Our ‘Coaching for Managers’ one-day course will show delegates tried and tested methods about 1-2-1 training; executive coaching and how to develop people in order to improve productivity and motivation. We explain through discussion, role-play and case study how to coach staff to achieve the impossible in terms of team development and business performance.

It will also show them how to plan, prepare and implement a coaching programme for induction courses and how to evaluate its success. It also looks at the relationship between coaching, mentoring and training.

Situational Leadership for Coaches

What is a coach? In order for managers to work effectively as coaches they must be able to identify clearly what is meant by the term and where it fits in relation to management and other development activities. Probably the most common role model most people have of a coach probably comes from the world of sport. The typical image of a “Sports Coach” can bring to mind descriptions such as; loud, hectoring, cruel and rude. This fictional image of the track-suited figure, wearing a baseball hat, chewing gum and smoking a large cigar is the opposite to the more effective image of coaching we will be exploring.

If you were to list some of the positive definitions you would use to define what coaching is about, you would hopefully come up with some of the following answers; communicate, educate, improve, inspire, prepare, support and motivate. This range of ideas, rather than the tyrannical approaches described earlier, holds the key to being an effective coach at work.

The modern manager knows that coaching is a key element of team development. No longer is management about telling people what to do; effective leaders understand how coaching and development is vital to business success.

Situational Leadership

Manager’s natural characteristics (or styles) are as diverse as the people they manage. How you deal with one of your team and how you speak to them in a specific situation may be different to the way that you would deal with another in the same situation. How they respond to you can be a direct reaction to how you have spoken or dealt with the issue. The old adage ‘it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it’ rings true in many instances, especially in a boss-subordinate relationship.

By analysing your predominate management style and how it motivates or de-motivates your staff may allow you to examine the interactions you have with staff members and develop more effective strategies for leadership.

Task Behaviour versus Relationship behaviour

Task behaviour is when your actions are centred on the task – the job that needs to be done. Relationship behaviour is when your actions are more centred towards relationships with your people.

Someone who concentrates on task behaviour to get the job done:

• Concentrates on numbers.
•  Is very target/results orientated.
•  Is activity centred.
•  Believes in hands-on involvement.

The benefits of being task orientated are:

•  Hits target/gets results.
•  Gets a job done quickly.
•  Keeps control.
•  Avoids waste (profitable).

Examples of Relationship Behaviour

•  Someone who concentrates on people.
•  Helping people to achieve their full potential.
•  Counsels staff members at length.
•  Believes in being available at all times.

Benefits of being relationship orientated

•  Staff members like you.
•  Builds confidence in staff.
•  Manager has two way communication with staff.
•  Good teamwork.
•  Helps development of subordinates.

There are problems associated with being too task orientated:

•  Communication is one way – downwards from the manager.
•  There is little or no feedback from staff.
•  Numbers rule.
•  People don’t get developed and may lose interest in the job.
•  Results are short lived.
•  Turnover of staff may be unacceptably high.
•  No manager = No results.

There are also problems of being too relationship orientated:

•  Managers may be too involved with people’s problems.
•  Not result-orientated and have a greater potential to miss targets.
•  Staff members see you as one of them not as a manager.
•  Difficult to reprimand staff as relationship issues override task issues.
•  Quality orientated rather than volume orientated.
•  Manager is more inclined to procrastinate and is prone to complacency.

So having looked at the benefits and problems of task and relationships, we need to understand our behaviour as managers. One of the key issues of effective management is the ability to be flexible. Your behaviour needs to move between task and relationship depending on the situation and person involved; hence the term “Situational Leadership”.

Traditionalists have long held one of two views which are often packaged differently but amount to much of the same thing. On the one side we have “Theory X managers” who demonstrate predominantly directive behaviours and “Theory Y managers” who are essentially supportive.

The type of people who would fall into each profile:

THEORY X                                    THEORY Y

Autocratic                                       Democratic

Hard                                                 Soft

Believes in ‘Risen Apes’               Believes in ‘Fallen Angels’

Dictatorial                                      Participative

Task Oriented                               Relationship Orientated

Situational leadership breaks with all traditionalist theories on leadership and motivation in which extremes are hailed as the only solutions. As its title implies it attempts to teach managers not only to adapt their style to suit each of their people but also how to adapt their style effectively to each situation. The first step to becoming a ‘Situational Leader’ is to open your mind to a flexible approach, where no one style is best.

Coaching for Managers Course

Becoming an effective coach is not just a set skills, but a belief that staff development is an integral part of building confidence, trust and motivation in the workplace.

The modern manager needs to know how to develop people. This course shows how to plan, prepare and implement coaching and how to evaluate its success. It also looks at the relationship between coaching, mentoring and training.

Course Dates

• September 10, 2012
• October 11, 2012
• October 26, 2012
• November 21, 2012
• November 30, 2012

Who will benefit from the course?

Our coaching training seminars enable delegates to understand the processes which will make them more effective and increase their confidence and sense of achievement. This will benefit anyone who needs to master the principles and practices of an effective coach; including senior/junior managers, supervisors, training/hr managers, directors, administrative and technical staff.

This course had been designed to enable you to understand the basic fundamentals of strategy and motivation in team building. You will benefit by learning tips and techniques which will increase your competence and confidence when managing, influencing and leading teams.

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