BETTER TO COACH WELL THAN TO COURT IN VAIN

Dear entrepreneurs, dear managers:

Whether we've met before or not – I expect you'll all agree with my hypothesis: Important and responsible tasks should only be delegated to capable, highly committed people. Which, in my experience, immediately raises the next question: Where can you find these "right", responsible people?

Apples falling far from the trees

Normally you have two options: hire new people for good money – or develop them yourself. Unfortunately, recruiting good people is becoming increasingly difficult, even with full pockets, as the war for talent is in full swing: Unless you’re a big name like Apple or Google, chances are you'll have to settle for what feels like second choice. (A popular fallacy, by the way, as talents don't only go for brands but also look at corporate purpose and culture, development opportunities, and much more. ) Ultimately, your best option is to develop your own people.

I know, I know. People development: a term that, in too many managers' ears, sounds like "give and give" rather than "give and take." Especially managers in mid- to older age groups can sometimes find the young high-potentials' demands quite exhausting. Even as long as 1,000 years ago, it often seemed as though the younger generations tended to think they were God's gift to the (business) world, and to expect a royal treatment. Which is why they can quickly become a nuisance to others – or so it may seem.

Rock or hard place

But let's face it: You probably know from first-hand experience that inadequately developed employees can be just as tiresome. Which comes at a price, too: They eat up your time and attention and keep you stuck in daily routines. Things you thought you had delegated come bouncing back, forcing you to take care of them yourself and pushing your stress level beyond any reasonable boundary. A waste of time and effort – and far from acceptable for anyone striving for sustainable business success. 

Opportunities come by the dozens

So, you see, there are pretty good reasons to learn a few coaching basics. Once you master them, you'll be able at any given time to give your staff just the development impetus they need. And you'll quickly find that there are lots of opportunities to productively apply your tools from the big and colorful coaching box.

With these tools, you'll master situations you never thought had anything to do with people development or coaching. Want a creative brainstorming that produces valuable results? There are techniques for that. Resolve a conflict between two wranglers and get them both back on board? No problem! With the methods in your box, you'll be able to master challenges like these. I could go on forever telling you about situations that my clients and I have experienced over the past 20 years, and which we successfully resolved using coaching tools together with other management techniques. But that would go beyond the scope of this blog.

Greater impact in the company

What next? As a first step, I recommend you open up to people development. Not only for the sake of those high-potentials you'd like to attract to your company – but also to retain good people, thus effectively enhancing your business success. After all, success is made by the people who work on it. Once you've opened up to the idea of using coaching tools as a manager, once you've become curious to learn more, you'll find plenty of information in my book Impact. Have a look – browse through – try things out ... And let me know what happened. I'd love to hear from you!