Why managers don’t, won’t or can’t coach.

Most of the time it’s a serious question asked by a seriously confused and frustrated senior manager with a thumping headache (earned by continuously banging a real head against a metaphorical wall):

“Why don’t my &^%$ing managers coach?”

Apparently it’s a mystery, so vast and unfathomable, that the brightest and boldest of business are stumped. Having observed 1000′s of managers and noticed where they focus their time and energy, I can tell you, it’s no mystery.

Here’s the skinny on why managers don’t, won’t or can’t coach.

1. Many managers just don’t dig (love) it.

They’ll tell you it’s a time issue… but… when you measure managers by performance outputs and humanistic outputs (team member willingness to work, absenteeism, turnover, etc) the top 10% – consistent high performers – almost always find the time they need to coach – a lot.

On the other hand, the bottom 40% (what we call Group C managers) almost never coach and no matter what you take away from them to give them time, it will always be frittered away somewhere else (reports, emails, meetings, schedules and answering the same questions over and over are the most popular).

These managers really, really don’t dig coaching – it’s not part of who they are – and they really, really don’t want to do it. You can tell them what to do and how to do it (over and over)…  you can give them reasons why they should do it… and they will still creatively avoid doing it.

As part of our Humanistic/Performance Culture Diagnostic we assess how much managers enjoy coaching. Collectively, Group C managers have the lowest coaching enjoyment score… BTW so do their team members (who don’t dig being coached either).

“I flat out love coaching. There’s something there that’s real. You get your hands on it, and you can make somebody better than they were. That’s one hell of a feeling” – Tom Martinez (quoted from The Talent Code).

It’s a tough pill to swallow… but… you will not change these people and they will NEVER feel like Tom Martinez. Your effort will be wasted. Channel your energy in to (1) recruiting better next time and (2) fishing where the fish are: Group B managers.

Group B managers are the 50% with highly variable, mid-range performance and humanistic outputs: some weeks/months/years they do well, others not so much. Some team members love them, others hate them. They’re up one day. Down the next. Over the long haul, ups and downs even out to around 60-80% of the output of high performers.

This group is a sweet spot. Group B managers coach (a little) and they enjoy it more than their Group C colleagues (as do the people they coach), but they don’t make constant and consistent improvements (which they should)…

2. Managers won’t improve if no one tells them how to.

If you have read Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, Geoff Colvin’s Talent is Overrated or Daniel Coyle’s The Talent Code you will have heard of Anders Ericsson, who studies how expert performers acquire their superior performance. To cut a long story short, the difference that makes the difference is what Ericsson calls Deliberate Practice. And you need, roughly, 10,000 hours of it to get really, really good.

Maybe 10,000 hours is too much to ask. Lets dial it down to 1,000 and go for reasonably competent. At 10 coaching hours a week it should take about 2 years to get there. Really? Two years to be a reasonably competent coach? Well, yeah. A two-day workshop and some forms just doesn’t cut it. You need a 2-year ‘action-learning’ coaching program (or less if managers coach more often), where the emphasis is on continuous improvement.

Here are 3 ideas we have found useful to get started:

• Teach managers how to practice deliberately (read the books mentioned above)
• Conduct structured group coach-the-coach sessions (with real, peer review ‘case-studies’)
• Regular feedback from the people being coached (based on behavioural frequency)

When managers don’t practice deliberately and continuously improve it is very easy to grow bored and ambivalent to the coaching process. It’s another chore. Both participants become unenthusiastic and commitment lowers – slowly at first, then all of a sudden. Without commitment to change, people won’t…

3. Managers can’t make a difference because people don’t, won’t or can’t change.

Coaching isn’t always the answer. When it works it’s because people are ready, willing and able to change. If they are disengaged or even just a little apathetic toward their work (or their manager) change will come slowly – if at all.

Coaching is suffering from ‘if-you-only-have-a-hammer-everything-looks-like-a-nail’ syndrome. It’s what training used to be – the go-to solution for almost every problem. What managers are failing to do is diagnose individual performance gaps. They are not analysing the root cause of under-performance before they proceed with a solution.

Imagine going to the doctor and being prescribed anti-biotics while you were in the waiting room. The prescription is only one part of the reason you’re there. Mostly, you go to the doctor for the diagnosis. Based on that, you might have a number of options to resolve the issue now and prevent it from reoccurring in the future.

Our research shows the average [frontline and middle] manager spends a little less than 10% (3-4hrs/week) of their time on one form of coaching or another (performance, skill, technical) and much less than one-half of one-percent (10 – 20 minutes, maybe) diagnosing the root causes of under-performance or disengagement across their team.

It’s not working.

About Jason

Jason Moore consults on culture and leadership effectiveness. Jason co-developed the Humanistic/Performance Culture – Performance Improvement Diagnostic (a performance improvement system that works across many levels of the organisation. The H/PC is a transformational – yet simple and practice – online diagnostic. It reduces risks, builds competence and drives business growth with evidence-based accountability and real-time feedback) and blogs his thoughtson making work a better place to work. Follow Jason on Twitter or download his eBook: Meeting of the Living Dead.