Coaching, Mentoring and Managing: A Coach Guidebook

Analysis of Your Preferences and Tendencies .....................................................

Your highest score tells you what your primary strength is

likely to be. Look at your lowest score. Depending on how big the

gap, this could indicate a weakness or a possible avoidance of this

activity. Consider just how accurate these scores are.

What difference does it make whether or not you prefer a

certain style or avoid another? Again, it is a matter of habit,

comfort and avoidance. You can become comfortable switching

among approaches depending upon several factors: First, how

much you have used each approach in the past, or had it used for

you; second, how well you used an approach and how it fit in your

overall perception of just what your role was. You may be more

effective or less effective interacting with your people in a

particular style. But knowing your stylistic tendencies as a

StaffCoach™ can help you:

1. Overcome natural inclinations to use a style you prefer but
   that may not meet an employee’s immediate needs.


2. Understand which StaffCoach™ style will require
   additional effort and study on your part (to be discussed) if
   you are going to provide balanced leadership.
   Most managers are strongest in counseling skills. Think about
   it. What do people usually think is the job of the manager? If you
   hesitate, consider what first pops into people’s minds when they
   get a note from you saying “see me.” Supervision usually
   correlates with correction and discipline. Most managers are
   weakest in mentoring for several reasons.


3. The majority of people have never experienced mentoring
   so it’s a hard approach to model.


4. Much mentoring is, in fact, one-sided: the employee
   waiting for direction and the mentor wondering “why
   me?” In the past, in fact, many people resented mentoring,
   feeling it was a drain on time.


5. Mentoring takes two things: the “P” word and the “T”
   word. Patience and time — two commodities that
   managers (and professionals in general) find increasingly
   difficult to spare.

Coaching, Mentoring and Managing

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