Excerpted from chapter 11 with the permission of the author & publisher of Work Happy – What Great Bosses Know by Jill Geisler

I’ve discovered among the many managers I’ve encountered:

There are too few coaches and too many fixers.

Fixers aren’t bad bosses mind you.  They are responsible managers who care about quality, but they do far more telling than teaching.

If there were a Fixer’s Creed, it would be this:

Bring me your problems and I will give you solutions.  Show me your work and I will improve it, even if it means doing it for you.  It’s my duty as a boss.

Fixers get the job done, but through micromanagement and control .  Coaches learn to let go of all that and achieve even better results.  How do I know?  As I tell the managers in my workshops:

“I stand before you as a recovering fixer.  If I could learn to be a coach, so can you.”

Three Sins of Fixers

  • Your more capable employees are frustrated.  You take their good work and add your signature touches to it.  Is it better?  Probably.  But now it’s not really theirs anyone – and you’ve undercut their important motivators:  competence, progress, and autonomy. And don’t assume everything’s cool because  they’ve never complained.  It’s not that easy to criticize the boss..
  • Your less capable employees are protected.  They don’t have to grow because you’re always there to fill their gaps.  Their mediocre work actually looks pretty nice after you’ve tidied it up.  You’ve trained them to rely on you to rescue them, and now they assume it’s your responsibility.
  • You get worn down.  It’s tiring to be a fixer.  You spend way too much time putting out brushfires in the daily workflow and not enough on strategy, long-range planning, innovation – or even thinking.  And you just can’t figure out why some staffers still need help for the same issues, in spite  of all your hard work.

That last point is very important.  Being a fixer can lead to burnout.  I want you to take better care of yourself.  So I did just a little bit of editing ot hammer home my message.  I fixed the Fixer’s Creed:

The Coach’s Creed:

Bring me your problems and I will help you discover your own solutions.  Show me your work and I will improve it by coaching, but I won’t do it for you.  It’s my duty as a boss.

I think that’s a change for the better.  What do you think, coach?

Jill Geisler holds the Bill Plante Chair in Leadership and Media Integrity at Loyola University Chicago. She teaches and coaches leaders worldwide and serves as an ethics professor at Loyola. She is the author of the book “Work Happy: What Great Bosses Know” and produces a podcast for aspiring leaders on iTunes U: “Q&A: Leadership and Integrity in the Digital Age.” Each episode tackles a specific management question.  Click “HERE” for Jill’s podcast.

MORE RECENT POSTS

Judging versus Learning: The Mindset for Asking Questions

Excerpted from Chapter 5, “The Art of Asking Questions” As Marilee Adams notes, our mindset...

Everyone Can See The Gap

Excerpted with permission from the 5th Chapter of “When Everyone Leads” by Ed O’Malley and...

25 Winning Questions for Great Conversations Around Your Thanksgiving Table!

Happy Thanksgiving! Family and Friends are coming! Pumpkin Pies are baked! Turkey is ready to put in the...

The Power of a Good Question

Excerpted With Permission from Chapter 5 of “How To Talk About Jesus Without Looking Like an...

4 Tips to Effectively Ask for Help—and Get a Yes

Guest Post by Jeffrey Davis Originally posted at Psychology Today Social psychology shows people are eager to...

7 ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS EVERY LEADER SHOULD ASK

Guest Post by Kevin Herring Originally Posted @ Ascent Management Consulting How can leaders increase...

Ask 3 Simple Questions and Harvard Research Says You Will Be Significantly More Likable, Starting Today

Guest Post by Jeff Haden This works whether you’re trying to make a great first impression or deepen a...

2 thoughts on “Stop Fixing – Start Coaching

    1. Bob Tiede says:

      Donna you are most welcome!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.