Quite the opposite, actually I'm saying that because the manager's role is to get things done through people it's important to ensure that those people who are getting things done are in the best possible place. That's why coaching comes from the human resource perspective. The tasks remain vitally important, but it's with an eye towards who is doing it and how they are in that role. So this differs considerably from the traditional management style. And for those that think that's just too soft and too mushy I ask you to think again, because the reality is the employee who is engaged and committed is the one that is going to be the most valuable to your company. They will be loyal to your company. They'll be loyal to your task. They will be passionate about their job. If you pay them the respect and consideration that people deserve, you will in turn have the outcome that you seek, and you'll be able to sustain that outcome. There are such a large number of skills that are associated with coaching in the workplace, but there's two that I believe are the most important. They are humility and listening. Humility is important because it reminds us of our roots. We weren't always managers. At one time we were the subordinate as well. Well, most managers remain as subordinates, but at one point we did not have managerial authority. When we're humble we embrace the fact that those around us are not unlike us; that we came from the same origins and that we owe them the respect of their individuality and the things that they have to offer. The humble manager is one that can be reached. The humble manager is approachable. The humble manager is one who engenders in their employees the notion that this person is here for us. That sort of presence enables a manager to develop sincere and productive relationships with their employees. On the other hand listening is also profoundly important. As managers we're accustomed to telling people what to do. Talking about what needs to be done. And so on and so forth. We're really good at talking. And we like to think that we're listening. Certainly, at the very least we're hearing people say things. But are we truly listening to and understanding what is being said? A manager who's able to listen effectively is able to put aside their personal agenda. A manager who is willing and able to listen effectively is going to encourage people to speak up, and is going to process that information and utilize that information in building a more productive workspace. Both humility and listening fit into the notion that managers get things done through people. The role of management is to get things done through people. Sure the manager has tasks of their own to accomplish as well. But the principle one is to ensure that their employees are getting things done effectively and efficiently. Humility and listening contribute substantially to this. Humility and effective listening are characteristics of a manager as coach. Humility and effective listening are two things that can help build employee engagement and employee commitment, both of which are essential to realize success in a company. An employee who is engaged is one who is truly passionate about what they are doing, the task that they're performing. These are people who feel understood, appreciated, and welcomed in the working environment. The humble manager as coach who's able to listen effectively is going to inspire that sort of identification of the employee. The committed employee is one who is also loyal to the organization for which they work. Their commitment to the organization ensures that they are going to do everything they can within their ability to support the organization. Employees who are committed to the organization learn to do so through the modeling of their managers. They are inspired by their managers who in turn are also committed and yet, able to recognize the individual contribution of the employee. As you can see, having coaching skills in a managerial role is very impactful. These are just a couple of very small aspects of the whole thing. I'm an Adjunct Professor at a local business school, and my specialty is management and leadership. I'm continually encouraged by the students with whom I work and how they realize how important their own fundamental development is in becoming good managers and leaders. I try wherever possible to instill the notion of coaching practices, even though it's not considered traditional management. Although at some point it probably will be. Because I truly believe that those things are what makes us most effective as managers. My hope for you is that you'll consider incorporating coaching tools into your management practice, and I do believe that it will be something to be incredibly valuable to you and to your employees. This is Ed Drozda, The Small Business Doctor, and once again I want to thank you for being here. Until next time, I wish you a healthy business.

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