7.1. Introduction “Give a man a fish, and you’ll feed him for a day; teach a man how to fish, and you’ll feed him for a lifetime.” Confucius We can often fail to pass on what we have learned through our own experience. Sometimes, this happens because we do not realize the value of what we have learned. Other times, it’s because things that are obvious to us as leaders may not be so obvious to the people who work for us. And still other times, it can be because the pressure of events means that we adopt a limited, short-term view of what team members “need to know.” Whatever the cause, if people don’t have the training and information they need, they’re unlikely to do a good job. And where people are not working effectively, we either end up doing a job ourselves, or we end up micromanaging. This is not an approach that is often used by effective leaders. While micromanaging makes you feel in control initially, eventually it backfires: • • •
It dents people’s self-confidence. It stifles initiative. It diminishes people’s ability to think for themselves.
No effective leader can afford this. To be successful, he or she must develop a highly motivated team, a team high on confidence, innovation and initiative. If you are to achieve difficult tasks, you need a team like this to carry your vision forward. Furthermore, if you allow yourself to get bogged down in micromanagement, you will never have time to focus on the big picture. So, how do we pass our skills and experience on to others? How do we, in doing so, ensure that their capabilities are expanded? And, in so doing, how do we create more time for ourselves to engage in higher value-adding activities? The answer is simple: by coaching! Coaching is one of the most effective ways of transferring knowledge and skill from an experienced leader to his or her team members. It is the single most important tool for expanding others’ capabilities.
The CEO Teacher Roger Enrico, the former CEO of PepsiCo®, has perhaps set the performance high bar as an executive leader/teacher. In 1994 and 1995, the two years before he became CEO, Enrico devoted more than 120 days exclusively to coaching and mentoring the next generation of PepsiCo leaders. He personally designed a program called “Building the Business,” and over eighteen months, he ran the program ten times, with classes of nine participants each time. His example of direct, hands-on teaching has inspired leaders at other companies to start teaching their own courses.
How to Lead: Discover the Leader Within You | Mind Tools
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