The Manager as a Coach

Why should managers, leaders, and teachers use coaching techniques to double the results they achieve?It turns out that organizations achieve much better outcomes when they add simple coaching techniques to their regular managerial skills and actions.

Adopting simple coaching models not only improves subordinates’ performance but also boosts their commitment to the organization, their sense of self-efficacy, and their problem-solving abilities. In addition, it significantly enhances their motivation and self-worth.

Manager or Leader?

A manager is a manager, right? A leader? Yes! At least that’s how it should be. That’s what all the leadership and management books teach us.

However, when a manager also succeeds in becoming a coach, they can elevate their subordinates’ functioning to a whole new level—bringing out much more from them both in the day-to-day and over the long term. For their benefit, for the organization and its goals, and for themselves.

When Kevin Hancock lost his voice due to a rare illness, he had to reinvent how he managed. As the CEO of a timber supply company for American construction—one of the oldest and best-known family businesses in America—his voice was one of the main tools he used as a manager. The many decisions he had to make each day were communicated, explained, and relayed to his employees by voice.

Faced with the situation caused by the illness, he could have chosen several possible solutions: formal delegation of authority (or more precisely, transfer of authority), retirement, "switching to written communication" (humorously!), or some form of shared management—which he ultimately chose. His story is special and inspiring, without a doubt. You can read more in his book The Seventh Power.

What Kevin chose, in the end, was something different. He opted for a unique kind of delegation. In order to minimize speaking as much as possible, when his many subordinates would come to him, as usual, to seek guidance, direction, and decisions, asking what to do about this or that issue, he started replying:

“What do you think should be done?”And almost regardless of their response, he would continue with: “Then go ahead and do it!”The results were remarkable: greater independence, accountability, improved performance, higher morale, and more. More on that in another article—or in his fascinating book.

Our focus here is on what didn’t happen.Had Kevin, before these circumstances arose, invested effort in empowering employees by being a manager-coach—i.e., a manager who coaches their subordinates to realize their full personal and professional potential—had he focused on their ongoing growth, he could have saved himself a lot of headaches, gained deeply committed employees, and cultivated a strong managerial layer producing excellent results for the organization.

Not that what he eventually “invented” in his own way wasn’t also uniquely excellent.

Every manager wants to improve employee performance. There are many ways to do that, and in recent decades, leadership research—especially the concept of transformational leadership by Bernard M. Bass and Bruce J. Avolio—shows that effective leadership is based on a meaningful emotional connection between the leader and their followers. This type of connection is a strong foundation for the practice of personal coaching.

A Few Words About Coaching

Coaching is “a mutually chosen, supportive relationship between a client and a coach, in which meaningful conversations and tools for human development are used together to enable a process of becoming for both.”— Nico Liebenberg, South African coach and entrepreneur

The International Coaching Federation (ICF) defines coaching as:

“A partnership between a coach and clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential. This process often unlocks previously untapped sources of imagination, productivity, and leadership.”

We all have goals we want to achieve, challenges we need to overcome, and times when we feel stuck. A partnership with a coach can be life-changing, opening paths to personal and professional fulfillment.

Perhaps the term coaching isn’t fully accurate or appropriate for every managerial situation. Sometimes, you simply need to manage—there’s no way around it. Some might feel that when they’re being “coached,” as in sports coaching, it creates an unequal dynamic—where the coach holds all the knowledge and methods, and the athlete does not. That’s no coincidence. Indeed, coaching theory originated from sports models. See, for instance, the classic 1997 book by Tim Gallwey, one of the first in this field, which explores the mental side of optimal performance.

Here, it’s enough to note that our kind of coach brings tools, methods, approaches, and perspectives, but is actually an equal thinking partner with the coachee—not above them in any way.

This worldview—of the coach as a thinking partner—is beautifully articulated by master coach Marcia Reynolds, former ICF president, in her excellent and accessible book Coach the Person, Not the Problem.

The coaching process enables a person to break through human potential limits to achieve peak performance. It helps the coachee learn—instead of being taught. People can learn—but they can’t truly be taught. Or so it seems.

Coaching can be personal, group-based, team-oriented, or even organizational-wide. More on that elsewhere.

The Iceberg Model of Human Behavior

Before diving deeper into the coaching mindset and what it can offer managers, let’s briefly consider the iceberg effect.

The iceberg metaphor is used in many contexts. In ours, it highlights that a person’s observable behavior—the part we can see—is just the tip of the iceberg, the part above the water.

The hidden aspects—values, beliefs, attitudes, and worldviews—are what actually drive that behavior. These are the underwater parts of the iceberg. Psychological research explores this extensively.

Our actions reflect our being. How we feel and approach something influences how we act. If we’re not fully committed, or if we hesitate, lack confidence, or experience internal conflict (ethical or otherwise), our behavior and performance won’t reflect strength, focus, and decisiveness.

We must change our being in order to change our doing.

This is an excellent skill found in the coach’s toolbox.

The goal of coaching is to unleash a person’s potential through learning that happens outside their comfort zone. In daily life, we mostly function in the "performance zone"—the familiar, known territory. New learning beyond the comfort zone brings new skills, insights, goals, and courage into the performance zone. Through this, a person (student, employee, etc.) develops and grows.

Through powerful questioning, active listening, and mirroring—three essential coaching tools—a coach can relatively easily bring the hidden (values, beliefs, etc.) to the surface of awareness for both parties. This allows for deeper understanding of visible behaviors and their drivers. These tools are also effective for constructive mediation when a manager-coach resolves a conflict between two sides.

Powerful questioning involves asking questions that stem from deep listening and understanding the other’s perspective. These are affirmed through mirroring and paraphrasing—restating what the other person said in simpler words or their own words (reflection).

Such questioning fosters greater clarity and insight. It challenges the responder, gets them thinking in new ways, helps them learn something new about themselves, and opens up new possibilities for solutions. It’s a core and highly effective coaching tool.

Powerful questions are usually open-ended. They require the other person (student, subordinate, client) to choose the direction of their answer. They come from curiosity, not judgment, and they encourage discovery, insight, and awareness. They are oriented toward the present and future, promoting forward-thinking and solution-seeking.

The Coaching Manager

Any manager can adopt a simple coaching model to achieve outstanding results from subordinates (students, mentees, employees).

For this article, I’ve chosen to start with a classic, simple, and effective model—the GROW model, developed in the 1980s by Sir John Whitmore and his colleagues, business coaches Graham Alexander and Alan Fine.

A good way to present the GROW model is as a metaphor for taking a journey:

• G – Goal: Where do you want to go?

• R – Reality: Where are you now?

• O – Options or Obstacles: What paths or barriers lie ahead?

• W – Will (or Way Forward): What will you actually do next?

However, I’ve chosen to present a slightly more refined and expanded version—a model used by coaches and managers alike—called GROWTH (see the attached diagram).

The GROWTH Model – An Expanded Coaching Tool for Managers and Leaders(This version is adapted and translated from Nico Liebenberg's coaching methodology)

A clear and powerful coaching model for a manager is the GROWTH model. It’s simple, accessible, and very effective—even when applied in part.

• G – Goal: What does the person want to achieve? What is the desired outcome of this conversation or process?

• R – Reality: Where do they stand today in relation to this goal? What’s already working? What’s not? What are the relevant facts, feelings, and contexts?

• O – Obstacles / Options: What are the challenges or internal/external obstacles preventing progress? What options and possibilities exist, even ones that seem unusual or unrealistic?

• W – Will / Way Forward: What concrete actions will they commit to? What will they do, and when?

• T – Tactics: What practical steps, plans, or systems can support the change? Who else can help?

• H – Habits: What regular practices can help embed the change over time? What habits must be formed or dropped?

  
  

This coaching process can unfold in a single, short conversation—or across several meetings. It’s flexible and can adapt to the style of both the manager and the employee or team.

A Coaching Mindset = A Growth MindsetThe moment a manager adopts a coaching attitude—curious, present, respectful, focused on development—they become a partner in growth. It changes the dynamics of leadership. Instead of commanding or directing, they explore with the other person. They foster autonomy, responsibility, and creative problem-solving.

This kind of mindset is also known as a growth mindset—a term coined by psychologist Carol Dweck. It stands in contrast to a fixed mindset, which assumes abilities are static. A growth mindset sees skills and qualities as things that can be developed through effort, learning, and support. Coaching managers create an environment where this mindset can thrive.

A Word About ControlOne of the challenges for many managers is letting go of control. It’s tempting to think: “If I don’t supervise every step, things won’t get done right.” But coaching isn’t about relinquishing responsibility—it’s about shifting the focus from control to trust and collaboration.

By using coaching tools, a manager doesn’t give up on goals, performance, or accountability. On the contrary: they enhance all these. But they do it in a way that builds stronger, more resilient, and more committed people.

And that’s what sustainable leadership is all about.