Resilient Management, An Excerpt – A List Apart

Effective management hinges on guiding team members through transitional phases, particularly during the Storming stage of group development. Managers must adopt various roles—mentoring, coaching, sponsoring, and delivering feedback—to foster growth and help teammates navigate challenges. For instance, mentoring provides direct advice based on experience, while coaching encourages introspection through open-ended questions. Sponsorship, often overlooked, plays a crucial role in advancing careers, especially for underrepresented groups, by actively promoting individuals for opportunities that enhance their visibility and development. Key Points: - Managers must help teams navigate the Storming stage by adapting their approach to foster collaboration. - Four essential roles for managers: - Mentoring: Provides advice and shares experiences to guide teammates. - Coaching: Utilizes open questions to encourage self-reflection and deeper exploration of issues. - Sponsoring: Actively promotes team members for growth opportunities, especially for those from underrepresented groups. - Delivering Feedback: Offers observations and suggestions to align individual behavior with team goals. - Open questions in coaching should focus on exploring the problem rather than jumping to solutions. - Sponsorship is particularly vital for marginalized individuals, who often receive mentorship but lack advocacy for advancement.