Question: Why did you decide to write this book?

Woodson: All around us, every day, we see people rush off to work at unfulfilling jobs where they are told what to do and forced into little boxes built from policies and procedures that they had little input on. Monday mornings are like loading the prison bus and Fridays are the last day of school in summertime. In addition, managers are stretched to improve production levels, meet quotas, hit goals, keep everybody in line and enforce those policies and procedures. All the while, customers are trying to fit into all of this and get the things they came for. This made me think about sharing a simple model I had developed for helping leaders to engage and empower their employees in workplaces where they want to be rather than have to be, and, as a byproduct, creating better experiences for customers.

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Question: But there are many books out there trying to do the same thing, what makes this different?

Woodson: You’re absolutely right, there are a bunch of books shooting at the same target but I wanted to do something easy that a manager could go out and put into action almost immediately. No classes required, no special training, no difficult formulas or mantras, just an easy conversational model.

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Question: Okay, let’s get back to the misery in the workplace, what is behind this?

Woodson: Well, as I alluded to earlier, management today is becoming less and less effective and that is largely due to the fact that it is based on structures designed in the early 1900s with executive leadership at the top making the big decisions, setting policy and strategy, management in the middle delegating everything and keeping it all under control, and employees at the bottom implementing and delivering to customers.  The misery is caused by the lack of input and inclusion the farther down the pyramid you fall. The folks at the bottom are largely voiceless and squashed between the demands of the company and those of customers. The managers in the middle must answer to the top and find themselves in the unfortunate position of keeping the executives happy while having to drive the bottom tier to produce more and more. All of this leads to pressure, stress, powerlessness, and misery. And all of it is largely born out of this leaders as thinkers, followers as doers set up.

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Question: What’s the solution?

Woodson: A move from this leader-follower mindset to one where everyone has a chance to lead when the time is right and fitting for their particular knowledge, skill, and talent. I call this a team-of-leaders mindset. This thinking is more collaborative. It gives everyone the opportunity to have a voice, to be creative, to share their ideas and experience, and to take ownership of something they can be proud of. And that, as far as I am concerned, is far from misery.

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Question: This sounds great. How does coaching come into play?

Woodson: First, let’s get clear on coaching. Coaching is not standing on the sidelines barking out the next play. It may be in sports but not in the workplace. I recently saw a great definition of coaching. It said, “Coaching is helping people learn how to help themselves.” If we take that definition forward, coaches don’t have to be experts, they just have to help others find answers to the problems. This is exactly how coaching works in the book. It’s about conversations where the manager collaborates with the employee to find answers to common workplace problems. And the model is pretty simple. It is made up of three key questions that the coach asks in sequence to inspire the coachee to reflect on a problem, ideate solutions, and commit to taking action. This collaborative effort stands at the foundation of the team-of-leaders mindset.

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Now think about how that would change things. Imagine leaders asking their team members for ideas on how to fix things and then implementing some of those ideas. How would that motivate performance? How would that change the mood and atmosphere of workplaces?

 

Question: That’s a good question. How would it change things?

Woodson: Well for one thing, leaders would learn more about their operation. Who knows more about what’s happening on the front line than those who are on the front line? Who knows more about the problems with a system or policy or procedure than those who have to deal with them? And who knows more about customers than those who speak with them daily?

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Second, team members would take more ownership when their ideas are the ones being implemented. They would have a more vested interest in success. When you are included, you want things to succeed.

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Last, with higher morale all across the business, customers can only benefit. When employees are happier, customers are happier, and when customers are happier, they make the business more successful.

 

Question: That makes a lot of sense to me. Does the book just teach a method or is there more?

Woodson: The book has three components actually. It’s a story, a kind of manual or handbook, and a workbook. It will appeal to different tastes. Some people like a story to explain things while others just want something more like a textbook. And everyone should benefit by completing the activities that will help them add to their leadership/management tool belt. With The Uncomplicated Coach you get all three.

 

Question: What will readers learn?

Woodson: One, they will learn why we are where we are in our current workplaces. They’ll get some history as to how we’ve come to the misery I described earlier. Second, they will learn about the move from leader-follower to team-of-leaders and how coaching is a vehicle for that. Last, they will learn a simple method for coaching that can be used to solve everyday workplace problems as well as individual performance issues.

 

Question: Ultimately, what do you hope readers will gain from this book?

Woodson: I hope it will inspire some managers or managers-to-be to decide to lead differently using the simple coaching tools. I hope it will take away much of the misery and build better workplaces, better customer spaces, and just better life for people overall.