From Manager to Coach: Observe

"It's not how good you are, it's how good you're gonna be that matters."

That's a quote from one of my favorite TED talks. You can see the snippet under "videos" at RyanHoumand.com. It's from Dr. Atul Gawande and the point he makes is that

"everybody needs a coach".

Dr. Gawande realized that if he relied on his training, practice and own expertise, at some point, he would stop improving. So, he thought about that as a surgeon, "Pay someone to come into my operating room, observe me, and critique me. That seems absurd. Expertise means not needing to be coached." But he did it anyway. He hired a former professor to observe him. It wasn't easy to hear the feedback, but over months and then over a year, he found that he got better and his complication rate went down.

This is the third article in a series called "From Manager to Coach" The series is leading up to a 5 week Saturday morning Zoom series of sessions for managers who want to fulfill their most important assignment--being a coach.

The major steps in the coaching cycle are Analyze--Observe--Feedback. Last time I discussed the Analyze step and introduced a tool proven to help you objectively analyze how each member of your team is actually performing. The Analyze step is closely related to the Observe step. Now, it's observation over time.

Today, I share the Observe step. This is the least comfortable of all the steps in the cycle. That's because this step is exactly what it sounds like, you're watching. Just like a coach on the sideline of a basketball game. You're watching for everything--the good, the bad and everything in between. A coach in sports is looking at all of these things to understand how to help each member of the team, and then the team as a whole get an edge; a competitive advantage.

Why is it uncomfortable? Because in a work environment we call that "micromanagement". "Hey, just let me do my job, and don't hang over me every minute," is our cry, and I get it. I already said it's uncomfortable. Take it back to sports and the coach who is...well, coaching. Imagine a member of the team yelling back from the floor or the field, "Hey coach, just let me do my job, and stop telling me what to do." That seems absurd, and it's the opposite of what Dr. Gawande thought was absurd at the outset of his request for coaching. Recall his sentiment, "Pay someone to observe me and critique me." He thought that sounded absurd--until he tried it. Now, to him it seems absurd not to.

Micromanagement gets a bad rap. Mostly because, it's done poorly. It's generally heavy on the "here's everything you're doing wrong" part of coaching. Make no mistake, that's got to be part of coaching, but managers accused of being micromanagers tend to swoop in to tell you how you screwed up, and that's all you ever hear.

I contend that micromanagement, done right, is just coaching. It's critical that we change the nomenclature. "Micromanagement" is always going to be viewed as negative. In many respects, "manager" is going to be viewed as negative. Thus my push to move "From Manager to Coach".

How then, do we observe the members of our team? It may not be easy, but it is simple. You simply observe them in whatever work they do on a daily basis. If they're a cashier in a retail store you go stand near them, so you can see what they do and hear what they say. If they work on the phone, you listen in on their calls. If they're a welder, you observe them welding. If they're a surgeon, you watch them operate. Sound hard? It sounds uncomfortable. Employees aren't going to like being observed, and you're not going to like observing them. But if you don't, at some point, they will stop improving. If you've never observed them or if it's been a long time since you did, they've already stopped improving.

Why would you want to observe them? Because helping people get really good at what they do will make them more productive and more valuable. It turns out it makes them way more productive. If you can coach them into getting to where what they do they do very well they'll be, on average, 7.8% more productive. That's an extra month of productivity from EVERY EMPLOYEE every single year from now on. Spread that over a team of 13 people, you get an extra FTE (full-time equivalent). Add to that, you're adding value to the company by developing your employees and adding value to your employees.

So how do you take this giant leap for mankind? It starts by setting a new expectation. That expectation is, "At this place, we coach. It's just what we do. It may be uncomfortable at first, but you'll get used to it. I'll be sharing the stuff you do well and coaching you on the stuff that needs improving. It's not about trying to single you out and fire you. It's about singling you out to help you be the best you can possibly be. And, by the way, I'll be singling out everyone else too."

We need managers to be coaches. It's the rare individual who does what Dr. Gawande did and pays someone to come into wherever they work, observe them and critique them. But everybody needs to do just that. Everybody needs a coach.

If you're a manger of people, let me help you become a coach. Join me in the cohort of other managers, sign up for my 5 session Zoom training "From Manager to Coach". It starts on Saturday, September 12, 2020 and runs for 5 Saturdays. It's only 1 hour out of your Saturday morning and you'll gain knowledge and tools that you can put to use on Monday.

Ryan Houmand has consulted, coached, trained and been a speaker to senior leaders and managers all over the world. He has 25 years of management experience in corporate and retail environments. He's the author of "A Passion for Monday" and has appeared on FOX, NBC and CBS discussing "The 3 Mistakes That Make People Hate Monday".