One of your most important roles as a supervisor is to be a coach for the people on your team. An effective coach helps their team members reach their full potential, in terms of performance and personal growth. You will need their cooperation in this effort, and you have a significant role to play in the process.
Coaching discussions are ultimately about change – changed behaviors, changed results, and changed thinking. Sadly, conversations about changed behaviors and results often become conversations about how to change “bad” behaviors. Improving from good to excellent is a change just as much as moving from poor to acceptable. Yet, we seem to focus primarily on the discipline side of coaching rather than on the encouragement side. There seems to be a natural pull toward discipline and formal performance management programs when we think about changing behaviors.
While this negative drift is common, there is a better way to think about coaching and behavior change. Hope and encouragement are undoubtedly two very positive motivators to help people change their behaviors for the better. I am reminded of two such powerful examples - one from a musical drama and the other from a prison.
An Example from the Art World
My first example comes from Les Misérables. One plot line in this rather complicated story involves the “redemption” of Jean Valjean – a convicted petty thief. His antagonist, Inspector Javert, pursues a path of punishment and ridicule in an effort to make Valjean a “righteous man.” Bishop Myriel offers hope and forgiveness in the form of silver candlesticks. The bishop gives Valjean an opportunity to use them to make an honest man of himself. The bishop’s kindness, encouragement, and hope for a better future are what drives Valjean to pursue a more honorable life. Javert’s threat of punishment for past wrongs does nothing but discourage Valjean, causing more hopelessness.
An Example from the Real World
The second example comes from a human-interest story I caught on the news one night. A symphony orchestra instituted a program to teach maximum-security prison inmates to compose and play their own music. One program participant said that learning to write and play music had given him a new way to express himself. Serving a sentence for convicted murder, he said he no longer felt the need to be violent. The positive emotional outlet of music more powerfully influenced his behavior than the negative consequences of his punishment.
Final Thoughts
I hope that you never have to deal with behavior issues that approach violent or even mildly criminal. Still, there are leadership lessons to learn from these stories, in terms of creating behavior change. Specifically in the relative power of a positive, future focus compared to a negative, past focus. Negative consequences like criticism and punishment for past actions can drive future behavior and might even improve performance temporarily. But not for leaders wanting to elicit the best, most productive discretionary effort from their team over the long-term. Hope, encouragement, and a positive, future-focused approach will create longer lasting and more sustainable behavior change.
As Napoleon Bonaparte said, “A leader is a dealer in hope.” Be that instrument of hope for your team in your role as a leader and coach. Use more encouragement and positive comments about the future than critique and correction of the past. Uplifting tools will illuminate your path to the behavior change you want to see in your team.
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