“Let’s Be Honest, Really”
by Chris Reinhardt, feedlot specialist
Probably the clearest and most often used analogy for managing production teams is the sports team. But one connection between coaching and managing is that coaching and managing both require identification of faults and then providing means to improve on those deficiencies. This process of constantly working to make people better may be the most critical function of any successful leader.
This aspect of management isn’t about novel marketing spin or aggressive cost control. It’s about identifying the performance gaps of the team and of each individual on the team. But this part isn’t glamorous, nor is it easy. The only way to know your people’s strengths and weaknesses is by knowing your people, and that simply takes time.
The coaches who win close games are those who make the most effective half-time adjustments. They use time-outs to immediately fill a perceived void. Afterwards they take lessons from each game and drill on any deficiencies in order to become more complete the next game. Coaches who get the most from their players spend time observing them during practice and drilling those areas of weakness.
It would never occur to a successful coach to not tell a player about their weakness; both know that’s the only way to improve. But this is where the manager-as-coach analogy gets set aside. How many managers can honestly say they are completely candid with their team members? It’s obviously not about shaming the person into doing a better job, it’s about providing solutions for the deficiency—it’s about coaching. That’s yet another reason why managing people well is such hard work. That’s why we make such a big deal when a team wins a championship: We acknowledge that the championship wasn’t won on game day, but throughout the entire season and off-season before it—in fact the years of teaching, observation, and practice before it.
The critical part of this process comes back to the manager-as-coach. Make sure your people know you care about them and about making them more effective in their job. Once people know you care, and that you’re offering guidance to improvement, criticism is looked at as an opportunity to improve.
Honesty is at the heart of any truly beneficial mentoring relationship. The successful manager doesn’t ignore weaknesses just because they’re busy or because it might be uncomfortable, because this may be the very heart of effective leadership.