Tweet

7 Steps to Coach Your Staff and stop Running like the White Rabbit.

Written by: Juliette Robertson

Article Overview: Busy times are not the time to coach your staff. The Coaching should have begun long before the white rabbit even appeared. If you are constantly running late, short staffed, overwhelmed and the only one everyone runs to, you’re in a tough spot. When things DO calm down, here are some tips to ensure that the next time the heat builds up; you have some reliable people working with you.

7 Steps to Coach Your Staff and stop Running like the White Rabbit.

I recently had coffee with a client who was looking for advice to improve the efficiency of her department. There had been some upheavals, maternity leave, skills shortages and things had begun to fall off the rails. She felt she needed someone to step in and “just get the work done.” Her focus was on finding experienced operational hands on manager who would dive in and run with the work and manage the team. Her focus was on efficiency so her GM would have peace of mind that there was an operational capable person at the helm – “We don’t want any more surprises”.

When the topic moved to issues around why the team wasn’t performing her stress was apparent.

“I honestly don’t have time to think about all that other stuff now. I just need to get the work done.”

As a coach working with professionals I am constantly aware of how easy it is for managers to start acting like the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, constantly aware of how late they are, running to meet deadline after deadline and feeling an overwhelming need to go, go, go with no permission to rest. As an outsider, the tempo does seem much like the craziness of wonderland and yet from the inside it is all very serious.

I see many managers so wound up with efficiency of delivery, (meeting the deadline) that they gloss over the effectiveness of outcomes (measuring and meeting the objectives).

The staff are often caught up in the rush and tumble of change, responsible for getting the details right, yet never fully in the picture. Then in rushes the white rabbit again with a new plan and few directions, leaving the team even more frustrated and unsupported.

As a coach, one of the most challenging things I am faced with is providing feedback to a manger that the reason their department is not working effectively, is not necessarily due to poor staff skills (although there is always room for improvement). The biggest reason is often due to the managers own inability to duplicate their own expertise within their team. They have not encouraged and shared their knowledge or allowed the team to think through and set up agreed systems and processes that allow the team to take charge and manage the pace of change when it occurs. And so the white rabbit continues to run alone.

Here are some suggestions for duplicating your expertise within your team:

Objective: To create self managed department with leader/s that can think independently, adapt to change and operate efficiently and effectively without you having to hold their hand.

1. Identify the ambitious people in your team. These will be the ones hungry for your attention and eager to take on more responsibility. If there are no obvious ambitious people, look for the ones with the most potential to grow.

2. Book a one-on-one short meeting with each one. Acknowledge their strengths. Tell them you are looking to coach and develop key people in the team to work with you more closely over the coming months to improve team performance. If they are keen, diarize an hour with each one.

3. When you meet, reaffirm their key strengths and what they bring to the department. Tell them your objective. Explore their ideas on how the department could run more effectively and efficiently. Listen and ask questions. Be open to their ideas. You are looking for opportunities to develop their skills at managing fast paced change and in so doing, duplicate your own expertise (instead of you having to find and create the solutions yourself all the time) .Invite them to write up one idea for improving the effectiveness of the department.

4. With their well thought out idea, question them on why they see it as a good solution. Ask questions that encourage them to see it from different perspectives e.g. what would X think of this? Or Y? What problems might be encountered? How would they overcome those? How will we know it’s successful? How can we make this measurable? What’s the next step? Share your expertise to ensure risks are addressed so they can hear how you think.

5. Give them the authority to implement it soon

6. Follow up regularly and ask for results. Ask for their concerns and their solutions. Share your expertise to ensure risks are addressed.

7. Move to the next idea.

The most successful people and companies duplicate themselves. They share their knowledge, coach their people and help them set up simple systems and processes that others can follow. It is a short term sacrifice for a long term gain but in so doing, you can create teams that are self managed, effective and efficient.

Related Articles
  Efficiency versus effectiveness in your team
  Success means doing something
  Critical Judgements Required To Increase Sales
  Little White Lies
  Get More Done with On-Call Help

Article Tags: coach, coaching skills, coaching staff, develop staff skills, efficiency, feedback, meeting deadlines, meeting objectives, self managed teams



Related Forum Posts
Book: Why Good Girls Don't Get Ahead But Gutsy Girls Do - Book: Why Good Girls Don't Get Ahead But Gutsy Girls Do: Nine Secrets every career woman must know Kate White 1995 Foy years Kate White lived as a good girl - a rule follower, a people pleaser, a busy beaver - until she was passed over for the job of editor-in-chief of a magazine she had been running for months. She finally realized that being gutsy, not good, was the only way to succeed. A gutsy girl : 1. Breaks the rules 2. Has one clear goal for the future 3. Does only what's essential 4. Doesn't worry whether people like her 5. Walks and talks like a winner 6. Asks for what she wants 7. Faces trouble head on 8. Trusts her instincts 9. Takes smart risks This book has NO table of contents, but above are the chapter headings. A good book, although I really wish they'd stop talking about "girls" and start talking about women.
Success Strategies - How to get the results you want now? Success Strategies and Action Steps I have used are: The Power of Choice Where you are at this present moment, is exactly perfect from the choices you have made. If you want to be somewhere else, you have to decide clearly what that is (your goal/outcome) and create action steps to achieve this. The Power of Focus The book "The Power of Focus" by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Les Hewitt, is one of my treasures in my Entrepreneur Library. If you focus on what you want versus what you do not want, your conscious and sub-conscious mind will direct attention to this. The movie, What the Bleep, Down the Rabbit Hole, explains this in detail about quantum physics and what we create in our lives. The Power of Commitment This is not about commitment to others. The first step is the commitment, your word, you make to yourself. Accountability and responsibility are additional success strategies and ingredients to creating the success, defined by you, that you want. The commitment to others reflects your integrity, your word and the team you work with. Co-workers, clients, yoru family, friends and community. My Success Acronyn in Success Breakthroughs(c) is: S pecific & self-directed U nlimited opportunities & possibilities C reate powerful outcomes C onsistent measureable results E xperience pwoerful transformation S olution and action-oriented S uccessful habits and outcomes Break Through to Powerful LIfestyle & Performance Choices Moira
Social media - which is more effective social media networking; Facebook or twitter? follow me at My Secret Staff cathy secretstaff05
Re: Business Coaching Resources - You're fortunate when you can find a Business Coach who has experience beyond where you've been and even where you are going. When your budget is slim and even after, it's good to have a mentor. Several of various backgrounds are very useful. They can be teachers, professors, pastors, business people, family members, bosses and former bosses. You have to be clear on what you want and what you desire to achieve, be able to convey it as simply as possible. Stop and listen and don't over tax their time. You should always expect results whether from a Business Coach or Mentors. If you're not gtting results, you're either not focused or you need to upgrade the quality of your mentors/coaches. Always surround yourself by people smarter than you.
Favorite Christmas movies - Back when us kids were young (my parents had 3), my mom, sister and I would watch White Christmas every Christmas. (My dad and brother were never interested.) Now the rest of the family is scattered, and only I live close to my parents. We got away from the tradition, but now my mom and I watch [i:1h8kfk2v]White Christmas[/i:1h8kfk2v] again. (Just as every Halloween we watch Arsenic and Old Lace.) I also like the 1970 musical [i:1h8kfk2v]Scrooge[/i:1h8kfk2v], starring Albert Finney, much better than any version done since! I do have to say I've never liked[i:1h8kfk2v] It's A Wonderful Life[/i:1h8kfk2v]. He spends all his life having his hopes and dreams shattered, feeling miserable, and its only at the end of his life that he can look back and realize how many friends he has, etc. But that doesn't change the fact that up until that point he was miserable!


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Tips for the Novice Traveler

Download a template or see a lawyer?

RULE YOUR BUSINESS LIKE A SHINE STAR

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.