Splish, Splash! Don’t forget your SPF and hat! We’re now mid-summer and I hope you’ve planned some downtime to spend with your family or for solo travel. Leaders carry a heavy burden; a great vacation will help you reset and return reinvigorated. Great leaders who coach down are probably handing off to their second in charge and finalizing those flight plans to an amazing retreat or tropical getaway. They’re confident that they’ve sufficiently trained their team for moments just like this one. Leaders who micro-manager or refuse to coach their staff? Ehhh…definitely not.
Leaders Who Coach Down Create Stronger Teams
What’s great about this habit and mindset is that it makes your team better problem-solvers and empowers them to overcome Obstacles in Sales: Strategies for Success to implement solutions that can overcome them. All those one-on-one sales scrimmages, ride along days, team practice sessions and floor walks make stepping away possible. You know and expect your team to run like a well-oiled machine.
This is also a prime opportunity to show your team that you trust them. I’d like to think you even know that they can do an amazing job. If you find that you’re still extremely uncomfortable taking some time off, then it’s time to do some introspection. I’ve created this short test below to see if you’re coaching your team (or managing them to mediocrity).
Leadership Coaching Test
Answer yes or no to the following questions below. After, we’ll tally your scores and access your coaching prowess.
- As a leader, I like to take a ‘hands-off’ approach in my leadership style. I trust my team, so I only get involved when something goes wrong. Answer YES/NO: ______
- I believe a firm hand is needed to guide my team. By applying my knowledge to create solutions my team can learn through observation. Answer YES/NO: ______
- My leadership style includes connecting with my team by spending time with them and creating situations that allow them to practice their skills. Answer YES/NO: ______
How many times did you find yourself answering yes? What questions did you respond ‘no’ to and why? What does this all mean? Did Nathan fall off a horse at the ranch and bump his noggin’? No to the latter…. at least not recently. Here’s the breakdown:
- If you answered yes for number one, then you may be too laissez-faire in your leadership style.
- If you answered yes at two, then you may have micro-managing tendencies.
- If you only responded yes to question three, then you’re well on the path to winning team leader of the year. You’re on the right coaching path with your team.
Let’s unravel this some more.
Leaders Who Coach Don’t (Just) Manage Their Team
Your job description may include the word ‘managing’ but if you’re a good leader then you’ll know your role is more than that. Leadership is about coaching your people to excellence against managing mediocre habits. To borrow from my book, Serve Up, Coach Down:
Your leadership strategy should never entail just hiring good people and letting them do their job. That would be the case in question one of the test. Neither should you coach by being a helicopter parent. In no NFL, NBA, MLA, or any other type of team sport do you find a coach hovering over his players on the field. They also don’t send them on the field with detailed, step-by-step instructions for them to follow. Can you imagine if they did that? Chaos would rain and that’s no different than what will happen if you don’t coach in the workplace.
Instead, they understand it’s a balance between preparing their team through coaching and constant scrimmaging while allowing them to do their job better.
Final Thoughts
Every leader deserves to sit on white sand beaches and drink whiskey (or club soda) at least ONCE in the summer. Your only concern in these moments should be if your kids have enough SPF or which restaurant to book for dinner. But before you get there, you have to earn the stripes to enjoy a worry-free vacation. You have to invest in your team through hands-on coaching, empowerment, and creating value in accountability.
