"WE ARE WORKING MANAGERS YOU KNOW..."

This is what I frequently hear from those reporting to C-level executives and wonder why. It could be:

• "Managing people" takes too much time with less ROI
• We hire competent people who should not need managing
• We don't know how to effectively manage certain people or situations
• I am unwilling to change

The more I explore this mindset the more I find that this is a matter of habit and familiarity; i.e. a syndrome of managers promoted or hired for technical/functional expertise. Those people naturally hold on to what they have done best and have gain satisfaction in doing. But that is not the realm of managing people!

The second explanation is one of modeling how they are and have been managed. This is the predominate means of how one learns how to manage (before any coaching, I might add!).

So how does one receive coaching that is not perceived as taking time away from very busy schedules? Goal setting-observation of actual job functions-debrief-repeat cycle.