238 INTERNALCOACHING
Leaders are doers, working alongside the individuals they lead. The
player-coach in business must exercise judgment to determine the trade-offs
between long-term, short-term, and immediate results versus development
opportunities. Leaders need to have the judgment to know how and when to
bring their skills and knowledge to task to support the individuals working
with them and the organization they all serve.
Effective Coaching: Challenging Assignments
Individuals need challenging assignments to continue growing and developing.
As a coach, how do you determine when and how to delegate an assignment?
How do you balance the need to deliver business success with the need to pro-
vide employees with f lex ibility and the opportunity to learn through experi-
ence? Certainly, a risk-reward tradeoff enters into every decision.
There was little risk involved in encouraging Dave’s son to design and
build his own Pine Wood Derby car. Suppose the task had been purchasing
his first real car as a 16-year old? With the stakes being his personal safety
and significant financial consequences, Dave would have taken a much
stronger role as a coach.
When approaching challenging assignments in an organization, the leader-
coach must be able to evaluate the potential positive and negative impacts of
the assignment. A coach must judge the abilities of their individual team
members, and decide who is best suited and ready for a particular assignment.
And, finally, a coach must decide how much of his or her personal involvement
is required. Allowing employees greater freedom on the smaller tasks can bet-
ter develop their decision-making skills and self-confidence to handle the big-
ger assignments that will arise.
The more a given assignment is beyond an employee’s past experiences,
training, and skills, the more a leader will need to be involved in coaching and
support. When an assignment requires changes, resources, or commitment of
others beyond the individual responsible, the coach may need to be more en-
gaged. Certainly, the attitude and approach of the individual will dictate how
much the coach is involved. Some people inherently have a higher tolerance
for frustration, ambiguity, and problem solving, and thus need less coaching.
A common failure by coaches is not recognizing the differences in individ-
ual needs and thus approaching all situations in the same way. Inevitably, this
mistake leaves some people undersupported and frustrated, and can lead to
failure. At the same time, overcoaching individuals who don’t need it leaves
them discouraged, unchallenged, and underdeveloped. The ability to recog-
nize and provide the appropriateamount of coaching is a hallmark of an ef-
fective leader.