Management Diary The Quintessential Survival Guide in the Corporate Quagmire!

Bosses Are Out - Managers As Coaches Are In


There is a new trend taking hold in business today which translates into amazing productivity, results, and a happier workforce. It's easy, positive, and some say transformative; best of all, it's something you and every other individual charged with the responsibility for getting results through others can learn to do. It is?coaching people instead of managing them.

Coaching is a skill, style, and way of being which emanates from the root value of caring for one's self and others. Wouldn't you agree - you are more centered, motivated, and productive in an environment where you know others sincerely care about your growth and development, not just what you can do for them? If you're ready for more success and break-through results, commit to mastering some of a coach's skills and characteristics:

1. Create a co-active partnership with employees.

There is no room for a hierarchy here. View employees as equals, embrace diversity, and utilize dialogue and inquiry, which tap the knowledge of each individual, to develop strategies/solutions. You will find employees are motivated to contribute because they have ownership in the solution and an opportunity to express their unique gifts, talents, and passions.

2. Be a guide.

Share your knowledge experience, ideas and wisdom to support employees in moving forward personally and professionally. Understand that what worked for you may or may not be right for another, and only what resonates as meaningful or insightful will be absorbed and applied.

3. Use positive language.

Words have the power to change your life and change your mood in a flash - no kidding. Just listen to the words people use in the next couple of days, notice what is being said on TV, radio, conversations around you, and what you say. Explore the quality of your words and the energy behind them. Are they positive and expanding or negative and contracting? Understand the power of language and use words that are affirmative and compassionate.

4. Listen.

When was the last time you were really heard and felt safe enough to say it all? Give your full attention to each employee. No multi-tasking, judging, rushing to fill the pause or presupposing an outcome allowed. Use your intuition and all your other senses to hear the words and tone of what the employee is and is not saying.

5. Be honest and caring in your communications.

Don't step over anything. Look for achievements to compliment and keep employees advised of pertinent organizational information and expectations?they need this to effectively do their jobs. Remember, employees can't change what they don't know - share performance improvement feedback in a humane and constructive way as soon as possible.

6. Model life long learning and encourage self-development in others.

You likely want more success, money, balance, happiness, etc. Chances are your employees do too. Support each in their individual quest to continually learn and grow to be their best.

7. Build a strong personal foundation.

Be sure the infrastructure supporting your own life is strong and healthy. Take care of any unfinished business from the past and don't waste energy worrying about the future, it may never come to pass. Live fully in the present, surround yourself with a loving family, a community of friends, get your financial and protective reserves in place, and make time for fun and self-care.

Imagine yourself as the catalyst, your team as the source, and your company as the benefactor of greater productivity, improved working relationships, better-quality customer service, and higher levels of employee satisfaction and retention?learn to be a coach in the workplace.

Pam N. Woods is co-author of a bestselling book, Create the Business Breakthrough You Want: Secrets and Strategies from the World's Greatest Mentors; endorsed by Ken Blanchard and Dr. Stephen Covey. She is a Coach U graduate and President of Smart WorkLife Solutions, a coaching and consulting company devoted to co-creating customized solutions to fit clients business and personal organizing needs. Prior to founding her own firm she had a successful 20+ year career as an insurance executive and Vice President of Human Resources. For more free how-to articles and advice, or to contact Woods, visit http://www.worklifecoach.com. Copyright 2002 - Pam Woods


MORE RESOURCES:

July wholesale inventories jump 1.3 percent (Reuters)

London shares ended in positive territory Thursday on US jobs and home sales data after falling in early deals.(AFP/File/Carl de Souza)Reuters - Wholesale inventories surged the most in two years in July, adding to signs that economic growth in the third quarter of the year may prove a bit stronger than many forecasters had expected.



Obama says voters may blame him for economy (AP)

President Barack Obama attends Milwaukee Laborfest event in Wisconsin to celebrate Labor Day September 6, 2010. REUTERS/Larry DowningAP - President Barack Obama insisted Friday that the U.S. economy is digging itself out of the deepest recession in decades but conceded that "progress has been painfully slow" and many voters in November's elections may blame him.



Recession has left huge hole: Obama (AFP)

US President Barack Obama, seen here addressing the press at the White House, said Friday the AFP - US President Barack Obama said Friday the "hole" left by the worst recession in decades was "huge" and admitted the recovery had been "painfully slow," but vowed his policies were working.



Obama says Republicans holding recovery hostage (Reuters)

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks about the economy at the Cuyahoga Community College West Campus in Parma, Ohio, near Cleveland, September 8, 2010. REUTERS/Larry DowningReuters - President Barack Obama accused Republicans on Friday of holding the middle class hostage as he pushed new ideas to stimulate the sluggish U.S. economy and try to reverse Democrats' grim election prospects.



Obama says growing economy will ease poverty (AP)
AP - When it comes to fighting poverty, President Barack Obama says the most important thing he can do is to make the economy grow more quickly so that there are more jobs for everyone.
Obama to voters: Our economic policies better (AP)

President Barack Obama gestures during a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Friday, Sept. 10, 2010. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)AP - President Barack Obama says that if voters weigh his economic policies against those of Republicans, then "the Democrats will do very well" in November.



Obama picks new top economist (AFP)

US President Barack Obama(R) on Friday named Austan Goolsbee(L), an economics professor seen here in 2008 and who is currently working in his administration, to chair the Council of Economic Advisors (CEA).(AFP/Getty Images/File/Scott Olson)AFP - US President Barack Obama on Friday named Austan Goolsbee, an economics professor currently working in his administration, to chair the Council of Economic Advisors (CEA).



Obama says OK to call his new plan a stimulus bill (AP)

Construction cranes work in Miami, 2008. the OECD warned that global economic recovery is slowing faster than expected and extra stimulus from governments may be needed.(AFP/File/Juan Castro Olivera)AP - President Barack Obama says his entire economic agenda is designed to stimulate growth and create jobs, despite his administration's reluctance to call his new proposals a "stimulus plan."



(AP)
AP - Obama says 'we are not at war against Islam,' but against terrorist factions.
Wholesale inventories rise 1.3 percent in July (AP)

Sumer Jit of Madison loads supplies, soft drinks, and snack foods into his truck at Sam's Club in Jackson, Miss., Thursday, Sept. 9, 2010. A small business owner, Jit shops often at Sam's Club. Inventories held by wholesalers surged in July by the largest amount in two years while sales rebounded after two straight declines.(AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)AP - Inventories held by wholesalers surged in July by the largest amount in two years while sales rebounded after two straight declines.



Chipmakers' outlooks stoke economy concerns (Reuters)
Reuters - Chip makers National Semiconductor and Texas Instruments Inc on Thursday issued quarterly financial targets that stoked investors' worries about a sluggish economy.
China's imports leap, cutting trade surplus (Reuters)
Reuters - China's imports leapt in August, boding well for a strengthening of domestic demand in an economy that has become a major driver of global growth.
AP source: Obama to name Goolsbee to head council (AP)

FILE - In a Jan. 15, 2009 file photo Dr. Austan Goolsbee testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington before the Senate Banking Committee.  President Barack Obama is expected to announce Friday Sept. 10, 2010, that Goolsbee will be the chairman of his Council of Economic Advisers. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana/file)AP - President Barack Obama has chosen one of his longtime economic advisers, Austan Goolsbee, to be the chairman of his Council of Economic Advisers, a White House official said.



Japan introduces new stimulus, better 2Q growth (AP)

** FILE ** In this July 1, 2009, file photo workers walk past a construction site in Tokyo. Japan's economy in the second quarter wasn't quite as weak as first thought, new government figures released Friday Sept. 10, 2010, showed. Gross domestic product expanded at an annualized rate of 1.5 percent in the April-June period, an improvement on the meager 0.4 percent reported in last month's preliminary data. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama, File)AP - Japan's economy isn't quite as weak as first thought, but it still needs help, the government said Friday as it unveiled details of a new $11 billion stimulus package.



Obama taps Goolsbee as top White House economist (Reuters)

White House economic adviser Austan Goolsbee (R) speaks to the media alongside White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs during the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington January 21, 2010. REUTERS/Jason ReedReuters - President Barack Obama has chosen Austan Goolsbee as the new head of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, U.S. administration officials said on Thursday, promoting a longtime adviser from his inner policy circle.



G20 fin mins unlikely to meet in Washington: sources (Reuters)
Reuters - Finance ministers from the Group of 20 developed and leading emerging economies are not likely to meet on the sidelines of the IMF/World Bank Group annual gatherings in Washington early next month, sources said.
U.N. goals to slash poverty, hunger achievable: draft (Reuters)

Homeless children arrive to sleep under a flyover in New Delhi, January 21, 2010. REUTERS/Reinhard KrauseReuters - A set of U.N. goals aimed at drastically reducing poverty and hunger worldwide by 2015 are achievable, despite setbacks caused by the global financial and economic crises, a draft document said.



Summary Box: Jobless claims drop, trade gap falls (AP)
AP - JOBLESS CLAIMS: The number of people signing up for unemployment benefits dropped by 27,000 last week to 451,000, the lowest level in two months.
Business Highlights (AP)
AP - Fears of a second recession ease, at least for now
US lawmakers to quiz Geithner on China currency (AFP)

US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, pictured in August 2010, will face a key US House committee's questions on possible new steps to press China over its currency policy, the panel's chairman said Thursday.(AFP/Getty Images/File/Mark Wilson)AFP - US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will face a key US House committee's questions on possible new steps to press China over its currency policy, the panel's chairman said Thursday.


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