What is a coach?

On one side of the coach vs. manager debate, you have leaders who guide and nurture their employees to help them learn and grow. Coaches are supportive and employee-focused. They often help team members identify problems and encourage them to explore potential solutions. Coaching in management encourages employees to pursue professional development and improve in performance. Coaches guide and support their employees while encouraging them to embrace autonomy and critical thinking.

What is a manager?

The manager approach focuses more on supervising employees and delegating duties. It’s often a more direct approach that focuses on getting things done quickly and correctly. Managers make decisions, run meetings, deal with crises and make sure the team meets deadlines. They are focused on the company’s goals and success, and they manage the overall workflow.

Differences between coach vs. manager

When you compare a coach vs. manager, you’ll notice several differences in their approaches and interactions with employees. Here are some differences in key areas.

Focus

The coach focuses more on development, while the manager focuses more on metrics. Managers take ownership over the team, direct everyone and ensure tasks are completed correctly. They take on most of the responsibility for solving problems, developing strategies and monitoring progress while their employees carry out the related tasks.

Coaches tend to help employees develop and become independent problem-solvers. They guide employees but put the responsibility of creating solutions and strategizing in the hands of the team. This empowerment of employees can help boost motivation.

Communication

Pure managers typically use one-way communication. They give instructions to employees who then carry them out. That doesn’t mean managers never listen to their employees, but they tend to emphasize communication moving from manager to staff members rather than vice versa.

Coaches employ two-way communication. They encourage employees to join the conversation and ask questions. Coaches often give constructive feedback and work with employees to create goals and plan their development.

Environment

When you have a management leader coach, you tend to get a collaborative, creative environment where employees are encouraged to learn and explore their skills. There’s often a good deal of trust, respect and transparency. While the coach is still in a leadership position, there’s less emphasis on the hierarchy.

Managers tend to run a highly structured department where everyone knows their roles. There is usually a clear hierarchy with well-established seniority.

Approach and results

Coaching takes a more long-term approach, while managing aims to achieve short-term results. Managers can meet deadlines well and be decisive when they need to take immediate action. However, without more development of the employees, the manager will always have to take the lead and make decisions.

Coaches might take longer to get results, but they eventually develop a staff full of highly skilled employees who can take charge and be creative. The immediate workflow is sometimes a little slower to be completed. However, the team typically becomes much more productive and innovative in the future.

Which leadership approachis better?

Both styles benefit the workplace, especially when they’re used together. Coaching can help create a stronger team down the road because it helps employees become independent and confident with new skills to help the team. It often improves employee satisfaction because team members feel like they have ownership over what they’re doing instead of just carrying out orders.

However, managing is also important to keep the organization running smoothly right now. Without strong management, your teams might miss deadlines or forget to do certain tasks. Management is particularly useful in urgent situations where you need a strong leader to direct everyone and move through a situation successfully.

Balancing coaching and managing

Leaders aren’t necessarily just coaches or just managers. Most leaders take on both roles based on the situation. However, some people take more of an authoritarian approach without much coaching. Since both skills are beneficial, developing both can help your team. Here are some ways to help balance coaching and managing:

• Evaluate your style: Consider your usual leadership style to determine if you lean more toward coaching your staff or directing them. Work with other managers to help them evaluate their leadership styles as well. Consider ways you can add a little more coaching or practice taking charge more in urgent situations that require quick action.
• Set goals: Determine how you want to change your approach. Set concrete goals that help you gain coaching skills and broaden your leadership strategies. For instance, you might set a goal of meeting one-on-one with each employee or establishing training and development plans with each staff member. If you want to help your managers become better coaches, help them set goals that focus on coaching.
• Attend training: Business leaders typically have extensive experience, but there’s always room for more training and learning. Look for management training opportunities that focus on improving coaching skills. If you have other managers within your organization, send them to training opportunities to develop their coaching skills as well.
• Improve communication: Working on your communication skills, especially active listening, can help you better balance coaching and managing. Remind yourself to ask for employee feedback and ask what they need from you regularly. This information can help you identify ways to improve your leadership skills.

Most of all, balancing coaching and managing takes time and practice. The more you make a conscious effort to do both, the easier it becomes to recognize which situations call for each type of leadership.