What is the coaching management style?

There are several types of leadership styles that a company or manager can adopt. The coaching management style is one of them. Managers who employ the coach leadership style focus on developing their employees’ skills to help them succeed in their roles.

What are the characteristics of the coaching leadership style?

Several key characteristics define the coach leadership style, including the following.

Focuses on the employee

Coach managers learn about an individual’s strengths, weaknesses, goals and dreams. Based on that information, they develop strategies to bring out the individual’s best.

Accepts feedback

Coaches lead by example, accepting feedback and making the most of it. They ask employees how they can better coach and are open to what they have to say.

Gives feedback

Coaches give succinct, constructive feedback with the goal of improvement. They balance constructive criticism with praise to help employees feel valued.

Builds mutual trust

Trust is the foundation of all good coaching relationships. Good coaches are non-judgmental, clear and friendly. To foster trust, they make an effort to show employees consideration, interest and care.

Celebrates successes

Celebrating benchmark goals and milestones keeps a team inspired and motivated. Coaches recognize individual team members’ successes and personal milestones, such as work anniversaries, professional gains, personal achievements and employee wins, to boost team morale and motivation.

Sets clear goals and objectives

Coaches are strategists. They see the big picture and encourage teams to brainstorm and meet goals. They draw from individual strengths and use the commitment and dedication of their team members to boost each teammate. They set clear time lines, benchmarks and milestones to gauge progress, performance and success.

How to get started with manager coaching styles

Coaching helps your employees enhance their performance and attain their full potential. If you’re new to managing with a coaching style, here are some tips to get you started.

1. Do your research

Think about effective managers who may have used coaching techniques that motivated you. What were their strategies? What worked? What didn’t? Read articles on business leaders and effective coaching to see which style is most motivating to you.

2. Get to know your employees

Understand their goals and what motivates them. Identify strengths and weaknesses through observations. Regularly start conversations with your team to learn more about them and ask probing questions to gather information.

3. Set concrete goals

Give employees actionable goals to strive for. Using the SMART method to establish goals can help set your team up for success. SMART stands for:

• Specific. Clearly state the goal, thinking in terms of who, what, when and where. 

• Measurable. Ensure there is a way to measure success based on data.

• Achievable. Set a realistic goal an employee can actually achieve.

• Relevant. Align the goal with the broader goals of your organization and/or department.

• Time-based. Establish a timeline for achieving the goal.

Here are some examples of SMART goals :

• Carl Jones will reduce data entry errors in the database program by 20% during the third quarter.

• Nicole Moore will increase her number of calls per hour in the customer service call center by 2% during the month of May.

• Syd Jones will increase his number of add-on sales by 10% by the end of the year.

• Linda Hernandez will complete a continuing education course on infection control by September 15th. 

4. Give recognition when it’s due

Make employee recognition an ongoing focus, providing specific, timely acknowledgments of your team’s work ethics, skills and innovations, as applicable. Be sincere in your delivery.

5. Work together on weaknesses

Take shared ownership of employees’ weaknesses, partnering with them as they work to overcome them and improve. This element of the coach leadership style requires patience, as change may be slow.

6. Practice sensitivity

Discussions of lifestyles and personal values tend to arise in a coaching relationship. Handle topics with sensitivity, and keep information shared in your sessions confidential.

7. Be open

Coaching is an open-ended process. Instead of providing solutions, help your employees explore aspirations and available options. And ask for feedback on your own performance. Eventually, it’s your employees who will teach you how to be a better coach.

Effective coaching checklist

Regular coaching is essential for success with manager coaching styles. Following these tips will help make coaching sessions essential and help you succeed with the coaching leadership style.

Decide what you intend to accomplish

Before you schedule a coaching session, establish an objective. Working on one area of improvement at a time is an effective strategy, so go into your meeting with a clearly defined focus area to discuss.

Align goals with the position

To ensure you’re setting relevant goals, use your organization’s core values and the duties, responsibilities and skills outlined in the employee job description as a guide. 

Prior to your first coaching session, have the employee complete a self-assessment form, rating how well they demonstrate core values and complete each of their roles and responsibilities. Review their self-assessment and refer to it as a starting point for coaching.

Choose the right steps

Once you have identified a focus area, determine what it will take for an employee to make real, lasting improvements. You may determine that it’s best to set small goals that will add up to big change or tackle the issue head-on with an overarching goal. 

Consider your employees 

Tailoring your coaching to the individual needs, personalities and values of your employees is vital to success when employing a coaching leadership style. Take what motivates them and how they prefer to communicate into consideration when setting goals and planning sessions.

Keep it collaborative

Coaching should feel like a team effort. Encourage the employee to take an active role in goal-setting and the development of action plans.

Stay on top of the process

Strive to check in with each member of your team on a weekly or biweekly basis to see how they’re progressing toward their goals. Conduct formal coaching sessions once per month, revising goals and action plans as needed.

What if an employee is resistant to coaching?

Not all employees respond immediately to coaching. In some cases, there may be reasons that have nothing to do with your efforts. Manager coaching styles may be completely new to them, and they may require time to adjust.

Past relationships with managers and frustrations may also get in the way. Reticent employees may take longer to build trust, and some very independent employees may not want to be managed or coached at all.

Whatever the reason for the resistance, these tips can help you address a less enthusiastic team member positively.

Take a step back

Trust takes time to develop, so resist the temptation to push. Consider simply conversing during your initial coaching sessions so you can begin building rapport.

Ask the employee how the relationship can be improved or what they want out of their job. Use open-ended questions beginning with “how” or “why” to develop a dialogue.

Be receptive to feedback

A good coaching relationship is cooperative, and if your employee feels comfortable enough to share candid thoughts, that alone may improve things.

Practice transparency

Let the employee know your coaching is intended to better performance, and help them see how their success will benefit them, your department and the entire organization. You may see a shift if they recognize that feedback isn’t personal—just a way to improve the work.

Focus on the positive

Give the employee acknowledgment for work done well. It may take time to develop rapport, and positive feedback is always a good start.

FAQs about coaching leadership style

What are the benefits of the coaching management style?

Because the coaching management style focuses on developing employee talent, the approach can lead to improvements in productivity, efficiency and work quality. Coaching builds cohesive teams, encouraging collaboration and boosting workplace morale. Completing goals can give employees a sense of accomplishment to drive engagement. Plus, the coaching leadership style shows that you’re willing to invest in your team, which can increase employee retention.

Are there any drawbacks to the coach leadership style?

Employing the coach leadership style requires you to invest a lot of time and effort in coaching. Change through coaching also happens gradually, making the style less than ideal for addressing serious issues that require immediate change, such as discipline or safety-related problems. Also, the coach management style doesn’t come naturally to everyone, so you may need to invest energy in developing your own skills to succeed. 

How can managers coach in ways that are time-effective?

Coaching can require a larger time investment than other forms of leadership because it is largely collaborative and you must get to know your employees individually. Once you’ve developed a good rapport, ensure you’re consistent. Quick check-ins are often more effective than longer sessions. Take advantage of video conferencing tools, emails or phone calls to get a quick read on employees’ progress.