Coaching is a leadership skill. Here's how to use it.

If your team still comes to you for every decision, every escalated risk, or every next step, it might not be a skill issue.
It might be a coaching gap. Because one of the most underrated skills in leadership is this: Coaching.

Not the formal kind. The day-to-day, in-the-moment kind that helps your team grow their thinking, confidence, and ownership.

Coaching Is a Leadership Skill

Your job isn’t to be the fixer. It’s to build a team that knows how to fix, think, and lead on their own.

That means:

• Asking better questions
• Helping your team members make smarter decisions
• Shifting from directing to developing
• Giving the right kind of support at the right time

One of the most useful tools I’ve found for this is the Skill-Will Matrix.

How to Coach Using the Skill-Will Matrix

This framework helps you assess where each team member is and how to tailor your coaching accordingly.

It’s based on two key traits:

Skill: Their capability and experience
​Will: Their motivation, confidence, and drive

When you map your team across these two dimensions, you get four coaching approaches.

High Skill, High Will → Empower + Stretch

These are your top performers. They know what they’re doing and are motivated to keep growing. Your job is to challenge them, not manage them.

How to coach:

• Let them lead high-impact projects or accounts
• Use 1:1s to offer perspective and unblock decisions
• Ask for their input on broader team or strategy topics
• Set stretch goals that push them beyond their comfort zone

High Will, Low Skill → Coach + Guide

They’re motivated but still developing their capabilities. They need structure, support, and time to build confidence.

How to coach:

• Break work into smaller, teachable steps
• Use roleplays to practice key conversations
• Give real-time feedback and positive reinforcement
• Pair them with experienced teammates when possible

High Skill, Low Will → Reignite + Reconnect

They’ve got the talent, but something’s missing. It might be burnout, misalignment, or feeling undervalued.

How to coach:

• Ask questions to uncover what’s going on beneath the surface
• Give them autonomy on work that aligns with their strengths
• Recognize their contributions publicly and privately
• Explore if they need new challenges to feel re-engaged

Low Skill, Low Will → Direct + Support

They need close support to develop both capability and motivation. This might be a new hire, someone in the wrong role, or someone at risk of underperformance.

How to coach:

• Set very clear expectations with short timeframes
• Monitor progress closely and provide frequent feedback
• Reinforce progress and attitude improvements
• Help them connect their work to team and customer impact

Strong Teams Start With Strong Coaching

When leaders coach well:

✅ Team members grow faster and take more ownership
✅ You avoid becoming the bottleneck
✅ Strategic work gets done
✅ Your team becomes more resilient and self-sufficient

But here’s the reality. You can’t coach well if you don’t have support. Leadership is a skill too and it requires reflection, space, and guidance to get better.

Deepen Your Coaching Practice

For a more in-depth look at managing performance challenges with empathy and structure, check out a related blog post: Managing Poor Performance with Impact​. It offers a step-by-step framework to help you turn performance issues into opportunities for growth.