New Managers Can Be Better Coaches: Top 5 Ways

New Managers Can Be Better Coaches: Unlock Your Coaching Potential
Research from people manager assessments shows that a manager’s success hinges not just on leading and managing — but on their ability to coach effectively. New managers who fail to develop strong coaching skills often struggle to cultivate high performing individuals and teams. Becoming an effective coach is a defining behavior that separates good managers from the exceptional. Mastering this skill early sets new managers on the path to sustained team success and organizational impact.

What Effective Coaches Do
If you think new managers can be better coaches, start by understanding what effective workplace coaches actually do:

• Drive peak performance: They help employees consistently reach their highest potential.

• Fuel engagement: They keep team members engaged, focused, and invested in their work.

• Build lasting credibility: They earn a reputation as leaders who genuinely care and actively invest in their employees’ growth and careers.

Five Ways New Managers Can Be Better Coaches

The sooner new managers can be better coaches, the faster they will create higher performance. Here are five ways to fine tune your role as a coach to help your employees to continuously improve:

1. Remember: It’s Not About You
   As a new supervisor, it’s natural to want to showcase your expertise and accomplishments. But coaching isn’t the time to talk about yourself. Effective coaching keeps the focus squarely on the employee — creating space for reflection, self-discovery, and growth.

   Great new managers guide employees to uncover their own solutions rather than handing them answers. Much like a project postmortem, your role is to help them understand why their efforts aren’t producing the desired results — and how they can adjust for better outcomes.

2. Avoid Judgments
   When an employee acts inappropriately, resist the urge to point fingers or criticize. Instead, to guide them toward understanding the reasons behind their behavior and exploring how they could approach the situation differently. Your role as a manager and coach is to build your team’s self-awareness and growth — not to pass judgment.
3. Don’t Take Over the Conversation
   You may have valuable insights and relevant stories, but dominating the discussion can turn a coaching moment into a lecture. Pause frequently to ensure the employee is absorbing the ideas. Ask thoughtful questions and listen actively. As a manager and coach, your role isn’t to provide all the answers — it’s to guide your team toward self-discovery and better performance.
4. Use Similar Situations to Help Paint a Picture
   Employees aren’t always aware of how their behavior affects others. Drawing on a similar example — showing how someone else’s actions influenced a situation — can help them see the impact of their own behavior.

   For instance, if an employee frequently interrupts during meetings, recall a time when they experienced similar behavior. How did it feel — discounted, ignored, or frustrated? Then, guide them to consider how they could share their thoughts in a more constructive and positive way.

   As a manager and coach, your role is to provide context that increases self-awareness and perspective. Stay focused on the behavior you’re addressing and the employee’s key concerns, helping them translate insight into actionable improvement.

5. Tailor Your Approach
   Plan your coaching conversations with the individual employee in mind. A long-winded explanation may lose a fast-paced, results-driven “Type A” personality, while a brief overview could leave a detail-oriented analytical thinker with lingering questions.

   As a manager and coach, your role is to adapt your leadership style to both the situation and the unique style of your team member — guiding them in a way that maximizes their growth and success.

The Bottom Line
New managers who master the art of giving effective feedback, actively create development opportunities, and show genuine interest in their team members are building the trust, loyalty, and commitment needed to drive high-functioning teams.

To learn more about getting the most from your team as a new leader, download How Hard Should a Leader Push to Get Results

by Tristam Brown: CEO

Tristam Brown is an executive business consultant and organizational development expert with more than three decades of experience helping organizations accelerate performance, build high-impact teams, and turn strategy into execution. As CEO of LSA Global, he works with leaders to get and stay aligned™ through research-backed strategy, culture, and talent solutions that produce measurable, business-critical results. See full bio.