Managers Can’t Be Coaches in All Aspects.

Manager not equal to coach. Good manager must be a good coach. But, manager is human, can not cover all aspect that must be improved by his/her team members. According to the research conducted by Gartner, there are four different coaching profile of managers:

1. Teacher managers. This type of managers are coaching based on their own knowledge and experience. Usually the managers has personal experience as individual contributor prior managerial roles.
2. Always-on managers. Managers act similar like HR professional, which provide continuous coaching, prioritize employee development, and give feedback in all aspects. They conduct coaching as part of daily routine. This type of managers are more dedicated to coach if compare with other type managers. According to the research, always-on managers have the worse output in people performance.
3. Connector managers. The managers give targeted feedback in the area they accountable for it. For the development outside manager’s expertise, they will connect to other team member or colleagues who has expertise in particular area that the team member should improve. The managers spend more time in assessing, the skills, needs, and interest of their employee. This approach was found to be the most effective to increase employee performance. According to the research, the subordinate of connector managers was likely give three time higher performance than the other three coaching approach.
4. Cheerleader managers. This type of managers mostly motivate and give positive feedback and let the employee do their own development.

As managers, we should take more time in assessing our subordinate skill, capability, or room for improvement to finish their daily task and achieve their future aspiration. The improvement can be made by ourselves or ask someone from inside the team, intra the company, or even from outside of company. By doing so, we can be a good manager that not only manage team to achieve goals but also increase each team’ capabilities achieving their aspiration.