From boss to manager-coach
This transformation becomes possible when you master the right tools to initiate this change and turn your management into a true performance lever. This evolution invites you to move from a directive, controlling approach to a more collaborative, trust-based one.
Let's imagine the following situation: Anna, manager of a customer service team, is overwhelmed by requests from her team, who are constantly seeking her approval. She feels responsible for having an answer for everything, believing that the quicker she answers questions, the better her team can deal with customers. By Friday afternoon, she's exhausted, but doesn't feel she's accomplished much.
Determined to change the situation, Anna learns coaching techniques which she applies rigorously. She adopts a listening posture and asks open-ended questions. After a few weeks, she realized that, more and more, her team members were finding the answers to their questions themselves. She has even heard two people helping each other with a complex customer complaint. She can already see some of the results: more autonomy, more commitment, fewer interruptions, and a team that is gaining in confidence and collaborating to better serve its customers.
The manager-coach's key skill: active listening
The manager-coach uses a variety of active listening techniques, including reformulation, silence and impact questions.
- Reformulation enables the manager-coach to validate his or her understanding of the employee's deeper motivations.
- Silence puts him or her in a position of sympathetic listening, giving the employee the space to deepen his or her reflection.
- Impact (or reflective) questions that encourage the employee to broaden his or her perspective and deepen his or her reasoning.
Let's return to Anna and see how her principles can be applied in the workplace. In the weeks following her change of management style, an unmotivated employee came to see her. Rather than giving him a ready-made solution, Anna applies the principles of coaching management: she actively listens to her employee, rephrasing what he says, and helps him to identify his own motivational levers by asking questions.
The result? The employee has regained momentum, without Anna feeling responsible for managing everything herself.
The observable results of coaching-based management
Coaching is a three-way relationship between the manager-coach, the coachee and the organization. It can help restore meaning and foster commitment. As a result, managers who have adopted this management style have observed, over time :
Improved individual and collective performance.
Increased commitment and satisfaction among employees who share the same values and are aligned with clear objectives.
Reduced conflict and smoother communication.
Saves time and energy, enabling them to delegate and focus on their value-added responsibilities.
Benefits of coaching | Technologia
Why choose coaching as a management method?
Adopting a coaching approach means choosing to act as an inspiring manager, able to propel the potential of every member of your team. By integrating techniques of active listening, pertinent questioning and constructive support, you foster a work environment where collaboration, autonomy and creativity flourish.
Corporate coaching is not just a management tool: it's a powerful lever for building more committed, more fulfilled and more successful teams. Becoming a manager-coach also means growing as a leader, bringing lasting added value to your organization.
Ready to take this step? Coaching is much more than a skill: it's a state of mind that transforms professional relationships for the better.
Corporate Coach Certification
Sources :
Creating a coaching culture – Lee Hecht Harrison
State of the Global Workplace – Gallup - 2021
