by Keith Baldwin

allup’s five decades of employee engagement surveys continue to show disengaged team members leave their best efforts at home. Their 2022 “State of the Global Workforce” report shows just 32 percent of U.S. employees are engaged while 51 percent are disengaged and 17 percent are actively disengaged.

Unfortunately, I used to fall somewhere between disengaged and actively disengaged. I didn’t leave the house thinking, “I hope I suck at work today.” Yet there I was, standing around with co-workers bad-mouthing management. After 10 years at the same company, I found myself spiraling into depression, wishing I was anyplace but the office.

Engaged team members are psychologically and emotionally connected to their role and the mission of the company. They care. They are the ones who take a few extra minutes with a client because they are committed to the mission of the company. They bring their passion and creativity with them each day, thriving on solving problems and serving others.

Disengaged employees often don’t care. They have the “another day, another dollar” mindset. They may show up on time, but their passion, creativity, and commitment are checked at the door.

Disengaged employees often don’t care. They have the “another day, another dollar” mindset. They may show up on time, but their passion, creativity, and commitment are checked at the door.

Actively disengaged employees not only don’t care, but actively sabotage the efforts of their coworkers and the company.

Unfortunately, instead of trying to solve problems, I used to waste time complaining about company decisions and contributing to an already negative environment.

An “Aha” Moment

When I was close to 40, something happened. I got sick and tired of showing up for work with a chip on my shoulder. I grew weary of feeling negative and spreading negativity wherever I went. I started to think maybe I was the problem, not the job, and I became open to change.

Around the same time, I was assigned to a boss who was a coach at heart. I call her my “BBE”—“Best Boss Ever!”

At first it was a shock. I was used to command-and-control bosses: “Do this.” “Now go get this.” I was used to being bossed around. I didn’t like it, but I had never experienced anything different.

Instead, my BBE asked, “What do you think?” “How do you think we should handle this?” “What should we do next?” Then she’d respectfully listen to what I said without interrupting or critiquing.

Truthfully, it was confusing at first. I was used to going to a supervisor with a complex issue and being told what to do. My BBE usually wouldn’t give a direct answer. She’d ask me what I thought. If I didn’t know, she’d ask me to go back to my desk and research the issue and come back to her with my best idea on how to proceed. When I came back with my suggested approach, she’d ask great coaching questions that not only helped refine my approach but also helped refine my thinking process.

Although I thrived under her leadership coaching, it wasn’t until I became a coach myself, studying motivation theories and employee engagement, that I understood her innate leadership qualities. The way she led her team was exactly what Gallup research showed creates an engaged team. One of my co-workers said they’d walk through fire for her. That’s a high level of commitment!

A New Employment Era

In Gallup’s “How Millennials Want to Work and Live” report, they found millennials want a coach who engages in continual developmental conversations rather than a traditional boss. Those who don’t get their needs met through effective management coaching start looking for other opportunities.

I think the coaching approach helps people become their best version of themselves, regardless of their generation.

You may have the impression that coaching is a soft approach to leading people, but it’s not. If anything, my feet felt closer to the fire when working for a coach.

What is Coaching?

You may have the impression that coaching is a soft approach to leading people, but it’s not. If anything, my feet felt closer to the fire when working for a coach. There is a continual focus on deadlines and job quality.

When working for my BBE, I always understood her expectations clearly and received consistent feedback. The difference was in how the feedback was delivered. She asked questions that helped me think through problems and come up with solutions: “How do you think this would work for you?” “What concerns do you have about that approach?” “What’s your plan B?” I don’t remember my BBE ever telling me I was wrong. She asked questions in such a way that I figured that out myself. My buy-in was much higher since I came up with solutions myself.

It would have been faster for her to just tell me what to do. However, as Stephen Covey used to say, “We can be efficient with things, but must learn to be effective with people.” The coaching approach takes more time up front but is a worthwhile investment in our team members and pays off as trust is built and they become more independent.

1. Complete attention: She was very busy. Hundreds of emails awaited her attention. She had demands on her time from corporate initiatives, the management team, those she supervised, and complex cases she had to handle herself. And yet when I came into her office, she focused completely on me. She did not text, answer her phone, or look at her computer monitor or the papers on her desk. During that time, I felt like I was the most important person in her life.
2. Great coaching questions: Partly because she was so focused on me and what I was saying and because she knew our business so well, she was able to ask questions that pierced the issue and helped me think through the best approach. There was patience in her questions that allowed me to be vulnerable and open in talking things through. I didn’t need to try to appear I knew more than I did.
3. Praise: She continually found ways to catch us doing things right and compliment us on our decisions and actions. Gallup found that engaged employees receive praise for work well done every seven days. Catching people doing things right and letting them know we appreciate them is not only the right thing to do, but is also helpful in engaging team members.

In my opinion, coaching team members may be one of the most impactful tools leaders can bring into a daily routine. It’s a philosophical approach, based on the premise that people have incredible gifts to offer. And from my perspective, it’s our job to help those gifts flourish.

When working with coaching clients, I’ve found several approaches that work well:

1. Schedule time each week for a one-on-one with each team member, with the intention to spend most of the time asking questions. Great coaching questions can’t be answered with a “yes” or “no.” Questions that start with “what,” “where,” “when,” and “how” are a good place to start, but trust your intuition based on what your team member is saying. Here are some examples:
   • Of all the objectives you’re working on, what is the most crucial to finish this week?
   • How do you see it working?
   • Can you help me understand this challenge

You can Google sample coaching questions to start off, but most importantly be curious about what your team member is thinking. Intense listening leads to great open-ended questions. Approach the conversation without the intent of solving your team member’s problem. Although it’s faster to just “fix” a problem, it limits the potential growth that comes from helping someone figure it out themselves.

2. Spontaneous spot coaching is also powerful. MBWA—“management by walking around”—was a popular term in the ’70s and ’80s, and it’s still a great idea today. Simply wander around among your team; listen in and ask questions about how things are going, what else is needed to be successful, and what’s getting in the way. Look for something someone is doing well, no matter how small, and praise them for it. If you’re virtual, randomly call people just to check in and see if there is something you can do to support them.

3. Planned team meetings are a great opportunity to group-coach team members. Think about the meetings you currently lead. What percentage of the time are you talking versus listening? Start to think through how you can ask questions that will get the team taking more leadership of the meetings.

A Winning Advantage

There may be times when it feels awkward coaching team members. Do it anyway. We won’t always know exactly what to say or ask. Trust your intuition and follow your heart. Coaching is both a skill and an art. It feels more natural the more we do it. Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “That which we persist in doing becomes easier to do, not that the nature of the thing has changed but that our power to do has increased.”

Our greatest competitive advantage is having a fully engaged team focused on common objectives. Gallup finds that 70 percent of the engagement impact comes from the manager. Those managers that aspire to be the Best Boss Ever have the best chance at engaging their teams. It’s personally rewarding to look in the mirror each day and know we’re doing the best we can to bring out the greatness in our team members. What we do matters.

Jack Welch said it best: “Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.”