Coaching Management Style: Everything You Need to Know

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You’ve probably heard the term “coaching leadership style” tossed around in boardrooms and business books. 

But what about coaching management style? Is it the same thing? 

(Spoiler alert: not quite.) 

In this article, you’ll learn about: 

📝 What is a Coaching Management Style? 

A coaching management style is when you help your team members develop their skills while monitoring their performances on a day-to-day basis.

You might be thinking, “Isn’t that what coaching leadership is all about?” 

While these two are similar, there are some differences, and we’ll talk about them in a bit.

Generally, coaching leadership involves inspiring team members to reach their full potential and achieve business goals. However, the coaching management style is more hands-on. 

As a coaching manager, you don’t wait for team members to find their own solutions through trial and error. You work with them, show them what steps to follow, and guide them to take action. This way, you help them achieve the following:

  • Become experts in their roles
  • Save time “figuring things out” 
  • Get aligned results

Overall, these two strategies are crucial and related. In fact, coaching management is often how coaching leadership comes to life in an organization. 

So, when we talk about coaching management style, we’re zooming in on how you can embody coaching leadership styles and principles in everyday interactions with your team to achieve business goals. 

🔺Coaching Management vs. Coaching Leadership 

Let’s break down how coaching leadership differs from the coaching style of management:

Coaching LeadershipCoaching Management
ScopeYou create a culture of growth and development—through coaching skills—across your team and the entire organization.It’s the day-to-day application of coaching principles to interact with your team, achieve goals, and support their growth.
FocusAs a coaching leader, you influence people and inspire the growth of more leaders. They also align people with the organization’s mission.Here, coaching managers make rules, manage subordinates, and organize plans to establish stability and maintain a functioning system.
Who’s InvolvedThis involves top-level executives and may sometimes involve leaders working in a “manager’s” capacity.This typically involves the coaching manager, who works directly with team members. It’s more personal and hands-on.
Day-to-Day ApplicationThis focuses on setting expectations for organizational goals and growth.This is about delegating tasks, balancing expectations in comparison to reality, and ensuring a business’s day-to-day activities get done. 
StrategyThis is proactive and inspirational. Coaching leaders help their followers and team members find direction.This is reactive and authoritative. Coaching managers show their subordinates what direction to take.
MetricsCoaching leaders measure success by overall employee engagement, company-wide performance improvements, or cultural shifts.Here, you’re looking at the performance metrics of individual team members, unit goals, and the satisfaction of your direct reports.

These concepts are vital for developing high-performing, growth-oriented organizations—and the best companies use them in perfect harmony.

Coaching Management: Pros and Cons 

Considering implementing the coaching management style in your organization? Here are the advantages and potential pitfalls of coaching management you need to know about.

coaching management

✅ The Pros of Coaching Management

The benefits of coaching management for businesses include:

Empowered Employees

Coaching managers provide specific direction, leaving no room for guesswork. This helps your team members understand what steps to take to achieve results. This level of clarity boosts their confidence.

More so, they develop a results-oriented mindset to stay focused because they know how their actions directly affect team and organizational goals.

Improved Performance

Focusing on continuous learning and skill empowerment makes team members more efficient in their roles. 

This improvement leads to enhanced team performance in areas such as the following:

  • Doing tasks faster
  • Enhancing the quality of work
  • Finding better ways to achieve goals

Increased Job Satisfaction

When people feel they’re improving, they tend to be happier in their jobs. And happy employees are productive employees. 

Coaching management creates a supportive environment where progress is encouraged and celebrated. This significantly increases job satisfaction, leading to higher retention rates, positive team morale, and increased productivity.

Better Problem-Solving Skills

Teaching your team a structured problem-solving approach shows them how to break down and handle challenges efficiently. 

They become adept at doing the following:

  • Prioritizing actions
  • Identifying warning signs
  • Reducing hesitation and analysis paralysis 
  • Addressing problems in their early stages

Adaptability and Resilience

Coaching management helps build a more adaptable and resilient team. 

When you focus on development and problem-solving, you prepare your team to navigate change and uncertainty. This adaptability is especially helpful in today’s fast-paced business environment.

Stronger Team Relationships

The coaching approach creates a more collaborative work environment where team members feel comfortable sharing ideas, giving feedback, and supporting each other’s development.

As a coaching manager, team building and employee growth are a natural part of your day-to-day work. 

❌ The Cons of Coaching Management

The drawbacks of coaching management for companies include:

Time Investment

One of the biggest challenges of the coaching style of management is the time investment required. 

Guiding someone to take a specific action often takes longer than just providing the action they need to take. Coaching requires patience. 

Requires Patience

In coaching, results aren’t always immediate. So, if you’re the type who likes to see immediate results, coaching management might test your patience. 

You’ll need a mindset shift from focusing on short-term fixes to long-term development. However, this slow pace can be frustrating when you’re pressured to provide quick outcomes.

Not Always Appropriate

Coaching is not suitable for every situation. You must recognize when it’s beneficial and when it might be a blockage or even put the team at risk. 

For instance, the best option is a more directive approach in crisis situations or when quick decisions are needed. Balancing coaching with other management styles and knowing when to switch gears is a skill in itself.

Can Be Misinterpreted

Some team members might see your coaching attempts as micromanagement or a lack of trust in their abilities. This misinterpretation can lead to resistance or resentment if not addressed properly. 

To prevent these misunderstandings, clearly communicate your coaching approach beforehand.

Emotional Demands

Coaching management often involves dealing with personal challenges, which can be emotionally demanding. 

As a coaching manager, you might have to address complex interpersonal or neck-deep issues that affect an employee’s performance. This emotional labor can be taxing and requires high emotional intelligence and self-awareness.

Ultimately, the pros of coaching management outweigh the cons, especially in the long run. The key is to be willing to learn and clearly understand when to apply coaching management techniques.

coaching management style

🎯 When to Use Coaching Management (With Examples)

There are some situations where coaching management is effective (and some, not so much). Here are the times to deploy your coaching management skills, complete with some real-world examples.

Skill Development

When a team member needs to learn or refine specific skills, providing coaching support as a manager will help provide a helpful framework for learning.

For instance, a member of your marketing team wants to learn data analysis. Instead of recommending a course and wishing them the best, you can provide a supportive structure by doing the following:

  • Setting up regular check-ins to discuss their progress
  • Asking for a walkthrough while they tackle a real data set
  • Providing resources to enhance their learning
  • Offering guidance when needed

Problem-Solving

Coach your team through the problem-solving process when they face challenges. When employees have the basic knowledge but need guidance in applying it to complex problems or decisions, give them the assistance they need.

Let’s say a team is behind on their targets. Instead of calling out a new strategy, try to be more invested in the process by doing the following:

  • Organizing team meetings and brainstorming sessions
  • Asking probing questions: “What’s working well?” “Where are we falling short?” “What haven’t we tried yet?”
  • Develop an action plan and guide the team to act on it

Performance Enhancement

When an employee’s performance falls short, coaching management can help identify obstacles and create a path forward. If a team member is performing adequately but has the potential to achieve more, this approach can bridge the gap between current and optimal performance.

If a customer service agent has been receiving lower satisfaction scores. Instead of reprimanding him, you can follow the coaching approach by doing the following:

  • Having a one-on-one to understand their perspective
  • Listening actively and asking open-ended questions about their challenges
  • Working together to set specific, achievable goals for improvement

Career Growth & Succession Planning

As you prepare team members for future roles or responsibilities, coaching can help them develop the necessary competencies and mindset needed for their career paths.

If a team member in a junior position expresses interest in a higher role, as a coaching manager, here are some of the ways you can help them:

  • Discussing what skills are needed for that role
  • Helping them identify opportunities to develop those skills in their current position
  • Regularly reviewing their progress level
  • Providing feedback for improvement 

Team Dynamics

When addressing interpersonal issues or aiming to enhance collaboration within a team, coaching management techniques can improve communication skills and understanding between members.

Let’s say you notice the tension between two complementary departments, like the design and development teams. You can resolve their discord and improve collaboration by doing the following:

  • Facilitating a group discussion about team dynamics
  • Coaching both teams on active listening and constructive feedback
  • Guiding them to create their own set of team norms

At its core, the coaching management style is most effective in situations where the primary goal is long-term development, learning, and growth. 

However, you need to be flexible to effectively manage people. The best managers know when to coach, when to deploy other leadership styles, and when to step back and let their team fly.

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By Sally Ofuonyebi
Sally Ofuonyebi is a Copywriter & SEO Content Strategist for Coaches. She's been writing for over 4 years on topics such as marketing, business, and sales. Her work is featured in publications like Moz, AllBusiness, and Sprout Social.
September 17, 2024

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