This cast continues our discussion on whom to coach and develop on your team with your marginal time.

If you only have a limited amount of time, whom should you coach? This is a question we get all the time. What if I've got a weak performer? Don't I have to work to get him up to speed? What do I do when the time I spend with a weak performer cuts into my time with everyone else?

These are really good questions. They address the inherent challenges of growing the productivity of your team, AND the issue of there never being enough time to do it. So, before we go any further, let's be clear: if these are the questions you're asking yourself, you're thinking the right way and wrestling with the right kinds of questions.

The problem with these questions is that if the average manager asks her peer a couple of cubes over, and that fellow manager really doesn't know what HE is doing either.

So let's answer the Coaching Dilemma problem once and for all.

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This guidance describes whom to coach and develop on your team with your marginal time.

If you only have a limited amount of time, whom should you coach? This is a question we get all the time. What if I've got a weak performer? Don't I have to work to get him up to speed? What do I do when the time I spend with a weak performer cuts into my time with everyone else?

These are really good questions. They address the inherent challenges of growing the productivity of your team, AND the issue of there never being enough time to do it. So, before we go any further, let's be clear: if these are the questions you're asking yourself, you're thinking the right way and wrestling with the right kinds of questions.

The problem with these questions is that if the average manager asks her peer a couple of cubes over, and that fellow manager really doesn't know what HE is doing either.

So let's answer the Coaching Dilemma problem once and for all.

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A short (8 min) extra cast where Mark introduces the Coaching Dilemma and solicits YOUR responses. What do you think is the correct answer to the dilemma?

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This cast helps you create a development plan for yourself.

One of the most common themes in the questions we get is 'I want to move from where I am, to where I want to be, how do I do it? Whether the person is talking about promotion, a sideways move or a career change the steps are essentially the same. Companies used to do this for us. In some companies there are still structured career paths and structured moves, especially at the lowest levels and in senior management. Often though, the company is small and doesn't have a method for developing staff. Or you're stuck in a wasteland, somewhere between the plant floor and an office of your own.

So, assuming that your company isn't going to do it for you (and why would you rely on someone or something else to control your career, even if they were willing) what do you do?

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In this cast, we complete our discussion of the Revised Manager Tools Coaching Model.

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This cast describes the Manager Tools Revised Coaching Model.

Coaching is the least often used tool among the Management Trinity.  There are some good reasons for it.  One on Ones are the most powerful, and once managers start O3s they never want to let them go.  Feedback happens next, but it's hard for many of us, and so we stumble.  Many of us are afraid of introducing conflict, and fear increased turnover (even though of course the opposite is the case.)  And if we can't get through feedback, it's unlikely we're going to embrace the coaching.  Feedback takes seconds, but coaching takes months, right?

But there's another reason, one that we address with this cast.  Despite the fact that the original model works well, it was too complicated for too many managers.  We know this because so few of us were using it.  That's a shame, because it's not that hard.  But, as we've said before, we're realists here at Manager Tools and Career Tools.  Horstman's 9th Law: Embrace Reality.  This cast simplifies the Manager Tools Coaching Model from seven steps to four, and makes this important concept much more accessible.

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This cast concludes our discussion on how to coach one of our directs on how to run our staff meeting which we have delegated to them.

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This cast describes how to coach one of our directs on how to run our staff meeting which we have delegated to them.

In a recent cast, we combined succession planning, meeting management, and delegation. We suggested that rather than seeing performance development, delegation, meeting management and succession planning as separate burdens we had, we recommended combining them all. Delegating responsibilities IS part of succession planning. Meeting management is a necessary managerial skill. Challenging our directs to do more IS performance development.

But what if we want to delegate our staff meeting to someone who has solid potential for growth, but who doesn't know how to manage? We delegate anyway, and we coach them on running meetings. Here's how.

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On today's cast, we complete our discussion on coaching directs on interpersonal skills.

Of course, if you haven't listened to last week's cast, you may want to start there. ;-)

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This cast tells you how to begin a process of coaching a direct on interpersonal skills.

Soft Skills!

How many times have you heard, "hired for technical skills, fired for (lack of) people skills"? It may be common wisdom (an oxymoron if there ever was one), but it's still true. The path to greater success in most organizations, big and small, is more quickly achieved by improving one's relationships and communication skills than it is by learning more technical knowledge.