The role of sales managers encompasses diverse skills required to guide their teams effectively: mastering communication, understanding interpersonal dynamics, active listening, cultivating empathy, and deftly managing time, among others.
However, the true essence of coaching lies not in an exhaustive checklist of essential abilities but rather in elevating team performance through focused guidance. Picture these as anchor points that steady a ship, preventing it from drifting astray. These anchor points center your attention on nurturing the best in others, simplifying the coaching process.
Dispelling the Traditional Notions
Leadership extends far beyond mere directives. Instead, it revolves around inspiring and enhancing individuals—you aspire to foster growth within every team member, including yourself, through shared experiences. That means focusing on improving team performance through coaching—coach to improve instead of focusing on a list of essential skills and abilities to coach. Simplify and concentrate on three fundamental concepts of coaching that are like anchor points that keep a boat from drifting away.
Distinguishing between a manager and a remarkable leader boils down to achieving exceptional results through coaching rather than mere instruction. While certain circumstances may demand a directive approach, the overarching aim should lean towards facilitation through coaching, fostering growth, and understanding.
The Essence of Leadership as Coaching
Though "coach" and "mentor" are often used interchangeably, they bear distinct meanings. A mentor imparts wisdom to someone further along their journey, while a coach guides, supports, and aids in fostering an individual's self-discovery.
The foundation of coaching rests on questions, not authoritative statements. Coaches are driven by curiosity, valuing the dialogue that unfolds over imposing preconceived notions.
The pivotal objective is cultivating a feedback-rich environment—a two-way street of communication.
The Power of Dialogue
Effective coaching is grounded in meaningful conversations, a principle that may seem unsurprising. Yet, authenticity and honesty are pivotal to creating these dialogues. Genuineness is palpable, and your team can discern insincerity.
Elevating the quality of coaching conversations hinges on four vital elements:
- Clearly defined goals.
- Anchoring discussions in specific situations or experiences.
- Clarity about the present state.
- We are encouraging commitment and accountability.
Moreover, recognize the individual nature of reality—your role as a coach entails grasping others' perspectives rather than assuming uniformity.
Translating Concepts into Action
Mere conceptual understanding is insufficient; tangible steps are crucial for progress. Initiate the process by consistently providing feedback to your team, including developmental insights. Place reminders in your calendar, committing to regular feedback sessions.
Incorporate feedback as an integral component of your meetings and one-on-one interactions. This predictability fosters positive responses, whereas sporadic feedback is perceived negatively.
Embracing the Essence
Coaching is about guiding and aiding, not asserting personal viewpoints. Amidst evolving work expectations, seize the opportunity to offer proactive feedback and robust communication.
Remaining receptive to feedback cultivates respect within your team and signals your openness—a valuable trait.
In essence, being an exceptional skill and messaging coach for sales managers entails embodying the spirit of coaching, catalyzing growth, and fostering a culture of dialogue and continuous improvement.
Great Leaders Coach
If leadership isn’t just about telling people what to do, what is it about? Well, leaders should inspire and improve other people — you aim to make everyone in your team (including you) better people through the experience of working together.
The difference between being a manager and a great leader ultimately comes down to whether you can achieve excellent performance through coaching rather than simply directing.
Certain situations call for a more directive approach — but in general, you should aim to be facilitative through coaching rather than purely instructional.
So, what exactly is a leader as a coach?
Sometimes, people use “coach” and “mentor” interchangeably, but they differ. A mentor shares their knowledge with a mentee further along in their journey, while a coach focuses on supporting and helping someone come to their understanding of how things work.
Many leaders take a more directive approach by telling people what to do. But questions should drive coaching — the coaches themselves need to be curious rather than thinking they know everything.
The ultimate aim is to build a feedback culture. How are you doing?
Good coaching requires conversations.
It shouldn’t be surprising that we think coaching comes down to dialogue and good communication. And to do that, you need to put your real self on the table by being authentic and honest. People can tell when you’re dishonest.
So, don’t just say what you should speak; tell your team what you think. Without this, how can you expect the person you’re coaching to be honest with you?
We’ve identified four key aspects of good coaching conversations:
- A goal
- Anchoring to the discussion (e.g., a situation or experience)
- Clarity about the current state
- A commitment or accountability
Also, bear in mind that everyone has a different reality. One of your goals as a coach is to figure out what the other person is experiencing rather than assuming they share your perspective.
What can you do?
Talking through all of this conceptually isn’t going to help you progress. Instead, you need to go through the steps yourself.
You can start this process by forcing yourself to periodically give your team feedback, including developmental feedback, to kickstart the necessary conversations. For example, why not put a note on your calendar asking you if you’ve given your team feedback every week? If not, you know you must remind yourself to do it.
You could include feedback as a regular part of your meetings and 1:1’s. People respond well to this since they know what to expect; if you seldom give feedback, it’s viewed negatively.
Remember that trying to prove your point of view isn’t coaching — coaching is all about supporting and helping people through their journeys.
People are now expecting different things from their work. So now is a great time to offer feedback and communication instead of being reactive.
Plus, being open to feedback helps build respect from your team and lets other people know you’re open to feedback, which is a great opportunity.
