Managers determine how people experience work: joy versus despair, enthusiasm versus complaints, and well-being and resilience versus stress. Most managers want to be good at what they do, yet many lack the requisite coaching skills that facilitate positive action and behavior.
As a manager who strives to do help employees do great work, you may need to develop your coaching skills. Coaching skills can help you and your people become more productive and achieve ultimate success.
Some of the similarities of good management practice to good coaching are obvious; other aspects need to be pointed out for greater clarity. Good coaches and managers share the following practices.

• Coach to lead: Partnering and collaboration are more productive than directing and controlling. Leadership coaches ask powerful questions which enable others to examine their underlying assumptions that may impede work performance.

• Empower your team: Leaders can influence more when he or she doesn’t micro-manage.

• Show interest in team members’ success and well-being: Leadership coaches recognize that everyone has the potential to improve their current skills and assume new responsibilities.

• Be results-oriented: Effective leadership coaches are proactive rather than reactive.
They model stepping up and taking the initiative to achieve goals.
• Actively listen to your team members: Leader coaches listen with the intention to fully understand others rather than to direct or coerce. Coaches are transparent and tell the truth while being caring and constructive.

• Provide your employees with career development: Leaders coach for both performance as well as career development.
• Develop a clear vision and strategy for your team: Leadership coaches see the big picture. They provide clarity and context for meaningful dialogue to occur among individuals and organizational teams.

• Update key technical skills and share expertise: Executive coaches overcome the temptation be the expert and have all the answers.
Enlightened managers help employees become happier and more productive by regularly spending some time with each employees and being consistent. That’s coaching—a powerful and highly effective model of leadership and management.
Are you working in a professional services firm or other organization where executive coaches provide leadership development to grow emotionally intelligent leaders? Does your organization provide executive coaching to help leaders improve their coaching skills? Leaders tap into their emotional intelligence and social intelligence skills to fully engage employees and customers.
One of the most powerful questions you can ask yourself is “Am I able to partner and collaborate with employees rather than direct and control to help people be more productive?” Emotionally intelligent and socially intelligent organizations provide executive coaching for managers who coach to lead.