There’s a version of management that sounds like coaching but isn’t. It goes like this:
“Have you thought about maybe trying…? Well, what I would do is…“
That’s telling with a question mark at the front.
Real coaching asks and then waits. It tolerates the silence.
It trusts the other person to get there.
The shift from telling to asking is one of the hardest things I teach leaders.
Not because they don’t understand it.
Because it requires them to give up control.
That’s the real work.