The Best Managers Don't Fix, They Coach

Imagine it’s Tuesday morning and your direct report comes into your weekly standup feeling really anxious about an upcoming product launch that they are leading.

What is your default reaction? You might say something like, “Don’t worry, you got this!” You feel like it’s helpful and that you fixed their problem. But unfortunately, it’s not long-lasting and your direct report might not even believe it. Instead, a better alternative is to coach them. ✨

Cheerleading often intensifies imposter syndrome because it widens the gap between lofty expectations and where the person sees their own capabilities. In coaching, we increase someone’s confidence by bringing awareness to their specific gifts — this helps them understand how they can apply their skills and strengths to the situation at hand.

So how can you apply this coaching tool?

1️⃣ Remind them of strengths they’ve demonstrated in the past. Ask how they could apply them here. For example: "I hear that you're daunted by the tight timeline for this project. I also know that one of your strengths is designing under constraints. Earlier this year, you found a creative solution that allowed us to deliver the user impact without a major engineering rewrite. What would it look like to fully apply that strength in this situation?"

2️⃣ Go beyond cheerleading. Instead of lobbing over a “Great job!” after a team member nails a sales call, see if you can name the deeper strength they demonstrated. For example: “Nice job on that call! I noticed that you built strong rapport with the client, made them feel heard, and diffused their concerns about the product. Creating genuine trust with the client is a strength that makes you highly effective.”

This is just one of the coaching tools that Mindy Zhang and I share in our First Round Review Article – The Best Managers Don’t Fix, They Coach — Four Tools to Add to Your Toolkit. We drew from our personal management experiences (and failures), as well as our experience coaching managers to share a few tactics that you can implement right away to start coaching your team.

I’d love to hear how these coaching tools work for you – drop me a line and let me know. If you want a deeper dive and a safe space to practice some of these coaching skills and more, join The Grand. We’d love to welcome you and your teams.

ICYMI

• 🚀 We started the search for our very first Growth Marketing Manager. We are looking for someone who loves road mapping and running experiments! If this sounds like you or someone you know, applications are still open!

• 🔎 Our January Clarity Councils were stellar– thanks to everyone who attended! If you weren't able to join us for this round of free group coaching sessions, keep an eye out for more in the future!

• 🧭 If you haven't heard by now, we also launched the Grand Compass– our all-new audio-visual coaching experience that will help you identify where you are and where you want to go. We announced the new tool with help from Alexis Ohanian (who narrates the experience!) and we talked all about the power of goal setting and effective coaching. Have you set your goals using the Grand Compass yet?

• 🌟 If you are curious about what group coaching entails, we are running a limited series on Instagram guided by Danielle, who started group coaching to sharpen her management skills! She walks you through each session and what important skills and framing devices she learned during her time with The Grand!

Words from the Community

Here are some wise words from a Grand community member that we really connected with this month:

🤝 Community from David Spinks

I’m grateful for our community and all the lived experiences you share with us and each other.

💌

Anita