Whenever I watch a business show on television, I am amazed at the number of times the word “expectation” is used to describe the performance of a company’s perceived value and stock price. It seems that investor “expectations” often drive stock prices in the market. When a company exceeds expectations, the stock price skyrockets and when a company does not meet or is below investor expectations, then prices plummet reflecting the dissatisfaction of investors in the performance of a company.
This same drama plays out on a much smaller scale with leaders and their individual team members. Expectations play a big part of an effective relationship. The only problem is that all too frequently expectations in the mind of the leader versus expectations in the mind of the follower are unclear, confusing, and ambiguous. Yet, everyone wants to know what is expected of them. We want to be clear about our obligations and duties. We want to be able to anticipate the outcomes and requirements necessary to be a good performer and add value to an organization.
Expectations bind us together; they are the fabric that forms a relationship. Expectations play a key role in building trust and confidence as we anticipate the probability of someone executing necessary duties. When trust is high, we value and leverage our relationships more. When expectations are not achieved our trust bank account is depleted.
Expectations are a key driver in the motivation and engagement levels of people. When people understand expectations and buy in to them, they work harder to fulfill those expectations just like a company does in the financial market. People want to know what is expected of them so they are then able to make decisions about the intensity and discretionary performance they are willing to give towards a task or job. When coaches create a two-way agreement with their team members about expectations, they set the stage for the extraordinary performance necessary in a highly competitive world
CMOE is an advocate of a simple process that we call “the alignment meeting” as a tool to define and clarify expectations. The alignment meeting or discussion should occur periodically with any team to maintain a clear picture of everyone’s expectations. These alignment meetings only take one or two hours with a typical team. They should occur more often for teams that are in a state of change or are in conflict, and less often for stable and harmonious teams. Every time CMOE associates have facilitated an alignment meeting, the topic of feedback coaching and mentoring always surfaces. People have a thirst to know how they are doing, where they stand, and where they are going. They don’t want to be a non-performing asset in the enterprises portfolio of resources. Most people want to be productive contributors, but in order to do that, they need information, feedback, and guidance from a coach. This dynamic creates a “perfect storm” for the leader. If the leader is able to capitalize on the need people have for feedback on their performance, and solidify an “expectation’s agreement,” the leader will then be in a position where people seek out and expect coaching and feedback. This creates a legitimate reason to coach people on key factors that will drive performance for the team and the individual. Coaching then becomes one of the central expectations of the team’s culture. When a leader needs to courageously engage anyone on the team about an important topic or situation, they have an expectation platform or a “license” to operate from. The leader has an understanding that it is their duty and obligation to share information, direction, and feedback. It becomes the normal thing to do; no one feels singled out or targeted. In turn, when feedback is lacking, people on the team are more likely to ask for it and hold the leader more accountable to perform coaching tasks.
The license to coach makes it easier to give and receive coaching. It becomes a natural process. Everyone buys into it because everyone understands that to run a business, you need to be able to talk to people about their performance. When leaders create a license to coach by bringing sound skills to the process, people will excel and even exceed your wildest expectations.
I’ve been fortunate enough to be exposed to some of the world’s foremost authorities on coaching others for business success. I’ve been able to see firsthand the results effective coaching has in organizations from all over the world. Despite this, when I think back to my first management position at a world-renown advertising agency, I realize that I wasn’t as effective coach and leader as I should have been. At the time, I was young, inexperienced, and most importantly, without any advice from senior leadership on how to be a great leader. My promotion to a manager was based on being technically skilled at the job. I had many shortcomings leading and coaching others for success and I know now my leadership deficiency likely caused some problems with my co-workers and team. If I could go back in time, I would do some things differently.
Just a few weeks ago, I recognized one of those major deficiencies while standing in the checkout line at a home improvement store. The store wasn’t too busy, but I was eager to give my money away and get home to my project list. I watched the three people in line ahead of me with great anticipation. The woman at the front of the line was purchasing various plants and other outdoor home improvement goods. The first problem occurred when the bar codes on the plants didn’t scan correctly. Then, the cash register system started malfunctioning. The checker, who must have been a relatively new employee, quickly became frazzled. Because he didn’t know how to solve the problem on his own, he called for his manager. The manager, looking saintly and important, strolled over to the register and gently nudged the checker out of the way. He pushed a few keys on the register to fix the issue and everything was as good as new. The manager then quietly exited without saying a word. The checker gave a polite thank you and the manager, without turning around, gave a wave of acknowledgment. The checker finished with the first customer and moved to the next man in line. He experienced the same problem with this customer. Sure enough, the register started malfunctioning, and the checker had to call his manager to solve the problem. This time when the manager strolled back, he pushed a few buttons, turned the key on and off, and said “that should solve it.” I watched the manager closely as he went on his merry way. He seemed satisfied with the speed of his performance.
A couple of hours later, I was back at the home improvement store to purchase a few items that I forgot earlier in the day. I happened to return to the same checkout line and checker and so I asked the checker if his boss had shown him how to troubleshoot the register. He laughed and said “I was told to call my manager over if I have a problem, and it is his job to solve problems how he best sees fit.”
The gap of coaching in this organization became clear. When the manager failed to share his basic knowledge of the register and help the checker troubleshoot problems when they arose, he created dependency. The checker was not empowered to learn, nor did he want to solve any problem on his own. It was painful to realize that I used to be that kind of manager. It was clear that it created trouble for me and my entire team. Whenever something went wrong, I would swoop in to save the day. I used my knowledge and problem solving skills to become an expert and increase my reputation as a “go-to” person. However, I missed many coaching opportunities to share my knowledge with my team. After a while, I was just solving problem; not leading the team and coaching its members to excellence.
I have noticed that the best coaches in the workplace do more than just help or fix problems. They constantly provide guidance, look for opportunities to collaborate, and offer timely advice and assistance for developing others. When a coach looks to enhance growth and performance, promotes individual responsibility, and encourages accountability, you see true magic take place. The great thing about coaching is anyone can learn to do it.
One tip I would recommend to managers and leaders is to get to know your people. Take an interest and have a personal stake in their development. Find ways to encourage learning and communicate your desires to your people on a regular basis. For additional tips check our blog on a regular basis or give us a call to speak with us in person.
In Part 1 and Part 2 of “Which Comes First, Coaching or the Need for Coaching?” it was discussed that most coaches wait for the need for coaching, rather than proactively coaching, which in turn reduces the actual need for coaching. From these two posts, new questions may have surfaced. Some of you may be asking, “If there aren’t any problems or issues, then what would I coach about or coach to?”
CMOE has identified four type of coaching opportunities, listed below in no particular order.
1. Improvement
2. Development
3. Reinforcement
4. Alignment
As you may have guessed, CMOE categorizes “the need for coaching,” under Improvement (1). Coaching of this type targets elevating performance and overcoming setbacks, shortcomings, issues, concerns, and problems. However, CMOE has identified three other types of coaching opportunities that will serve as a preemptive strike to such issues. Coaching for Development (2) is focused on enhancing potential, teaching skills, and clarifying expectations – your’s, the coachee’s, and the organization’s. Coaching for Reinforcement (3) involves helping the coachee sustain and expand strengths, successes, and achievements. Coaching for Alignment (4) deals with helping the coachee change and build commitment to new strategies, goals, and processes. After you have finished reading about CMOE’s four types of coaching opportunities, you may yourself realize that problems and issues aren’t the only reason leaders need to coach.
Despite the various opportunities, managers typically only coach for Improvement, or “the need for coaching.” I challenge all readers to make an effort to get out of this coaching rut and start coaching to the other three types of opportunities listed above. Managers will likely find that “the need for coaching” will actually diminish because the causes to such problems will be addressed early on, before a problem fully develops. Please keep your thoughts and comments coming and I welcome any follow-up questions.
“What comes first, coaching or the need to coach?” This is a very interesting question and one that has been asked before in CMOE’s Coaching Skills Workshops. If this question is one you’ve found yourself asking as well, I hope to be able to answer it for you in this second part of the blog. If you have not yet read Part 1 of this discussion, please click here.
According to CMOE’s definition, coaching is not done strictly on a need basis. While coaching is effective for addressing problems and challenges, CMOE feels coaching is more effective and should primarily be used for preventing such problems and challenges. So, rather than view coaching as merely a corrective action, consider it more as a pre-emptive strike. If leaders spend time influencing, developing, and assisting their employees on a regular basis, problems and challenges are less likely to arise. Additionally, if leaders are conducting coaching sessions on a regular basis, a constructive relationship will be established, efficient communication processes developed, and employees will know what to expect from such discussions. Thus, if a problem does arise, the coaching conversation is likely to be easier for the leader to conduct, easier for the employee to participate in, and a more straightforward and positive experience for all.
So which comes first? In most situations, the need for coaching will present itself and require coaching before a leader takes action. In the ideal situation, coaching comes first and is repeated on a regular basis. If you find yourself in a situation where the need for coaching comes first, I would like to challenge you to ask yourself why you waited for the need to arise and what is holding you back from taking a pre-emptive strike by coaching to influence, develop, and assist your direct reports. If you don’t have the answers or tools to change your behavior for the better, I would encourage you to read up on the subject. To ensure you are spending your reading time on something that will yield results, I recommend CMOE’s book, The Coach; the first research based book on the topic of coaching in the business environment. In the meantime, please post comments and keep your eyes peeled for Part 3 of this blog, which will review four types of coaching opportunities and further address the question, “Which Comes First, Coaching or the Need for Coaching?”
We can all understand that it is important to help employees to improve their performance and increase in their skills, but sometimes it just takes too much time. There are too many employees and too much work to get done to be able to have a solid coaching session. Wrong! Take a look at the following video which demonstrates how an employee’s performance can be evaluated and his strengths encouraged in a natural setting. This method is so obvious and natural. Watch this demonstration of a One Minute Employee Coaching Session.
When it comes to coaching, most of our efforts are spent with those that report directly to us. This begs the question; what needs to be done when you need to coach your boss on a particular issue? Can you achieve the results you desire and can it really be done effectively? Interestingly enough, sometimes the person who needs coaching the most is your boss, and there are ways you can coach your boss without feeling too much pressure.
We have to admit that in the business world today there are still a few managers who are less receptive to coaching and it may seem like the smart thing to throw in the towel and focus your efforts in other places. These few managers have narrow vision and see just one way to accomplish anything; their way. However, there are many bosses and leaders out there that are very receptive to coaching, feedback, and are willing to listen to other ideas that improve workplace performance. Great leaders recognize that someone else may know something they don’t, or something they could benefit from, and are more willing and open to suggestions from people who are willing to take a risk to coach their boss.
Coaching a boss or leader might not be so different from when you coach a direct report, but how can you effectively and transparently send your message up the chain of command? Carefully, and in a professional and tactful way is a simple answer. Also, it may take a little more effort to get the point across. The key here is to be sure you deliver the message in a way that your manager will be open to. When done successfully, it can really open up future dialogue and improve coaching conversations between you and your manager.
Here are a few tips in delivering the message: Plan your conversation. Decide what your topic is and walk through the key points of the conversation. You may actually want to practice it in your mind and when available find someone to rehearse the conversation with you before you go in to the meeting. If your manager agrees with you on many of your ideas, you can present the framework of how you see the future unfolding if no change takes place. Here is a great place to let your manager reflect on the future and how they see it unfolding under current circumstances. You may not have a grasp of the whole picture, so your leader’s ideas and thoughts might be very informative. The great thing about this is that your ideas might be very informative to your boss as well, making it a win-win conversation
After you have discussed what the future might look like (without any changes), let the impact of that statement sit with your boss for a while. Then, propose a plan or a solution to the problem you have brought to your leader’s attention. You may want to have more than one idea to propose and you should solicit ideas from your leader for the solution. By getting input from your boss you actually transfer ownership of the solution from just you to the two of you, creating collaboration, partnering, and synergy in creating solutions to business problems.
After some details to the plan have surfaced it may be time to identify obstacles that would hinder the success of any proposed solutions. This is a great opportunity again to gain some insight and perspective from your manager on what might trip up the plan in the future. Remember, your boss may have a more intimate knowledge of future business goals, plans, and objectives. Listen for those carefully as you may need to re-visit your plans based on your leader’s feedback.
When a solution is agreed upon, this is a perfect opportunity to clearly define what you are willing to do to implement the solution. By showing your commitment to the solution and asking for your leader’s commitment you are cementing the plan and creating the proper action steps for the future. The key here is to show that you are going to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. In addition, it might be helpful to state or recap your point of view and highlight some best probable scenarios for the future if the new plan is implemented? Employees that are willing to bring opportunities to the manager’s attention, collaborate on solutions, and provide a vision of the future are going to be seen as top performers.
When you are coaching up, you are taking a proactive approach to point out opportunities to improve the organization. Coach up when it’s appropriate.
Go back a few years and think about the things you did on a daily basis to get results and achieve goals. Would you say your daily tactics, assignments, projects are the same today as they were five years ago? In most cases people I talk to said no. In my own work, while some of the tactical aspects of my job have remained, almost every other aspect of my job is different. Now, think about what duties your job will require in the future. One year, three years, or five years from now, will you be doing the same things you are doing today? Probably not.
Managers who operate strictly in tactical mode are not focused on their people, their future success, long term goals and strategies, and have difficulty being a well rounded effective leader. Strategic Thinking is an important tool for success in any organization. I believe that everyone can be more entrepreneurial and can drive more value in contributing to long term personal and business success by improving strategic thinking. If your people focus too much on the day to day operations and just getting through their task lists, what will happen to your future? The first skill to being strategic is what we call “Taming the Beast.” The beasts are those things that keep us from spending some time on strategic objectives, keep us from preparing for the future, and blind us from what is on the horizon.
Successful strategic thinkers understand and develop ways to combat their beasts. They find ways around the roadblocks and are in tune with organization needs and objectives, future opportunities, creative and innovative ideas, as well as worst probable scenarios that might hinder future success.
So what are your beasts? How can you tame them? Beasts are different for each one of us. One of my beasts is email. I don’t know about you but I am quick to stop whatever I am doing just to answer an email that could easily be done later. When that icon pops up on the computer, I tend to stop whatever I am doing to look and see who has sent me a note. Email is a huge distraction in my work day, therefore to tame my beast I keep my computer off for the first 15 minutes of the day. I spend that 15 minutes planning for key strategic objectives that are longer term and need some attention and detail today. When my computer is on, I have established three different levels of distinction for email. Now, End of the Day, and Later files were set up in my email system. Any email that arrives which deserves immediate attention goes in to the Now file and get answered every two hours. Email that is less important goes into either the End of the Day or Later file. At the end of my day I will spend whatever time I need to in answering the email. This system works for me and it is not to difficult to come up with a systematic approach to taming the beast. Here are two suggestions to tame your beasts.
Take some time and identify the beast that is distracting you most from strategic thinking time. Once you have identified the beast create a plan to tackle it.
Try to curb your appetite for activity and regularly schedule some time during the week to focus on long term issues. By doing so, you will be more in tune and prepared for future obstacles and opportunities.
With a little focused effort, you will be surprised at how easy it is.
Phil Higgins on the Eight-Step Coaching model used by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer
Any successful, professional sports person has a coach, whose role is to encourage, challenge and motivate the athlete to achieve their true potential. In the working environment, the same principles apply. The benefits of coaching include an increase in the individual’s overall performance, greater motivation through an acknowledgment that the individual is being developed, leading to greater retention and succession planning.
Profile of culture and aims of coaching programs:
Pfizer is the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, with a 1000+ strong sales force in the UK alone, each of whom has a line manager, whose primary responsibility is to coach them. The main purpose of coaching is to help people help themselves. Representatives mostly work unsupervised. The area manager’s role is to build capability in the representative, so that they can be self-reliant, successful and motivated salespeople. Fully recognizing the benefit of effective coaching has encouraged Pfizer to develop a coaching culture, particularly within the field force environment. Such an aim involves each newly appointed line manager and trainer undergoing a coaching skills course as part of their initial training. In addition, managers and trainers have the development of their people as an integral parameter in their performance-management objectives.
The field force has the opportunity, annually, to provide feed back to their area manager. Such feedback can be invaluable to the coach, as their work is largely unobserved by anyone other than the coachee. When done proficiently, coaching is a subtle form of questioning and listening, allowing the coachee themselves to establish their own goals and plan. Often coaches may not be aware of their own coaching strengths and weaknesses. This feedback process has significantly motivated the area managers and improved the overall quality of coaching.
The Model Chosen for Pfizer Success
In developing a coaching culture, Pfizer adopted a standard coaching model in the UK in 1997, following its successful application in the US. The model was developed in the US by Steven J Stowell, Ph.D. and is used by many well-known companies, such as AT&T, Boeing, Mobil Oil and PepsiCo amongst others. The 8 Step Model is the result of extensive research by Dr. Stowell and the CMOE organization, in which they discovered that there are 47 behaviors that ‘world class coaches’ demonstrate. These behaviors are then distilled into eight steps. The model is circular, and implicit is its flexibility and continuity. A coach can use any stage of the cycle for his interaction as it provides a framework to the discussion. The 8 Step Model has proved itself to be more effective in the Pfizer environment than many other well known coaching models and programs. While many organizations may utilize other coaching models easily found today, most of these models imply that the coachee is already motivated to make some kind of change in their behavior – either they know what they want to achieve, but don’t know how to go about it, or they want some other result than that they are realizing, but don’t know how to go about it. There can be occasions, particularly when coaching a direct report, when the current behaviors are not seen as affecting the outcome for the individual. As such, they are not necessarily motivated to change their behavior. For example, a manager might want to coach a junior about their expenses being frequently late, but to the junior, this is not a problem. In short, there is no motivation to change behavior, and this is where the 8 Step Model comes into its own.
The model’s impact on success
As a past area manager at Pfizer, my intention was to encourage the representatives to fulfill their job requirements independently, relying on a strong sense of self-reliance and self-motivation to generate sales. The frequency of accompanied visits averaged one day a month. To improve the support offered, I piloted telephone coaching to augment the accompanied visits. The focus of my sales call coaching also shifted to ‘pre-call’ coaching, where my primary focus was in enabling the representative to get into the optimal ‘state’ to sell, maximizing that selling opportunity, rather than the traditional post postmortem of everything that the representative could have done and possibly didn’t.
After a few weeks, I noticed that my team was much more energized and motivated at work and that they were thinking through the structure of their calls in a productive way. After a three-month pilot period, a survey was completed where the statement, ‘overall, telephone coaching has helped me become more effective’ resulted in an average score of 7.3 (where 1 = strongly disagree and 9 = strongly agree).
Summary
One of the most effective ways to invest in people’s development and to encourage them to achieve beyond their limitations is by using coaching, and in particular (though not exclusively) through the relationship between the manager and their direct reports. In Pfizer’s case, the company has generated an environment where high expectation of performance is supported and a coaching culture is alive and well.
Background
Phil Higgins worked as a district sales manager, then associate training manager at Pfizer for 12 years. He is now managing director of Peak Performance Training and Development. He can be contacted through www.pptd.co.uk. The 8 Step Model course and material is available from the Center of Management and Organizational Effectiveness (CMOE), and further information can be obtained at www.cmoe.com.
In families, organizations, and indeed even our society, one of the reasons for failure is the inability by leadership to establish and enforce accountability. Accountability in leadership is a topic that is not frequently discussed and the result is often relating to compliance to procedures, following work rules, treating customers with respect, achieving results, and getting along with co-workers. Accountability is at the heart of empowering people to perform well, demonstrating initiative, and acting responsibly. When a climate of accountability exists, things work smoothly; and when it is absent procedures fail and policies are ignored.
Let me describe parental leadership first. I read a newspaper report about a father who had an emotional outburst and caused a scene in a school board meeting regarding the suspension of his son from school. His eleven-year-old son had threatened the life of another student on the playground. Following district policy, the principal had suspended the boy for three days saying, “In light of tragedies that have happened in schools around the country, we take all threats such as this very seriously. The policy requires a three-day suspension.”
The irate father emotionally pled his case to the school board saying, “He’s a good boy and even though this is the second time this year he’s been suspended he doesn’t deserve punishment this harsh. Three days is just too much, because it’s embarrassing for him and our entire family.”
The father apparently was saying that because the suspension would be embarrassing that the punishment ought to be reduced. In other words, the consequence of the son’s behavior is trumped by the father’s desire to evade embarrassment. That is interesting in light of the father’s emotional outburst in a public school board meeting.
Now let me describe organizational leadership. A manager complained, “My employees just don’t take me seriously.” She said, “Even though I tell them over and over, some employees won’t even call in to say they are sick. They just don’t show up.”
I asked what she did when an employee didn’t take the time to call in sick. She replied, “I just find somebody else to work the shift and then when they do show up I tell them to be sure to call me next time.”
I asked, “So how is this technique working?” She said, “It’s not! That’s the problem. I can’t find good people these days.”
The situations with the irate parent and the ineffective manager are related. They both show the absence of a leader establishing and enforcing individual accountability. When people do not feel that they are held accountable for their behavior, they often lower their performance to the lowest possible level acceptable to the leader. In other words, leader behavior regarding the establishment of accountability does a lot to determine a person’s highest level of performance. That’s what the eleven-year-old boy did on the playground. He had gotten away with inappropriate behavior before (certainly at home and possibly at
school) and believed he could do it again. His previous inappropriate behaviors had not resulted in undesirable consequences for him. That’s similar to what the employees were doing to the manager. They had not been held accountable when they didn’t call in sick before, so they had no belief that it was a necessary requirement to maintain job security. The manager’s failure to hold her employees accountable created an overly permissive climate where the employees could dictate their own policies and procedures.
The foundation of establishing accountability is the principle of Behavior Must Equal Consequence. When people do not believe that their behavior will result in a consequence, they are free to choose any behavior that feels good at the moment. When people believe that their positive behaviors will result in positive feedback or even rewards, and their inappropriate behaviors will result in corrective feedback,
coaching, or even discipline, they will raise their performance to the standard expected by the leader. The leader sets the standard through his or her application of feedback, coaching and discipline.
I don’t know all of the details about the parent and his son, the schoolyard bully, but it is a safe bet that the son had not been held accountable for his behaviors in the past. The reason he threatened another classmate’s life is because he didn’t believe that his behavior would have any undesirable consequences. He thought he could get away with it. And, the reason why the manager’s employees didn’t call in sick, and didn’t even apologize for not doing so was because they also thought they could get away with it. The two examples are related because in each case the leader failed to establish personal accountability by practicing the principle of Behavior Must Equal Consequence.
Effective leaders believe in and practice the principle of Behavior Must Equal Consequence. When an employee performs well and/or adheres to organizational rules, an effective manager will notice and provide the employee with appropriate feedback to reinforce the good performance. Likewise, when an employee does not perform well and/or does not follow the rules, an effective manager will notice and provide the employee with corrective feedback, or coaching to change the performance. Exactly the same thing is true when raising children. Behavior Must Equal Consequence, both positive and negative, must be a guiding principle to raise responsible children who as a consequence act responsibly.
Personal accountability is a climate that is created when a leader consistently practices Behavior Must Equal Consequence. The word “consistently” often bothers managers, because they think it means “every time.” Clearly, a manager cannot provide supportive or corrective feedback every time an employee does something. That obviously is not possible. But a manager can do what is necessary to become more aware of an employee’s performance and then provide appropriate feedback as often as is practical. Simply, if employees feel and act as though they are accountable, then the leader is practicing consistent feedback. If employees do not feel and act accountable, then the leader is not consistent with his or her feedback.
Consistency not only involves the frequency of feedback in that it must be frequent enough to create a climate of accountability, but it also includes the ppropriateness of the feedback. In the principle of Behavior Must Equal Consequence, good performance must result is supportive feedback, and poor performance must result in corrective feedback. If a manager, due to stress, anger, lack of understanding, failure to take time, or habit gives negative feedback for good performance, positive feedback for poor performance, or no feedback for any performance, then the employees will sense a lack of consistency and conclude that they are not accountable for their actions. Thus they are free to act any way they want.
So the secret to creating a climate of accountability is to become more aware of performance levels, take the time to give the correct type of feedback or coaching, give feedback as often as practical, and do so as consistently as conditions permit. Done over time with the proper administration of rewards when deserved and discipline or sanctions when appropriate, a manager can create a climate of accountability and become more effective.
Just a few weeks ago, I recognized one of those major deficiencies while standing in the checkout line at a home improvement store. The store wasn’t too busy, but I was eager to give my money away and get home to my project list. I watched the three people in line ahead of me with great anticipation. The woman at the front of the line was purchasing various plants and other outdoor home improvement goods. The first problem occurred when the bar codes on the plants didn’t scan correctly. Then, the cash register system started malfunctioning. The checker, who must have been a relatively new employee, quickly became frazzled. Because he didn’t know how to solve the problem on his own, he called for his manager. The manager, looking saintly and important, strolled over to the register and gently nudged the checker out of the way. He pushed a few keys on the register to fix the issue and everything was as good as new. The manager then quietly exited without saying a word. The checker gave a polite thank you and the manager, without turning around, gave a wave of acknowledgment. The checker finished with the first customer and moved to the next man in line. He experienced the same problem with this customer. Sure enough, the register started malfunctioning, and the checker had to call his manager to solve the problem. This time when the manager strolled back, he pushed a few buttons, turned the key on and off, and said “that should solve it.” I watched the manager closely as he went on his merry way. He seemed satisfied with the speed of his performance.
In 
Here are a few tips in delivering the message: Plan your conversation. Decide what your topic is and walk through the key points of the conversation. You may actually want to practice it in your mind and when available find someone to rehearse the conversation with you before you go in to the meeting. If your manager agrees with you on many of your ideas, you can present the framework of how you see the future unfolding if no change takes place. Here is a great place to let your manager reflect on the future and how they see it unfolding under current circumstances. You may not have a grasp of the whole picture, so your leader’s ideas and thoughts might be very informative. The great thing about this is that your ideas might be very informative to your boss as well, making it a win-win conversation
Go back a few years and think about the things you did on a daily basis to get results and achieve goals. Would you say your daily tactics, assignments, projects are the same today as they were five years ago? In most cases people I talk to said no. In my own work, while some of the tactical aspects of my job have remained, almost every other aspect of my job is different. Now, think about what duties your job will require in the future. One year, three years, or five years from now, will you be doing the same things you are doing today? Probably not.
Profile of culture and aims of coaching programs:
Now let me describe organizational leadership. A manager complained, “My employees just don’t take me seriously.” She said, “Even though I tell them over and over, some employees won’t even call in to say they are sick. They just don’t show up.”
