Which of these approaches best describes how you develop your people?

Our reader poll today asks: Which of these approaches best describes how you develop your people?

• I’m a coach: I guide them to coming up with their own answers 37.44%
• I’m a mentor: I share my experiences so they can learn from them 37.44%
• I’m a trainer: I walk them through skills step by step to help them grow 14.78%
• I’m a manager: I tell them the task and standards and correct as needed 7.39%
• I don’t use any of these approaches 2.95%

Coaches and Mentors First. The majority (75%) of you report taking a coaching or mentoring approach to developing your people. Coaching focuses on asking the right questions to help them find their own answers. Mentoring is more about sharing your experiences so the person can learn from them. What’s most important here is recognizing which of those approaches you’re taking and if you’re using them in the right situation. Being deliberate with your choice of approach can get better results. If you’re coaching but the person is really struggling to figure out a good solution, switching to a mentoring approach can be helpful to guide them to possible answers. If you’re mentoring and they’re not identifying with your situation, a coaching approach can help them generate a solution that better fits them. Be flexible in your approaches and intentional about which one you use given the situation.

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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These results were originally a SmartPulse poll in SmartBrief on Leadership which tracks feedback from more than 240,000 business leaders. Get smarter on leadership and sign up for the SmartBrief on Leadership e-newsletter.