I am not sure if you have seen ‘Finding Nemo’, but one of my favourite scenes is the seagulls in Sydney Harbour. To refresh your memory check out this clip: Mine, Mine, Mine This fond memory was triggered by my visit today to the people2people Parramatta office. Our Parramatta team have made a real impact in Western Sydney, one of Australia’s and certainly one of people2people’s fastest growing markets. Needless to say, the Parramatta team are very enthusiastic and my name was shouted out across the office all day. “Mark,” “Mark,” “Mark,” after a while sounds suspiciously like “Mine,” “Mine,” ”Mine,”, hence my fond memory of Nemo and the seagulls.
This situation also got me thinking about the role of a manager and more specifically a manager’s role as a coach. This is a huge topic, where much more qualified individuals than myself can give better and more informed advice, but here is my two cents worth. Although it may seem annoying at first, that you are being asked questions, learning is much more effective in the moment.
If you can respond to an immediate situation, then your team will take more away from the answer. You would assume that this, ‘always dealing with a crisis’ or ‘correcting some behaviour that you have noticed’, but it is also the case when you observe behaviour which can be commended. If you hear a great phone call or notice a situation handled well, then capture the moment with some praise and vice versa.
So although the masses may appear to be ‘seagulls’ (which makes me the pelican I suppose!), remember the big picture and that coaching is far better than telling. I’ll finish this post with another quote from Dory in Finding Nemo….”Just keep swimming”
