The coaching approach for project managers

The coaching approach is very useful when you work in an environment that demands a high degree of autonomy from your teams. Indeed, the project manager cannot hold all the solutions to the problems that arise in a team.

Often, however, team members in difficulty tend to look to their project manager for solutions, rather than taking the time to ask themselves the right questions and find solutions themselves.

This runs the risk of creating a relationship of dependency that has no added value and is unnecessarily time-consuming. The coaching approach reduces this dependency.

Coaching questions therefore enable the project manager to ensure that :

• The problem is viewed with sufficient hindsight.

• The person concerned asks "solution-oriented" questions.

In addition, people feel a sense of achievement when they find their own solution.

More generally, the coaching process helps to motivate team members.