Wasn't it your mother who said, actions speak louder than words? Our beliefs dictate our actions, but most of us are too busy to really take each of these and hold them up to the light, inspecting their every attribute and power. We do business as usual without reconsidering our commonly accepted behaviors toward employees.

Do our actions unequivocally manifest positive beliefs? Do our actions demonstrate that we believe that staff are trustworthy, or do we lock up our supplies? Do we act as if frontline staff are the most important worker in our organization because they do the work for which the company is paid, or do we interrupt a meeting with them to take a call or make them wait for us to arrive for an appointment? Do we hover over their work or insult them with insignificant gifts or raises? Do we recognize them for their daily efforts or thank them for being at their work station so we don't have to do their job on any given day? Do we educate them in the business side of the company and ask them for their opinion in big decisions?

These soft skills and actions make the difference between humane or harsh workplaces, between bosses to whom staff will be loyal or bosses who staff plan to leave. All actions articulate our beliefs.

C: Coach as Leader, Manager and Supervisor

The workplace coach functions as leader, manager, and supervisor to support and elicit exceptional performance. Each of these three roles has distinct behaviors, intent, and purpose. The coach as leader: The leader imparts philosophy to create and support care-full staff. Philosophy is the only signpost to give guidance in unanticipated situations. Every coach must lead by imparting philosophy. Vigorously ask & answer "why" questions such as, Why does the company exist? Why does the world and our community need us? Why do we choose to join this endeavor? Why do we do something this way instead of that way? Every one of us wants to aspire to a higher purpose. To be part of something greater than ourselves fulfills our desire to belong and provides us with an important place where we can make a difference in this world.

The coach as manager: The manager conveys knowledge to create and support staff who are mind-full and power-full. The coach in the role of manager answers "what" questions. What business are we in? What do we do to fulfill our purpose? What difference do we make to our customers? What are our goals? What are our expected customer outcomes and business objectives?

The coach as supervisor: The supervisor establishes structure to support staff who are success-full. The coach as supervisor answers "how "questions: How do we do our business? How do we meet our goals? How is this task or activity performed and how do I prove it? How will we know when we get it right?

A good coach supports direct-care staff who are care-full, mind-full, power-full and success-full through imparting knowledge, philosophy, and structure. Goethe gave us the answer to creating humane human service workplaces 200 years ago.

Act, believe and coach your way to being a supervisor who staff will admire and want to work with. Focus on these basic ABC's, to develop a solid team of skilled, self-managed and stable employees.

About The Author

Linda LaPointe, MRA, has trained thousands in these simple but powerful practices. More free articles and pages from her book can be seen at http://www.thenewsupervisor.com; lapointell@yahoo.com