Using the metaphor of a simple math equation and comparisons to sports coaches, Mike Moore of Moore Leadership & Peak Performance analyzed the role of leaders in construction-related industries through a different lens as part of his Spotlight session at the 2019 International Builders Show in Las Vegas.
Moore simplified output in any company down to a simple equation: 1+1+1=3, arguing you can’t change the results of the three, without changing the inputs, the ones. Achievement and results in a business are similarly composed as a function of employee attitudes, skills, and actions, Moore said in his session “The ABCs of Leadership: Always Be Coaching.” Focusing on leadership through coaching can allow business owners and those in charge to remain focused on the elements that compose results rather than the results themselves.
“As leaders, you’re all responsible for the results you get and the first lesson here is we have to have a mutual love affair with the equation and the results,” Moore said. “It’s easy to focus on the results and reacting to those results. You have to be focused on the equation, not so much the result. It’s who you are and what you bring to what you do that effects the results.”
Moore also pushed back against the narrative that leadership can be simplified through more targeted hiring. Hiring employees who are passionate and require little supervision is an idealistic hope that is not realistic, Moore said.
“If you hire these people, how long will they work for you?” Moore said. “How many like that can you have? This is a description we’d all like to fit in, ‘How do we hire the right people and pick the right team?’ Except when you hire them, it’s just unrealistic. They’re going to move up or move out on you.”
Building the right team is more about being the right leader and understanding your employees than hiring driven individuals, Moore said. Moore said employees don’t work like teammates inherently, allowing the leaders as coaches comparison to enter the equation.
Assembling teams is a common phrase across many industries, but without the role of a coach working with them, the team is unlikely to function smoothly. Moore said leaders who coach can inspire the attitudes of their employees, enlighten and enhance the skill levels of their employees, and empower employees to physically perform the tasks required of them. These practices help employees “learn, grow and improve their attitudes, skills, and actions to be likeable, trustworthy, experts who are helpful, caring, and courageous,” Moore said.
To further align leadership with coaching, Moore presented his “11 Keys to Great Coaching,” to help transform construction industry leaders into coaches and mentors with a passion for serving people and producing results.
“In business, the lowest behavior you tolerate, the person you’re frustrated with the most, the rest of your staff sees you as that person,” Moore said. “That one always motivated me to fix that, to hold the standard higher because people are watching you and you are defined by the lowest behavior you’re tolerating.
Moore’s “11 Keys” highlight the similarities between great coaches and great leaders in business. Both must love the people they work with, understand human nature and attempt to combat the desire to be comfortable, commit to excellence and obsess over improvement, embrace change, set high standards, hold people accountable, teach mental toughness, and teach self-discipline.
