Effective work team managers are increasingly being described as coaches rather than bosses. Just like coaches, they’re expected to provide instruction, guidance, advice, and encouragement to help team members improve their job performance. You can learn to be a good team coach by practicing these behaviors:

• Analyze ways to improve the team’s performance and capabilities. A coach looks for opportunities for team members to expand their capabilities and improve performance. How? You can use the following behaviors. Observe your team members’ behaviors on a day-to-day basis. Ask questions of them: Why do you do a task this way? Can it be improved? What other approaches might be used? Show genuine interest in team members as individuals, not merely as employees. Respect them individually. Listen to each employee.

• Create a supportive climate. It’s the coach’s responsibility to reduce barriers to development and to facilitate a climate that encourages personal performance improvement. How? You can use the following behaviors. Create a climate that contributes to a free and open exchange of ideas. Offer help and assistance. Give guidance and advice when asked. Encourage your team. Be positive and upbeat. Don’t use threats. Ask, “What did we learn from this that can help us in the future?” Reduce obstacles. Assure team members that you value their contribution to the team’s goals. Take personal responsibility for the outcome, but don’t rob team members of their full responsibility. Validate team members’ efforts when they succeed. Point to what was missing when they fail. Never blame team members for poor results.

• Influence team members to change their behavior. The ultimate test of coaching effectiveness is whether an employee’s performance improves. You must encourage ongoing growth and development. How can you do this? Try the following behaviors. Recognize and reward small improvements and treat coaching as a way of helping employees to continually work toward improvement. Use a collaborative style by allowing team members to participate in identifying and choosing among improvement ideas. Break difficult tasks down into simpler ones. Model the qualities you expect from your team. If you want openness, dedication, commitment, and responsibility from your team members, demonstrate these qualities yourself.

Read through this scenario and follow the directions at the end of it:

You’re the leader of a five-member project team that’s been assigned the task of moving your engineering firm into the growing area of high-speed intercity rail construction. You and your team members have been researching the field, identifying specific business opportunities, negotiating alliances with equipment vendors, and evaluating high-speed rail experts and consultants from around the world. Throughout the process, Tonya, a highly qualified and respected engineer, has challenged a number of things you’ve said during team meetings and in the workplace. For example, at a meeting two weeks ago, you presented the team with a list of 10 possible high-speed rail projects and started evaluating your organization’s ability to compete for them. Tonya contradicted virtually all of your comments, questioned your statistics, and was quite pessimistic about the possibility of getting contracts on these projects. After this latest display of displeasure, two other group members, Bryan and Maggie, came to you and complained that Tonya’s actions were damaging the team’s effectiveness. You originally put Tonya on the team for her unique expertise and insight. You’d like to find a way to reach her and get the team on the right track to its fullest potential.

Form three-member teams in class. Each team should analyze this leader’s problem and suggest solutions for coaching Tonya (and other team members, if you feel it’s important). Each class team should be prepared to present its conclusions to the class.