Your Leadership Roles as a Manager

Last week I wrote about three important coaching skills, and mentioned it was important to know when you even should step into a coaching role with a direct report. Coaching is just one role you exercise as a manager; there are others of course. Learning to distinguish the roles from which you act means you can move between them consciously and match with what's needed. Let’s go through your main roles as a manager.

Coach
The coach role is one where you are eliciting your direct report’s own wisdom about a problem. You’re trying to facilitate them in having their own insights in areas in which they’re ready to see with new eyes. You employ the coaching skills of listening deeply and asking exploratory questions without attachment. This will be difficult if you come to the conversation with preconceived ideas about what is best for them, so this role is most appropriately applied when the problem being solves is one in which their customized solution will be best and you’re able to remain unattached.

The coach role may be appropriate when your direct report is saying, "I'm so stressed right now."

Mentor
You've travelled along your career path a bit farther than your direct report, and they may be seeking your advice or perspective from having come before them. When you are sharing your perspective or opinion based on choices you made at a younger age, or what you've learned that you could impart to your report, you're in a mentoring role. This role is often called for when a direct report is asking big picture questions about their career and life.

The mentor role may be appropriate when your direct report is saying, "How did you handle this balance when you were at my stage?"

Teach
A big part of your role as a manager is to show your DRs how to do their job well. This includes the technical know-how, and it may also include how to navigate political or interpersonal dynamics in your organizational culture. When you are showing your DR how to perform a task, you're in a teaching role.

The teacher role may be appropriate when your direct report is saying, "I'm not clear on the process we're supposed to use here." 

Manage
This is the skill you're employing when you're telling your direct report how much time to spend on which projects, or laying out the project’s constraints. You're in this role when you're doing the nitty-gritty tasks that help clear obstacles for your DR to get their work done, or pointing them to the right resource to get their questions answered.

The manager role may be appropriate when your direct report is effectively saying, "How should I allocate my time between these projects?"

Lead
While I'd argue that navigating the roles described above is leading, leading is still its own category when it comes to sharing a vision and setting a tone with both your words and behavior. Creating a culture within your team through your actions, establishing norms, and modeling best practices is part of your role as leader. Thinking "I'm going to prepare for this meeting and show up prepared, because that's what I want my people to do."

The leader role may be appropriate when your direct report is showing low morale or misunderstanding about a top-down decision that was made, effectively saying, "Why are they making us do this?"  

You may have other roles, too, like friend. Consciously choosing the most appropriate role can allow you to best serve the needs of those who report to you.