Coach the Person (Not the Metric)
Q: I have been leading my new team for awhile now, and we spent a large portion of the first year on coaching different processes we use to help everyone get better. We have hit our quarterly targets, and our numbers have been solid. But we stalled out, and haven’t been continuing to improve like we did over the last year. I am not sure what else I can coach them on, and it feels like our conversations have been really repetitive (“hows it going? Good? Good.”) Everyone on my team does their job well, I am unsure of how I can help them do it better.
A: Sounds like you have successfully made it through the five stages of team development and are comfortably in the “performing” stage (the first three being forming, storming and norming). And while many sources might say the next is “adjourning” in which the team disbands, that isn’t the case when you still have a job to do. You still need to lead the team, there are objectives to accomplish and coaching conversations to have. However, unlike before the conversations just need to shift from hitting a specific “number” set for the team (or corporate need) and thinking about each team member individually.
It can be relatively easy to coach to a metric. Set a certain standard – like a specific number of tasks to be complete – and create a reward based off its completion. Whether it is performance ranking, recognition or monetary in nature, there is some external factor driving towards its accomplishment. This reliance on extrinsic motivation is short lived. It might not take much skill adaptation or learning to reach this initial metric and then our coaching stalls. Because we might not be able to increase the metric if we can’t increase the external reward associated with its completion. Bonuses can only go up so much, and corporate recognition gets stale. We can’t use this type of “coaching” and expect it to be sustainable.
Instead, we need to eventually starting coaching to the person. We need to understand who they are on a deeper level. Then we can use that to drive them to accomplish more. It’s their internal drivers, their “why” that ultimately enables them to excel. By using their intrinsic motivation, we can effectively sustain the coaching process. Not only that, since the drivers are internal they will continue to excel as long as it is connected to a deeper meaning. If we align our coaching to their strengths as well, their success has the potential to exceed our expectations as well as their own. This type of coaching isn’t necessarily difficult. The hinderance is that it can be time intensive. It requires us to have some patience with the process, and focus on the task at hand. It also requires a modicum of vulnerability with the end goal to build trust. It also can’t be the same process repeated. It can and should vary from person to person, and the situation. Not only for how long it will take, but the style and manner in how we approach it.
When we coach to the person, we are working to make them better. Both at their job and as a human being. This type of coaching encourages growth on all levels, and with that growth comes inspiration, dedication and new ideas. It needs to be fostered for the whole team, so someone comes in one day and goes “I had a great idea…” and you can work to enhance the entire team again. New ideas require more growth, more learning and with it more coaching. It feeds into a constant cycle of improvement when we coach to the person rather than simply coaching to a slightly higher number.
As leaders, we need to understand what will ultimately happen when we do this though… our team might leave. Not because they are angry or they don’t like their job, but because they out grow it. They continue to learn, develop new skills and grow when we coach to the person. This enables them to become the person they want to be. Which means, new opportunities will open up for them, because we enabled it. We shouldn’t look at this as a bad thing, instead that it is a great thing. Great leaders set their team members up for success, give them everything they need to reach new levels and open up new opportunities for them because of it. This natural progression means they will progress out of their current position and find a new one, and leaders should be proud of this. Because that is what great leaders do.
