Are you a manager or a coach?
Advocate for your team… and try to stay off the court
In recent years I’ve thought a lot about the analogy of coach vs manager when it comes to leading product management teams.
The concept of a manager still seems somewhat rooted in the industrial revolution. A manager is responsible for an employee showing up to work on time, being at their station, completing their tasks, and taking their breaks. There isn’t a lot of personal development, but rather a focus on how to improve the operations. It is focused on the motions and machines, related but largely separate from the individual who works them.
Coaching is quite different. It is non-deterministic engineering, because people aren’t predictable machines. We have emotions and motives and goals. Coaches are responsible for the team’s success and the development of the player, whose performance IS the machine. Rather than being a judge of the player, the coach is an advocate. Her goal is to help that person perform to the best of their ability.
Once you accept this framing, the question then becomes how to achieve high performing team members and teams collectively. That’s hard, and I’m no John Wooden. My performance as a coach is just as much in development as the players. But for what it is worth, a few thoughts.
Invite a bell to sound
Buddhism speaks of inviting a bell to sound rather than striking a bell. This is the same with people — you want to invite their best work out of them with encouragement to improve it, rather than hitting them with well meaning criticism. It is easier to critique than to encourage, so this takes practice.
Intentional positive feedback
Kim Scott’s Radical Candor focuses a lot on direct feedback. I think this is really good, but in my opinion her message didn’t amplify the positive and trust building side enough. Yet finding concrete, positive things in people’s work IS work. What got you into your role probably wasn’t finding the good, but fixing the problems. So this is a mental shift for many new managers. Try a 3:1 positive to critical ratio as a rule of thumb to help.
Perfection isn’t the goal
Many of us end up leading teams because we were good in our domain, i.e. the Peter Principle. As a product person, I aim to push products towards perfection. Seth Godin, a master of pithy statements, made the observation that “If you are making someone’s work 1% better, you aren’t helping them. You are hurting them”. People aren’t products, we’re imperfect. A coach doesn’t point out every single thing a player can improve, but focuses on key areas.
Collaborate, but stay off the court
There’s a much cleaner separation between coach and player on the court. A coach can’t jump into the game at the last minute and throw the ball. In business, you can. That critical presentation, that new strategy — it’s tempting to step in and do the work at times. And the reality is sometimes you don’t have the luxury of time. But as much as possible, coach your team to get to a better answer rather than doing it yourself.
If you asked my teams how well I do on the stuff above, I’m sure I’d get a mixed report card. These are my aspirations, but I can’t proclaim to always live up to them. It is hard leading product teams, but when a well performing team comes together it feels like magic. Stuff gets done, stuff gets shipped, the product is good, and people are proud.
Good luck.
