The Game of Coaching: Part Two

The game of coaching has changed. For so many years our major objection when collaborating with clients was organizations and their leaders saying they do not have time to coach. Here's The funny thing about that notion is coaching has really gravitated from it would be nice to do to now, we must do it. The caveat is that the game has changed.

Let us take a basketball game. If a team is down by twenty points and they are playing a zone defense a good coach would adjust and then go to a man-to-man defense. The players on the court who are playing the zone now must play man to man defense meaning they are going to have to be in really good physical shape as it's a much more difficult defense to play physically. The court is the same, yet now the court looks differently because the players are doing different things on the court. Coaches are today's leaders. The players are employees and individual contributors. The playing field really is equal to the organizational culture, and it is being conducted in person or virtually or a hybrid model. All these changes and circumstances require adjustments and navigation by the coach, the leader. The players need guidance and support now more than ever from whom? The coach, the leader. The field changes sometimes it feels daily from this virtual field to the hybrid field to the in-person field asking both the leader, the coach and the employee, the player, to adjust and do things differently in a brief period of time.

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Transcript

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Welcome to the game of coaching part two. Now as we enter 2022, I just had a conversation with somebody, it just still amazes me that people are resistant to coaching. It just cracks me up. And I was talking to somebody who was the VP of the company and VP of Operations and he was talking about how they're busy and they're getting back on track and their supply issues are getting worked out, things are gonna get back to normal. And I sat there and I said, Okay, so what's been some of your challenges? During the pandemic? He said, Well, turnover, you know, now people are leaving for money and, you know, you really can't fight that stuff. And I smiled. He said, What are you smiling that? I said, It's so interesting, that you have a major problem like turnover and your first reaction is, can't fight that in terms of the reasons why. He said, Oh, so you can? I said, Absolutely. 

So let me give you a scenario. You've got two scenarios. You've got a manager who I'm going to use some of your words, doesn't have time to coach they're really busy supply chain issues are getting back to normal. They're going to get back to work. But but his or her people are still leaving. On the other hand, somebody has been coaching someone in the exact same situation spending time every single week. For 10, 15 minutes focusing on an area focusing on an area of career development, focusing on an area to promote someone's career development and skill development, talent development. And then that person gets an offer from an outside company. Would they be less or more likely to leave? And he stopped, to his this man's credit, he stopped. "Boy, I really got to think about that",  I said, now I really want to stop. He said, Why, and I go, I'm coaching right now. And I got you to think differently. And he looked at me and we're on a zoom call me said, Wow.  I said yeah, I said, Look, I'm not trying to prove that you're wrong. But there's nothing more powerful than a manager sitting with his or her people, one on one or in a group setting, and developing them. It builds trust builds inspiration and builds motivation when people are fatigued, exhausted, stressed, filled with anxiety. Doing nothing is really doing something. It's counterproductive. 

I said, now let me explain something. I said did you play sports in high school or college? He said both. I said, Oh, great. You know, what did you play? So I played you know, d3 basketball so great. I said, I played basketball. I said, I didn't play college. I played high school, but so when you were down, and you were playing a team and let's say you were playing the zone. And the other team just had really good outside shooters, and you're down by 20 points. If you were the coach, what would you do? He said, Well, I would probably go to a man to man defense. I said you would adjust as a leader as a coach. You would adjust. You would navigate some things differently. Absolutely. I said Now, let's talk about your players. When you play zone defense, and for those of you who aren't involved in basketball, zone basically you cover an area. Physically it's less taxing than playing someone man demand where you're assigned to a player, you have to chase them all over the court. I said in terms of your players, what would you need more from them in a man to man defense than his own defense? He said well they probably have to be in better shape, they'd have to be more conscientious of what was going on in the court instead of just guarding in the area. So awesome. I said, So now even though the courts the same, the place where you play is the same. It's changed right? The court takes on a new look, because instead of guarding an area, you're now guarding a person. He said, Well, yeah. Well, let's review. 

I said, let's go back to coaches. Coaches are leaders in the workplace. I said according to you, if you're down by 20 You're going to navigate the waters differently, you're gonna play a different defense. Didn't you have to do that during the pandemic? And number two, the players have changed, right? Obviously, they're coming up saying according to you, I can get more money from someone else. According to you as the coach and leader. You don't have time to coach I'm surprised you even have time to have that conversation. He smiled back. And I could see the light bulb turning on. And I said and the playing field was changed, right? I said, Did you go to a hybrid or a virtual model? He said both. We're in the hybrid model. Now we're just discussing whether to come back full time in person. Okay. I said, Have any resistance to that? You said a little. I said, So the players have changed the field has changed. People's likes and dislikes of the of the field have changed. I said, Didn't you have people in high school or college who rather play zone than man demand? Because it was easier on them? You see said yeah. I said, Some people hated the virtual world and fell in love with it because they're not driving into the office. They're not spending money on gas. It was great to go down the hallway to your third bedroom. And conduct business. And you could just see the light bulb going. 

So think about the game of coaching. Coaches have teams are leaders in the workplace. players on the team are the employees the individual contributors on your team the field has changed whether you're hybrid virtual in person. The way people react to those things have dramatically changed. And it requires leaders to do what to navigate, switch up the game plans, adjust the strategies. Adjust the conversations. So when you have an employee, for example, who says I hate being virtual, I got to come in the office but wasn't allowed to. Yet that same person two years later is now saying, You know what, at minimum I would love to be hybrid. And all of a sudden the company says no we're all person that's going to have an impact. The field has changed, the playing field has changed. 

Now the playing field for the workplace is organizational culture. So you can have a strong culture virtually, and I'm not suggesting you should go virtual. I'm suggesting that we then have to change the way you lead your meetings will have to change the way you mentioned coaching people will have to change how you go about messaging, the strategy of what's being implemented. See, the game of coaching is all about understanding who the coaches are, who are the players, what field are we on, and adjusting and what do we need to adjust our dialogue, our conversations, our abilities to motivate our abilities to inspire our abilities to understand what motivates so the game of coaching is changed because the game has changed. The players have changed. The playing field is changed. Thanks for listening to another episode.