If you were coaching someone in a new role, what basics would you review with her as she began?
A colleague I’ve worked with previously had taken a
leadership role in a volunteer organization with which I’m familiar, and he
requested some guidance in his relatively new role. He had been in his new role
for 10 months. In my experience with my colleague, I know he digs in and has
been successful at any assignment I’ve seen him perform.
“What Results Panel?”
He told me he was struggling with getting his small
team of volunteers focused and aligned and wanted to talk about approaches to
do so. Our call was on Zoom so I asked him to share his results panel, which
is available to his and all similar teams, so we could review their results and
progress. He responded with “what results panel?”
I was really taken aback as the organization had
invested in a tool to indicate progress towards team goals, and somehow this skilled
new leader, in his new role in the volunteer organization, was not made aware
of the tool, of this investment by the organization.
Simple Awareness
As soon as he was aware of this tracking tool, he was
energized and saw how he could use it to communicate with his small team, to
acknowledge progress and helpful behavior, and to get them focused and engaged
to accomplish results.
A Glaring Oversight
I was curious about this onboarding oversight so I
asked about his support structure in the volunteer organization. I know from my
experience with them that there is an extensive support model in place.
He said there were some vacancies in the support roles
available to him and those available had performed only rudimentary onboarding.
I suspect they thought he already knew about the tools available to him, but he
didn’t. If this was an assumption by support leaders, as it appears to be, it
was a bad one. If there are significant vacancies, perhaps those available are
feeling burnt out.
Situational Leadership
The situational leadership model from Hersey-Blanchard
makes clear that we need to focus on the specific task maturity of the
individual when coaching. It’s very easy to assess overall maturity and past
success and then offer only rudimentary onboarding when someone appears accomplished
and confident. I have made this mistake, and I’m sure most leaders have made
this mistake. It’s an art to assess development, progress, and readiness.
There are many great summaries of the situational
leadership approach available. Here is
one;
https://com-peds-pulmonary.sites.medinfo.ufl.edu/files/2014/01/Hanke-Situational-Leadership.pdf
Conclusion
The Hersey-Blanchard situational model is brilliant
because it clearly describes how the leader’s actions must adapt based on the
specific task maturity of the follower. In the example I’ve shared, the
follower is exceptionally skilled and accomplished, but not yet so in his new role.
He needed to be grounded in basics. Now
that he and I have discussed basics, he and his team appear to be doing very
well.
If you’re unfamiliar with the Hersey-Blanchard
situational model, it is worth some time. It’s also worth time to ensure any team
member understands basics when they begin a new role.
No comments:
Post a Comment