So often I hear from other managers, that if things seem to be going well at the office, the they just stay quite without much interaction with their staff, riding the wave of good fortune for as long at it will last. I was reading through the book “It’s okay to be the boss” by Bruce Tulgan today and he made the statement “don’t wait for a problem to arise to start coaching.” As I pondered this statement I thought about those managers who only get involved when there is a problem, instead of interacting on a continual basis in order to head off any possible problems. The coaching management style being proactive instead of reactive.
Being a parent of adult children, I thought about what it would have been like if I would have been a reactive parent as my children were toddlers and I was training them. Anyone who has had a child knows what a mess that would be. As a parent you need to think ahead of what situations might come up and talk to you child about them before anything happens. For example a plug in an electrical outlet, as soon as your baby starts crawling you are telling them “no, no, stay away” for their own good. Or teaching them that they need to hold your hand when you are outside by a street or in a parking lot, you wouldn’t let take them out of the car and set them down just hoping they will stay by you.
I think you probably are getting jest of what I am saying. Managers need to be proactive on a daily basis to instill the actions, reactions and abilities that they want their staff to be able to take when certain situations arise. Take for instance a manager of a Starbucks, not all customers are going satisfied with their order, but instead of waiting until an upset customers is standing at the counter face-to-face with an employee to teach them how they should handle it, the manager has taken care of this during their training so they could handle certain situations to the customer’s satisfaction. Starbuck’s training is very proactive they teach their staff members what to do in most normal situations that may arise, which in turn empowers that employee to react immediately and take care of the customer.
Proactive managers take the time to talk to their individual team members asking them what types of problems they encounter and discussing how to handle them. Just think about a sport coach having a team meeting, he lays down the strategy for the game and walks them through the plays that hopefully will help them win the game. They take the time to go through what plays the opposing team may make and skillfully come up with scenarios of how to handle them.
I personally like the coaching approach and the team effort to produce the best service to our patients/customers. No matter what management style you choose that is best for you and your team the most important factor is that you are all working for the same common goal and enjoying the effort you are putting in to reach it. I will close with a quote from one of my favorite coaches of all time, Coach Wooden.
“We don’t have to be superstars or win championships…. All we have to do is learn to rise to every occasion, give our best effort, and make those around us better as we do it. — John WoodenRelated Website
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