The Power of the Coaching Leader with Ed Molitor

Ed Molitor

Episode 137:

In the last 26 years, Ed Molitor has developed his leadership skills in both athletics and business. From working as an NCAA Basketball coach at Texas A&M to becoming the Vice President of a national recruiting firm, Ed has taught countless athletes, coaches, and business leaders how to THINK, ACT, and EXECUTE at an elite level. Ed has a unique set of skills to deliver leaders across the country a purposeful, positive, energetic, and refreshing experience to unlock their true potential.

In 2016, Ed launched his company, The Molitor Group, in order to reach and add value to a larger sphere of ambitious individuals and help them achieve their goals every day. Through The Molitor Group, Ed has guided all types of leaders to achieve success. From entrepreneurs and executives to teams and companies, The Molitor Group specializes in empowering individuals and groups to achieve at the next level. Through Leadership Performance training, coaching, and speaking, Ed’s goal is to supply people and organizations with the necessary tools to move forward from where they are now to where they want to be.

The Impact of Quality Jobs (1:00)

The definition of a coach is someone in a position of authority over others. They can be everything from CEOs, directors, and athletic coaches and are the primary factor of their workplace environment. 

Employees want three things: they want to know that they are valued, they want to know that the work they do has meaning, and they want great coaching.

  • 89% of bosses believe employees quit because they want more money, while only 12% report leaving for that reason.
  • 57% leave jobs to get away from their managers.   
  • 58% of people say they trust strangers more than they trust their own boss.

Only a reported 15% of the global workforce is engaged with their jobs. Engagement means they like what they do because they’re developing rich missions and purposes.

Not to mention, people with great jobs have different life outcomes:

  • Grow their business and inspire teams.
  • Solve problems instead of creating them 
  • Volunteer for their communities.
  • Better health, wellbeing, and quality of their personal life.

Fostering Great Workplace Culture (4:45)

When most CEOs and high-level leaders see that data, it leads them to ask what changes can they make to align their workplace culture with what their workforce wants to keep them engaged. The interesting part is Gallup’s finding that the manager determines 70% of team engagement.

Clever benefit packages, remote working possibilities, trip incentives, flexible hours, and cool gifts are great, but they don’t change growth outcomes. What does is your ratio of great to lousy managers.  

If you have 30 managers, and of those managers, 30% are great, 20% are lousy, and 50% are mediocre, you’d reach about the national average of employee engagement in the US. Nothing could sustainably and authentically change the value of your organization more than improving that ratio.

Great managers can maximize the potential of every team member they manage and deliver the best job and life imaginable for today’s workforce. People want a coach, and they want a coach able to impact their life. 

The Perfect Coach (8:30)

Several days ago, Ed was asked a question he had a lot of fun answering: if you could build the perfect coach in terms of a front-line leader in a business setting, what would that look like? 

First, there is no such thing as a perfect coach. The best kind of coach can recognize their flaws and continue to work on them while leveraging their strengths. Second, they are passionate about their opportunity to impact their peoples’ days because they understand their workforce’s experience at work will affect every area of their life- family, health, livelihood, etc. 

A great coach is value-based and purpose-driven. They align themselves completely with their singleness of purpose and communicate it to their workforce in their team’s shared language. In doing so, they contribute to their team’s overall psychological safety. 

Psychological safety does not necessarily mean being a soft leader. Ed’s ideal coach would have a tireless work ethic, consistent focus on building resiliency, and would play to win in every aspect of their lives. They would set high standards they hold not just their teams accountable to, but themselves as well, and have the ability to take the journey alongside their team members. They understand people, what motivates them, their performance and leadership style, and building relationships. They are fun to work for, yet know when to push their people outside their comfort zone or pull back into encouragement and support. 

Everyone will know what the best coach stands for and what to expect daily: positive energy, positive attitudes, empathy, enthusiasm, directions, creativity, and resilience. Their team would understand they are in with them, not alongside them, and values commitment over interest, conviction over complacency, and winning over losing. 

An ideal coach is focused on the development of others and not only interested in talent. They do everything in their power to set their team up for success, will know what success means to them, and how to define victory.   

Becoming A High-Impact Coach (13:00)

Ed believes a team is a direct reflection of their coach and whatever qualities their coach embodies. High-impact coaches inspire their team to achieve things they never thought possible and build a culture worth fighting for. Not only do high-impact coaches attract the top talent, develop and retain the top talent, and get them to fight for each other to win. 

The first step is identifying strengths and where you have gaps in your coaching. Additionally, take the Athletics of Business Assessment to see where you fall in victory-driven leadership. 

Some of the best athletic recruiters Ed had were current and former players because they could share their experiences and the differences they made in their lives. Looking back on the stories we tell from years ago, they are almost always shared moments and not about the games.

Good coaching is a responsibility and an honor. But, to do it, you have to commit yourself to consistently working on your own game. If you want your people to have grit, you have to have grit. If you want them to have a positive attitude, you have to have a positive attitude. And you have to work every day to exceed your own standards. 

What you’ll learn in this episode:

  • What employees want in a job and why they often leave.
  • What the perfect coach looks like.
  • How to foster better workplace culture.
  • How to become a better coach.

Additional resources:

Podcast transcript

[00:11] The real stories and hard lessons to help you level up your leadership and performance. Now your host, Ed Molitor.

[00:19] Welcome back to another episode of the Athletics at Business podcast. I am your host and CEO of the Molitor group, Ed Molitor. And today it's going to be you and me. We're going to do a solo cast today, and we are jumping into another piece of our victory defined foundational program. We're going to talk about the power of a coaching leader. You've heard me say it before, that a good coach can change a game, but a great coach can change the life. And of course, that's from the legendary John Wooden. And a coach for our purpose refers to someone who has been given the authority over others. It can be a CEO, it can be a frontline manager, a director, an athletic coach. You get the picture. It can be someone who has one direct report or someone who has 1000 direct reports.

[01:01] Now in Lee Branham's book, seven hidden reasons employees leave revealed that 89% of bosses believe employees quit because they want more money. Let me say that again, okay, I'm working on this with the client right now. 89% of bosses according to Lee Branham, seven hidden reasons employees leave 89% of bosses believe employees quit because they want more money. However, only 12% leave an organization for money. The most recent data published in DDIS Frontline Leadership project states that 57% of employees leave their job because of their manager, which is aligned with Gallup State of the manager report, which states that one in two employees leaves a job to get away from their manager. It goes back to what we've talked about often for the most part, employees do not leave organizations, they leave their managers.

[01:45] And a Harvard Business Review survey reveals that 58% of people say they trust strangers more than their own boss. Now how bizarre is that? 58% of people say they trust strangers more than their own boss and the ones that stay. Well, let's talk about that. Only 15% of the global workforce is engaged, which here's what that means. That means they have great jobs in which they are developing with rich mission and purpose, and the remaining 85% is either not engaged at work, so basically just going through the motions or worse, they hate their jobs and managers. Strong word and are actively disengaged according to the research, which just unbelievable research.

[02:23] The best life imaginable for todays workforce, especially the young people and increasingly for women, doesnt happen unless you have a great job with a living wage and a manager or team leader who encourages your development. A great job has all the qualities of a good job, working full time, 30 plus hours, and a living wage paycheck with one big differentiator. And I want you to so really pay attention to this. Employees are engaged in meaningful and fulfilling work and feel they are experiencing growth in the workplace, which is something we talk about often, is that we know that employees want three things right. First thing, they want to know that they're valued. They want to know that they're valued. They want to know that the work they do is important and it has meaning.

[03:01] In the last, which we're going to talk about quite a bit today, is they want to be coached. Now, people with great jobs have different life outcomes, and this is a factor. Grow your business exponentially. They have the ability to grow their business exponentially. They inspire. Teams are not simply going through the motion and checking boxes. Love this one. Theyre solving problems instead of creating ones in away from the office. They volunteer in their community. All of this leads to far better health and wellbeing and a higher quality of personal life. With that research and those facts being stated, if you think that the work you do as a leader is nothing more than just hitting numbers and metrics, you have to realize the opportunity to have impact and influence on your people.

[03:40] See, people who have great jobs and the features that go with it are much more engaged. And what is funny about this is when I talk to my clients, when most CEO's and high level leaders are hit with this data, they usually agree. And then theyll ask me, well, okay, fine, what can I do to get better outcomes? What lever do I pull to make a wholesale change in my culture so it aligns with what the workforce wants and what will get them engaged. Well, here it is, the single most profound, distinct, and clarifying finding Gallup has ever had, which is saying quite a bit. 70% of the variance of team engagement is determined solely by the manager. Think about it this way, if you have 300 performers, you will have roughly 30 managers or team leaders. All of variance is right there.

[04:25] Clever benefit packages, favorable remote working policy trip incentives, flexible hours, and cool gifts are great, but they do not change the growth outcomes and they dont sustain the growth outcomes. You know what does change your growth outcomes? Your ratio of great to lousy managers. Of your 30 managers, 30% are great, 20% are lousy, and 50% are just there. Which, by the way, is the US national average of employee engagement. And now you do this, right? So if you're not driving, not working out, if you got a pen and paper, write this down. 30 managers. 30% are great, 20% are lousy, and 50% are just there. So if 30% are great, that means you have nine. If 20% are lousy, that means you have 650 percent are just there. You're looking at 15. Obviously the numbers, you're 31. Cause it's gonna be 5.6 or whatever.

[05:17] But you get the idea. Let's double the 30%, great to 60%. So now you have 18 great managers instead of nine, which would impact 90 more employees. You see where I'm going with this? Double the 30%, great to 60%. So now you have 18 great managers instead of nine. That means nine more managers. Ten direct reports per manager. You have 90. You impact 90 more employees. Reduce the lousy from 20% to 5%. Now you only have one to two lousy managers instead of six, which positively impacts 40 to 50 employees. And we're not even saying you have to take the lousy from great right away. At least get them to average. At least have some small success, at least have some little wins. So take the lousy 20% to 5%.

[06:01] All right, so now you only have one or two lousy managers instead of six, which positively impacts 40 to 50 employees. Now, how would your business look? You could be a small business, a big business, a division, whatever it is. But how different would things look? Nothing could sustainably and authentically like, change the value of your organization more. So what is that one lever that the CEO asked about earlier? I think it's obvious. It's the manager. When you have great managers who can maximize the potential of every team member, you have delivered on the best life imaginable for today's workforce. And what is that again? Great job and great life. Bottom line is, as people want to be coached and they want a coach who's impactful, who makes a difference.

[06:45] You know, there is something to be said about getting to know people that I absolutely, thoroughly enjoy to say I am passionate about. It would be a huge understatement. I think you've come to know that as you listen to the podcast over the years, I'm absolutely intrigued by the unique stories and qualities of others, which is why I stray so far away from generalization. I love to dig, actually, I despise generalizations because I want to understand, and here's a huge word I want to understand, and I want to honor what is special and distinct about each person. So, as I mentioned, and as you can imagine, I ask a lot of questions and I love asking questions that people appreciate. And what kind of questions are those?

[07:24] Well, they're ones that make them think because the answer they're about to provide will shine a light on who they really are and how they think. A funny thing happened a while back. The table was turned on me as I was asked a question that put a smile on my face and had a great deal of fun answering. And I may have told this story before in the podcast, but I want to share it again because it is so fitting to what were talking about today. Okay. And one of the things I love about Zoom is that you can still make somewhat of a human connection with the person you are talking, as body language and facial expressions still come into play. And let me tell you, when I was asked this question, and when I answered this question, I was quite animated.

[08:02] The gentleman I was talking with was a potential client business partner, and he asked me, Ed, if you could build the perfect coach, what would that look like? Now for point of reference, were talking about a frontline leader in a business setting, which I firmly believe those people are your coaching. They are coaching leaders. My reply was fast, firm, and as genuine as any answer as I have ever provided. I simply said they would be a high impact coach. But let me be clear first, there is no perfect coach. The coach I would create has flaws, recognizes them, and continues to work on those flaws while constantly leveraging their strengths.

[08:40] This individual is passionate about the opportunity they have to impact their people daily, knowing that their experience at work is going to affect every other area of their life, family, health, spiritual, financial, social, I mean, you name it. They're values based and purpose driven and are completely aligned with the team. Singleness of purpose, no matter how challenging that can be at times. And speaking of singleness of purpose, they over communicate that to the team in a shared language, which contributes to the overall psychological safety of the team. And when I'm talking about psychological safety, I'm not talking about being soft. I'm talking about creating an environment where you can tap into their highest form of potential. Okay?

[09:19] Now do not confuse psychological safety with being soft because my coach will compete their lips off, have a tireless work ethic, consistently focused on building resiliency, and will play to win in every aspect of their life. They'll understand what makes their people tick, what motivates them, their performance and leadership style, and how they build relationships with their teammates, clients and prospects. They'll be fun to work for. Yet there will be struggles as this coach will know how to push their people outside their comfort zone and at the same time pull their people in to encourage and support them. Everyone will know what this coach stands for and what can be expected daily. How powerful is that to know who is going to show up as your leader?

[10:01] One of those things they can expect is positive energy, love, caring, positive attitude, empathy, enthusiasm, direction, curiosity, creativity and resilience. The team will understand their coach is in this for them, not just with them. We talk about that all the time in this for each other, not just with each other. And it's no different for the leader. As a matter of fact, it's more significant for the coaching leader, for other people to understand that. And this coach values commitment over interest, conviction over convenience, and winning over losing. And this coach is focused on developing people, not just talent, and will do everything in their power to put their people in position to achieve massive success and victory at the highest level.

[10:46] And this coach will know what success means to them and how to define victory, because they know that victory undefined is victory unfulfilled. And then I kind of took a breath because I felt like I was rolling a little bit and I may have been sweating. Okay. See, I believe a team is direct reflection of their coach. And whatever qualities and behaviors you want your team to embody, you better do the same. We've all seen the athletic teams or business teams that just don't seem to have a little something different about them. A little more effort, a little more production, a little more creativity, a little more cohesiveness, a little more resilient.

[11:19] And let me rephrase it, because I think I may have said it the wrong way, but we all have seen the athletic teams or business teams that just seem to have a little something different about them. Effort, production, creativity, cohesiveness and resilience. And a high impact coach, a coaching leader, is the lever that will help your team achieve victory at the highest level. High impact coach will see things in their team that may not even see themselves. Think back to the favorite coaches you have in athletics. It could be literally, it could be pee wee football if you're not an athlete, if you were into music, if you're into art, who was a person that pulled that out of you, that saw more in you, that you may have seen yourself?

[11:53] And that is what is leaders in the business world, we absolutely have to do. And because of their connection and their ability to go where their people are mentally and emotionally, they will inspire them to achieve things that they never thought possible. And that's the difference between motivation and inspiration. And we need both motivation. More times than not, you're trying to get people to do things they might not want to do. But when you inspire people, you're helping them do things, you're getting them to do things, you're taking the journey with them to do things they never thought possible. A coaching leader will build a culture we're fighting for through honesty, integrity and vulnerability. In that is authenticity. And it is that authenticity that is responsible for the unshakable foundation of trust.

[12:34] Elite championship teams have coaching leaders attract and retain the top talent and get them to run to the fight for each other and to win together, all the while working every single day to fulfill their potential as an individual performer. So what do we do? Coaching leaders have an incredible level of self awareness and are always looking to go. Identifying your strengths and your gaps in your coaching is absolutely the first step. How do you do that? Well, it's funny you should ask because we now have an athletics of business assessment. So do we see why the coaching leader is so important and so significant? The opportunity that you have to impact and influence the people that you lead in a different settlement in the organization as well as their lives?

[13:21] When I was coaching college basketball, we always talked about, and I know right now we have a significant challenge of recruiting and retaining across the board, all industries. And when I was a college basketball coach, I firmly believe that our best recruiters, we could take a kid to see the arena, we could take a kid across a beautiful campus, we could have him meet some wonderful professors and some really cool people, you know, the different things and do all this stuff and give them a nice hotel room and have a highlight. I do all these different things for him. Right, right. But I firmly believe that our best recruiters, the most effective recruiters that we had were our current and former players, hands down, because they can share the experience that they had and the difference it made in their lives.

[13:58] There was always basketball, but here I am getting a little bit older now, and you go back and you look at the relationships you still have from your coaching days and the reasons you have it and the stories that come up and often the stories aren't, they're not about games, about different moments. And I really think that's something as leaders we need to think about. And I dont really like using this word, but I take this very seriously. Its an obligation, its a responsibility and its an honor. And to do that you have to commit yourself to consistently to steal a page out of the ethics of business brand is to consistently be working on your game. I mean, if you want your people to have great, you need to have grit.

[14:33] If you want there to be positive energy, you need to have the positive energy. If you want resilience, you have to be resilient. If you want over communication with the shared language that has to come from you. I am not just saying it cliche and not saying something because it sounds cool. A team absolutely is a direct reflection of their coach and the behaviors of the team. The behavior of the coach are what drive the culture and the culture is what's going to help you recruit the top talent and retain it. So what do you do now? What do you do with this information? Where do you go from here? Is it something that most folks do that sounds good? I get it. I just don't have time to work on it.

[15:07] Or do you get intentional about how you can move from being a manager in reporting and getting people to do the things they're supposed to see? A manager is a lot about rules, right? Rules and regs, the great teams of peak performers, the high impact coaches, the coaching leaders. What they focus on is standards. And not just any standards, but exceptional standards. And they work tirelessly every single day to exceed those standards. And that's where it really gets fun. And to do that now, winning is not normal. Let me be very clear, winning is not normal. What you need to do to win is not normal. Winning on a consistent basis, sustaining a high level of success and achieving victory at the highest level year over year. It is not easy to do and it is not normal. And you know what?

[15:53] Not normal scares a lot of people. And the people that it scares aren't the people you want in your organization. The people that not normal scares arent the folks that should be coaching leaders arent the folks that are going to make high impact coaching. Because the ones that succeed at the highest level, achieve victory at the highest level, consistently live outside their comfort zone every single day because they know thats the absolutely only way that they are going to grow and thats the only way that their people are going to grow.

[16:19] Thank you for listening to the athletics of business. Be sure to give us a rating and review so we know how were doing. For more information about the show, visit the atlas. Now get out there, think, act and execute at the highest level to unleash your greatness.