How to recognise coaching opportunities before they disappear
In last week's newsletter, we looked at the benefits of coaching your team when you are a leader or manager. This week we're going to look more closely at when you should coach and how you can recognise the coaching opportunities when they arise.
It's worth noting that adopting a coaching approach doesn't mean that you have to conduct formal coaching sessions with structured models and processes. A coaching approach is really just about adopting a participative style of management. That means that both you and the team member work to solve problems together.
In fact, research shows that managerial coaching is the most widely practised form of coaching in modern organisations, and that most of it happens informally (Nyfoudi et al., 2023).
So when should you coach?
Opportunities for coaching your team members will arise all the time. The important thing is for you to recognise when they arrive and then adapt your style accordingly. So, for example, there might be an opportunity to coach:
When somebody comes to you with a problem they're struggling to solve
When you're assigning someone a new or challenging piece of work
When a team member is taking on more responsibility or doing something new to them
In your regular one-to-one meetings
When you're asked for advice and input.
And, in my experience, if you're dealing with somebody whose performance isn't meeting expectations, you will get to a better outcome if you take a coaching approach rather than a highly critical one. See this post on feedback and appraisals for more on this.
Coaching on the go
Some of the most powerful coaching in the workplace occurs informally, when a good opportunity arises, like the ones listed above.
It is therefore important to be able to pause and ask yourself, in any given situation, whether this is a coaching moment, where you could help someone's development, rather than a situation for you to simply give an opinion or an answer.
Here is how you can get better at recognising these moments:
Be present in the moment. When someone approaches you, give them your full attention. Put down your phone, turn away from your screen, make eye contact. Listen to hear what they are saying, rather than to prepare a quick response. (There is more on listening here.)
Create space for thinking. Rather than rushing to solve the problem, slow down the conversation. Even two minutes of coaching can be more valuable than twenty seconds of instruction.
Check your impulse to instruct. Notice when you're about to tell someone what to do. Ask yourself: "Do they really need me to tell them, or could they work this out with some coaching?"
Make your coaching explicit. Sometimes it helps to be direct: "I'm going to coach you through this rather than giving you the answer, because I think it'll be more valuable for your development. Are you okay with that?"
Spot patterns. Notice when similar situations arise. These are perfect opportunities for reflection and to work out with your team member if there is a bigger solution that you can co-construct.
Balance support and challenge. Research shows that effective coaching involves both supporting people and challenging them to think differently. Too much support becomes hand-holding; too much challenge becomes criticism.
Resist the urge to "fix" everything. Your team members don't need you to solve every problem. Studies show that managerial coaching positively and directly impacts employee role clarity and job satisfaction by helping people develop their own problem-solving capabilities (Kim, 2014).
Setting aside time for deeper coaching conversations
Whilst much coaching happens spontaneously, some situations benefit from more dedicated time. You should probably set aside time for deeper coaching when:
Discussing development goals. Regular one-to-ones should include space for development conversations. What skills do they want to build? What challenges interest them? How can their role support their growth?
Addressing performance concerns. When someone's performance isn't where it needs to be, a proper coaching conversation - not a quick chat - is essential. This needs psychological safety, time for reflection, and space to explore underlying issues.
Preparing for new challenges. Before someone takes on a significant new responsibility, coach them through their thinking. What concerns do they have? What strategies might work? What support might they need?
Reviewing major projects or milestones. After completing significant work, schedule time to reflect: What worked well? What would they approach differently? What did they learn about themselves?
Career development discussions. These conversations deserve dedicated time and your full attention. Where do they want to go? What's important to them? How can their current role support their longer-term aspirations?
In these deeper conversations, more structure helps, but it probably matters less than the quality of your attention and the space you create for genuine reflection and exploration.
Why this matters - especially for new leaders
If you're relatively new to leadership, coaching can feel counterintuitive.
What if they make mistakes? What if it takes longer? What if you could do it better yourself?
These are legitimate concerns. But coaching is an investment. Yes, it might take longer initially. But you're building capability in your team that compounds over time.
Even when you are an experienced leader, it is easy to forget to coach. Time pressures mean you can easily slip into instructing rather than coaching.
So, it is always worth remembering that if you coach people to solve their own problems, you're multiplying your effectiveness through every person you develop.
You’re also freeing yourself up from the pressure of feeling like you have to do everything.
Next in this series on coaching, we’ll look more closely at how to coach and I’ll give you some frameworks to help you coach seamlessly.
References
Kim, S. (2014). Assessing the influence of managerial coaching on employee outcomes. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 25(1), 59-85.
Nyfoudi, M., Theodorakopoulos, N., Psychogios, A., & Dysvik, A. (2023). Managerial coaching skill and team performance: How does the relationship work and under what conditions? Human Resource Management
What Next?
All of my posts for new leaders are here.
All of posts on coaching are here.
How I can help you
Coaching - I have a few spots available for 1 to 1 coaching. I can help you with any of the people leadership challenges you might be facing. There are more details here.