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Mike Deblieux, SPHR On-site Training and Coaching for Front-line Workplace Leaders
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On-site Coaching Helping Front-line Workplace Leaders Develop Their People Management Skills
On-site coaching provides a workplace leader with an opportunity to look in a mirror to see how his or her style, practices, and leadership behaviors help or hinder their team. It creates a unique opportunity for the individual workplace leader to decide what he or she needs to stop, change, or learn to succeed.
First-line supervisors and managers often suffer from what I call the "Friday Syndrome." They are promoted (usually on a Friday) from their role as an excellent worker to their new role as a workplace leader. They spend the weekend telling their friends and family about their exciting new opportunity to be an important part of the management team. They return to work on Monday expecting someone to teach them, guide them, and coach them to success in their new job.
Unfortunately, they learn all too soon that their manager is too busy to spend much time with them. They learn that budgets are tight and training money is hard to come by. They learn that the way they will learn their new job is on their own by doing their best, growing from each mistake, and experimenting to develop their own leadership style. Most importantly, they learn that the skills that made them an "excellent" worker are not the skills they need to be an excellent workplace leader.
As an excellent worker they:
As a front-line supervisor or manager, however, they are expected to:
The two lists could go on, but if you have read this far you see the conflict between working and leading. The skills that made the worker stand out have little to do with the skills needed to supervise, manage and lead. Sooner or later, the result is all too often a leader who says things like, "If you want it done right, you have to do it yourself." At the same time, employees say, "We can't figure out our supervisor. We don't know what he or she wants."
My approach to this situation is to provide practical feedback and guidance to the workplace leader. He or she needs to hear what others are thinking, but not saying. They need help understanding that leadership success is not defined by doing, but by leading. In short, the leader needs someone to talk with them in an honest, direct, and supportive way about the specific issues that they and their team face in the process of working together.
Each situation is unique. Give me a call, 714-293-9156, or send me a note, mike@deblieux.com, if you would like to discuss the one that you are thinking about.
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Send mail to barney@deblieux.com with
questions or comments about this web site.
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