Flight Deck Decisions: Coach vs. Manage

Pilots make choices about whether to fly around turbulence or fly through it. A Formula One driver constantly faces the decision do they draft the car ahead of them or pass them. But, ultimately their success on the track or in the air is dependent on the performance of their teams. Masters of Speed (MOS) rely upon their teams to support them and it is critical that everyone does their job well. It can be a life or death issue. To get the best out of their teams, MOS have to know when to actively manage their teams, when to delegate, and when to coach. Applying the wrong approach to the situation can spell disaster.

At least twenty times a day we are faced with a similar dilemma- do we manage an issue or coach someone through it. At the heart of the problem is the distinction around ownership. Do we take ownership or do we keep ownership for the issue with the other person? Do we direct the activities of others or do we teach them how to do things better? Given the pace of work, we often don’t have very much time to make the decision and the stakes can be high.

A certain amount of control and management is essential to performance. A team may get off course and need a course correction. Company direction needs to be established and reinforced. Standards of performance need to be clearly communicated so that everyone on the team is pulling in the same direction. Poor performance needs to be addressed directly and clearly.

While many leaders see the value of coaching and would like to do it more, the reality is that coaching is more time intensive than managing. In today’s world of too much to do and not enough time to do it, activities that are time intensive go to the bottom of the priority list. Additionally, coaching requires an upfront investment to reap its rewards. The time you invest in coaching shows up in results later. This is the classic delay problem we all deal with on a daily basis. Because of these issues, the default position for many leaders is to manage.

The problem I encounter most often is not that leaders manage but they consistently go too far. They are too controlling and they over manage. They teach people to be dependent on them either deliberately or inadvertently. Regardless of the intent, the net result is everything slows down.  Rather than people making independent decisions when they need to be made, decision making is deferred to the leader which produces delay.

In situations where there is a great deal of urgency or the issue applies to a leader’s expertise or knowledge domain, the tendency to manage is very high. It is simply quicker to do it yourself rather than take the time to coach someone else how to do it. This type of thinking is a trap that leaders can easily fall into. While it can be very tempting to make the decision to manage- it is not always the best decision.

A leader’s personal characteristics can also influence the coach versus manage decision. I have found that the following characteristics can predispose a leader to assume the manage/control position:

• They possess a strong appetite for details and place a high value on how things are done. They can demonstrate a lack of discrimination for what details are important versus what are not. They can feel that all details are important.
• They have a high need for being in control of what is happening around them. They easily shift into micro-management behavior. They see threats at every turn. They feel that if they don’t do something it won’t get done.
• They have a strong desire to feel important and needed. They like being the hub of the wheel.
• They are impatient and have a strong need for action. A strong sense of urgency drives everything they do.
• They have an inability or unwillingness to see how their behavior affects others. They either don’t see or don’t care how their actions can trigger emotions or dysfunctional behavior in people around them.

These behaviors represent potential limitations and blind spots for becoming a Master of Speed.