Leadership Skills in the Workplace

Maintaining Gains Made

LEADERSHIP BRIEFS

07 Your Role as Teacher and Coach

Objective

Learn to develop and guide followers by using questions.

Lesson

As you have gained confidence and competency through your leadership training and experience, you probably find yourself instructing, encouraging, and guiding your direct reports. As they become more capable, their increased capability helps your job to go more smoothly.

It’s probably safe to say that encouraging their increased skills and motivation is one of your most important tasks as a leader. There is simple yet potent way you can teach and coach your followers.

You can aid their development with your masterful use of questions. This simple method has long been known in education circles as an important technique for encouraging student learning. It may sound too simple to be effective in the workplace, but focused questioning is a powerful way to teach others, of any age and in any setting, the lessons you want them to learn.

Consider this example: when a follower comes to you with a question—a question they could answer if they stretched themselves or had sufficient confidence—they may expect you to give them the answer. It’s easer for them to ask you: they don’t have to think about it or take responsibility. They may think they can get on with their work more quickly if they don’t have to solve a problem on their own.

Sometimes it may feel easier for you, also, just to give them an answer; it’s quick and they will be on their way. When you fall into this pattern of always providing the answer, you encourage their dependency and prevent them from stretching to find the answer.

What they learn is that they should come to you each time they have a question and interrupt what you are doing. They learn that it’s fine for them not to take initiative, not to act on their own knowledge.

In most cases, followers will have a good idea what the answer to their question should be. They may genuinely be a little uncertain about the answer, reluctant to initiate action, or they may not know all the fine points. They may believe you want them to come to them for every little approval, every little decision. Perhaps they fear repercussions if they don’t “ask permission.”

When someone comes to you, it provides a wonderful opportunity for you, as the leader, to serve as a coach and upgrade the knowledge and skills of your employee. If you are going to truly develop greater competencies among your followers, you need to take advantage of each teaching moment.

Here is how you can do that by asking questions:

Employee: “I’m really upset that Susan was short with me when I went to relieve her for our regular rotation. She just seems to have it in for me, and I don’t know what I have done to deserve that. I have always tried to be nice to her. It really bothers me that she is so cold and grouchy.”

Supervisor: “So it seems like Susan is mad at you?”

Employee: “Yeah, and I can’t honestly think of a thing I have done to upset her. I have gone out of my way to try to get along with her, but she is just nasty to me when I have to work with her.”

Possible Ending 1, Without Use of Questions: The leader could “solve the problem” and give an answer:

“Well, you know that Susan is just more task-directed than some people. You’ve seen how she acts toward other people too. She just keeps her nose to the grindstone and doesn’t have much to say. You, on the other hand, are a very friendly person who likes to talk to everyone. I think it’s just that you two have different expectations about how much interaction you should have with co-workers on the job. It’s not that she’s mad at you.”

Possible Ending 2, Using Questions: Instead of Ending One, above, suppose the leader took a questioning approach, as follows:

Supervisor: “What have you observed about Susan’s behavior to other teammates?”

Employee: “Well, she usually keeps to herself, does her work, and just doesn’t have much to say to anyone.”

Supervisor: “So, it’s not just you that she doesn’t talk to?”

Employee: “No, she really doesn’t talk to anybody very much.”

Supervisor: “That’s right. She keeps her full attention on her task and rarely socializes. Now, how would you describe your interaction style on the job?”

Employee: “I’m a pretty friendly guy. I like to have a little fun on the job. I believe you can talk and joke and still get all the work done.”

Supervisor: “Yes, you’re a good worker, and you are definitely outgoing. So instead of thinking she is mad at you, do you think there is another explanation for her behavior to you?”

Employee: “I guess so. I guess she is just really quiet and doesn’t like to talk much. Maybe she doesn’t understand why I like to joke and talk.”

Supervisor: “I think you are exactly right. You said yourself that it’s not just toward you that she acts this way. So you agree maybe she’s not mad, she’s just serious and focused on her work. So what do you think you can do to work more effectively with her?”

Employee: “I guess I should not think she’s mad just because she doesn’t talk. I probably need to come across a little quieter and be patient with her. Maybe, with time, I can get her to come out of her shell a little bit. It makes the time pass quicker when we can all be friendly.”

Supervisor: “I think you are definitely on the right track.”

In this second ending, the leader uses the same situation as a “teaching moment.” Seizing opportunities and turning them into teaching moments is a very effective style for all leaders who want to develop the competency and confidence of their employees.

You don’t need to have all the right answers, just have all the right questions. Questions like “What do you think?” and “How would you handle this?” are nearly always appropriate to get the employee to really think and to take some ownership of the issue under discussion.

Questions for Group Discussion

1. What do you think an employee learns if the supervisor gives the answer, as in the first ending above?

2. What does the employee learn if the supervisor leads the employee to the answer?

3. What is the difference in long-term growth or development of employee capability using these two approaches?

Leader Practice

Write down questions you could ask for each of the situations below to use a “teaching moment” to develop employee capability and confidence rather than giving them the answer. These are questions that will “lead” the employees to the right answer without the leader having to “tell” them the answer. Fill in any details that you need in order for the situation to make sense in your setting.

1. What should we do with all this extra material that was left here by mistake?

2. Since they are leaving it up to us now to figure out the overtime coverage, what should we do about scheduling for this weekend?