Entrepreneurs Assemble! Can You Coach Your Super Team?

How do you manage a team of superheroes in your business? With all that’s required to build a successful business today, how do you coach and manage your team of superheroes effectively? Today’s competitive global markets requires very talented team members to grow and get results.

If you’re a serving entrepreneur, you need to have many great superheroes on your team. These team members have to work well both in their individual roles and as part of your team.

With The Avengers, Age of Ultron coming out today, I thought I might share what I’ve learned about coaching superheroes. My clients are many of the best performing organizations on the planet. They are leaders in public and privately-held corporations, NGOs, and nonprofits. So what have I learned about coaching superheroes to be their best?

Today, I share what I’ve learned about what it takes to be a great coach to teams of superheroes. Next week, I describe several types of superheroes you want on your growing team.

There is so much great information out there on leadership today it can be overwhelming.  My experience tells me that if you want to become a great leader today you must become a stronger coach. Two of my early mentors, Peter Drucker and J Edwards Deming, both understood how critical it was to have great coaching skills to build and grow superhero based team.

I believe we are entering the Age of Superheroes as entrepreneurs. This means that to be a successful entrepreneur, you need to know how to coach and develop your superheroes’ performance.

The first capability you must have to coach a team of superheroes is you must understand yourself better. Self-awareness is a critical skill for leading your team of high performing people. The most effective entrepreneurs I know understand their unique strengths, gifts, and life experiences. They know how they perform under pressure and they manage their emotions effectively. To be a good coach, you must know yourself. Today’s outstanding entrepreneurs are great coaches for their teams.

The second capability you must have to coach a team of superheroes is you know how to tell a story that involves all your team members. Do your team members feel engaged and empowered in the story you share? Superheroes are good at going their own way, but to achieve greatness they must learn how to perform together on a team. When you share your mission, vision, and values do you leave space for team members to bring their unique gifts and strengths to the team? If you want superhero performance, you must be willing coach others on how use their unique capabilities to complement the team’s mission.

The third capability you must have to coach a team of superheroes is you must understand what motivates and inspires individuals to contribute to your team. A good coach understands when to use motivation and inspiration to help them achieve their team’s goals. Every superhero has a story and it’s your job as coach to understand it. Great coaching managers connect with their fellow team members on a personal level. To lead and retain your team you lead you must be willing to coach one on one when required to help your superheroes through challenging times and competition.

Finally, when you manage a team of superheroes you must be willing to create a culture of trust among all your team members. Superheroes must learn to trust their own skills and abilities as the foundation of being a major contributor to your effort. Serving others requires you to trust that others on your team will do what’s required to succeed. You cannot micromanage a team of superheroes.  Establishing trust among your team is just as important as developing the tactical performance skills required to build a winning organization. Becoming a great coaching manager is critical to your team’s performance.

Next week, I talk about dealing with the different members on your team to deliver outstanding team performance. See you next week. Until then you might want to go check out The Avengers, Age of Ultron at the movies this weekend. You won’t believe how Hulk deals with the challenge of big data!