Teaching Employees to Manage Themselves
Fear not! The advice in this section is not a contradiction of what has previously been discussed in this chapter. On the contrary, it is counsel that is perfectly consistent with all that has been said about coaching practices and the maximization of time management.
Indeed, a first-class coach educates his employees on the ways and means of managing themselves. Hey, but what about all of the prior talk about a coach's hands-on, heads-up managing and the need to continuously measure results? How then can employees manage themselves? Employee self-management doesn't appear to jibe with a coach's job responsibilities. Ah, but it does.
The Self-Managing Employee
Under the coaching and mentoring approach of managing, employees are given specific jobs to do. They are assigned very precise roles. And they are expected to meet regular project deadlines. In other words, they are called upon to deliver the goods, as it were, on time and on budget.
The coach — and leader of a team — is responsible for setting the entire worktable. Along the way, he allocates to each one of his employees a job and a very defined role. On an individual basis, he works with members of his team in establishing goals, benchmarks, and — yes — key deadlines, too.
When both the coach and the employee sign off on the employee's work responsibilities, it's a covenant of sorts. In the process, the coach is saying that he has confidence in a particular person's ability to get the job done and get it done with minimal interference from him. A coach's normal supervising of progress and regular oversight is not akin to latching a ball and chain to a member of his staff.
Coaches delegate important work responsibilities and job tasks to their employees. Delegation of authority is a fundamental part of the coaching and mentoring philosophy. This empowerment of the workforce is key to proper time management. It maximizes human productivity from top to bottom — from management to a very engaged team of employees.
Coaching and mentoring practices deviate from traditional management in this important area of employee self-management. Coaches are expected to know who's working for them — inside out and upside down. From the moment coaches lay eyes on their prospective team members — in the interview room, for instance — they are, in essence, compiling dossiers on them.
While this may sound sinister, it's not. Coaches do not operate clandestinely in a cloak of secrecy. They do not invade people's privacy or anything like that. Rather, these so-called dossiers merely amount to the acquiring of knowledge and understanding of each and every employee on an individual and intimate basis.
The one-two punch of knowledge and understanding of individual employees is a knockout punch. That is, it goes a long way toward the placement of employees in the right jobs and right roles. Acquiring this all-important knowledge and understanding begins with the job interview, and the quest for more of it is ongoing.
It all boils down to a coach knowing more stuff than the traditional manager. That is, before a coach assigns an individual on her staff job duties, she is armed with more knowledge and understanding of him than a traditional manager could possibly have. This thorough due diligence is what distinguishes a coached work environment from the rest. Employees are carefully vetted as human beings, not as mere work automatons. They are looked upon as individuals with unique abilities and personalities, and they are, accordingly, given jobs and tasks that suit them.
In business, time management asks that the right people be in all of the right places. A coach supervises his people, but expects them to fulfill their myriad responsibilities without a heavy managerial hand pressing down on their necks. Good self-management is always a boon to good time management.
Expectations
Optimally, you want a staff of self-managing men and women. You want your people to know what they have to do and when they have to do it. As a leader, you reinforce the company mission and monitor results and progress every single day. But you have high expectations for those who work for you, because you know them and their capabilities.
In today's highly competitive business circles, managers on the frontlines desperately need people who require minimal handholding. If employees need your assistance every step of the way, you're in trouble. Nevertheless, coaches work very closely with members of their teams. They teach and will, in fact, hold hands when necessary. This markedly helpful relationship between manager and employee contrasts sharply with conventional on-the-job relationships. But handholding cannot be permitted to become a permanent part of daily work life. The coach's instructive methods are designed to get an employee from A to B, so that she can go from B to C on her own two wings. Too much handholding amounts to too much time wasted.
