To Increase Productivity, Coach, Don’t Manage

There’s a difference between a coach and a manager, and one is consistently more successful in diving productivity and commanding loyalty than the other. A manager is someone who makes demands and expects their orders to be followed. A coach, on the other hand, uses their knowledge of individual team member's abilities and weaknesses to build a strong, productive unit. By activating the right skills in the right individual at the right time, coaches ensure a team functions as a singular entity rather than say “do this” and leave it up to chance. To transition to a more coaching style of management, a leader must first understand their employees’ skills. Each team member—even if their titles are the same—will not have the same strengths and weaknesses. Use this knowledge to your advantage and understand how your team’s skills can work together in a compounding fashion. Training is an important aspect of generating this depth of knowledge. Helping team members develop new skills and refine the ones they already have will enable the coach-manager to better organize and execute.