Coaching can be intimidating to both novice and experienced leaders.

For the recently trained manager, there is pressure to provide good coaching to their team, but uncertainty and fear about how to do it correctly.

The truth is that bad coaching is better than no coaching, and the only way to improve is to keep experimenting with different tactics. I encourage leaders not to put a lot of pressure on themselves and to rarely, if ever, say, “Let me provide you some coaching on this.”

You don’t need to announce that you are coaching for it to be effective; it is better if you don’t.

Coaching can be done in the moment, like during a meeting, while observing a task, or in a more planned setting, like a one-on-one. Both approaches have benefits.

I am not a huge sportsperson. But I love the Olympic games. I am one of those people who will wake up at 2 am just to watch the events live. 

My favourite summer sport is the 4-person, 100-meter relay. I liken the hand off of the baton to handoffs at work, where you have hired a team of high performers, but if they can’t pass tasks to each other, group achievement will suffer.