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Let me introduce you to Bill Campbell, who leaders at Google, Apple, and Amazon consider the most successful coach in the history of our world. The sum of the companies he coached exceeds two trillion dollars in value. In the book “Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley’s Bill Campbell,” Eric Schmidt and others give an in-depth look into why successful leaders and managers need to be coaches and what makes them successful. Bill Campbell was the best coach of teams. He understood that companies are made up of units of competitive, experienced, and sophisticated individuals that need coaching to sort out the politics and egos that will naturally surface with knowledge workers. Successful teams have managers who are also great coaches and his principles for coaching are enlightening and challenging. Here are three of them:
1.) Your title makes you a manager; your people make you a leader
The title of a manager is not worth much unless you can earn the respect and trust of your teams. The opinions and thoughts of those who report to you are what classify you as a leader. Managers push work to their teams and say, “Do This”. Leaders coach their teams and guide them to collective good by asking, “What do you want to do?” and “How can we solve this?”
2.) Best idea not consensus
Consider the decision making process equally as important as the decision itself. One of the essential roles of a manager is to streamline decisions. Are you, as a coach, creating a culture and process to do this effectively? Have you intentionally provided a healthy environment to generate ideas and make quick and precise decisions, or do you naturally require consensus?
3.) Lead based on first principles
First-principles thinking originates over two thousand years ago when Aristotle defined it as “The first basis from which a thing is known.” Start conversations with your teams by asking what we know is true or proven to eliminate assumptions and, in turn, simplify it to the foundational truths. A simple yet efficient way to lead or identify possible causes for problems is to use the iterative approach of 5 Whys. Take the idea and keep asking “why” about its value or specifics. Short term or secure solutions are tempting, but when you use first principles thinking and root cause analysis, you will achieve higher quality, efficiency, and agility. Let us use first principles thinking about the benefit of this mental tool for leadership.
Why? Use First Principles thinking and evidence based analysis
Why? Find the cause and not just the details or symptoms.
Why? Eliminate assumption and system issues
Why? To practice continuous improvement
Why? We want to build a psychological safe culture that embraces progress and long term solutions.
Is coaching a part of your company’s culture? A successful organization requires teams that work and partner together on a shared goal. These teams need a coach who can help them win and achieve success.
Brian Miller
Brian is a delivery partner with Redwoods Leadership Group. He is an Agile coach, a certified Scrum Master and a technologist with experience in high-tech, finance and healthcare.