imapMyTeam Blog

From Player to Coach

"A good coach will make his players see what they can become rather than what they are."                                                                                                             - Unknown It happens every day in companies across America. An all-star performer is promoted from team member or individual contributor to manager of a team. And, nearly every day, new managers struggle. They struggle because the job they are now doing is vastly different from the job they were doing, even though they stayed on the same team. I write about this for the Tuesday Tip because of a lengthy discussion with my son who completes his masters degree in sports management this semester. One person I pointed to during the discussion was Michael Jordan – who is acknowledged to be the greatest basketball player of all time and – would I be too harsh if I said, is largely ineffective as a basketball general manager?! The primary difference between being an outstanding individual contributor and moving to a frontline manager is the difference between personal and organizational productivity. Once a person moves into their new leader role, their primary focus must be squarely on developing expertise in others, not on doing the work yourself. “The most common cause of executive failure is the inability or unwillingness to change with the demands of a new position. Who keeps on doing what he has done successfully before is almost bound to fail.”                                                                                                             -Peter Drucker Your strengths and skills that created success as a team member may not serve you well in the new leadership role where the focus is to get the best out of each individual. In imapMyTeam there is a report to help you and others know where you need coaching. The “Coaching Conversations” report identifies your strongest behaviors – ones often the source of our success, and gives insight as to the possible barriers to success those strengths can present when overused.  Coaching conversations then gives prescriptive guidance to modify that behavior to succeed. Coach yourself, or help your new leaders, and first level managers see what they can become, rather than what they are. Turn those great players into great coaches!