05-27-2026
The Leadership Base Map series is designed to hone the integration of leadership, management and coaching, each of which is key to business leaders’ success.
In this final installment we peel back the layers on coaching — not as a buzzword, but as the quiet force that powers true leadership and effective management.
Coaching matters because it weaves together the roles of leading and managing, along with the acts of orienting, performing and evolving within a team:
| Role | Orient | Perform | Evolve |
|---|---|---|---|
Lead |
Discern & Decide The Direction To start moving |
Clarify & Energize The People To fuel the movement |
Scan & Probe The Operating Environment To anticipate change |
Manage |
Prioritize & Position The Resources To focus effort |
Maneuver & Measure The Work To deliver value |
Detect & Experiment The Tactics To be disciplined innovators |
Coach |
Assign & Define The Tasks & Expectations To establish ownership |
Empower & Support The People To help them bring their best |
Improvise & Upskill The Capabilities To strengthen the team |
The bottom line is this: you can be great at leading and managing, but without coaching, it will simply be where the rubber meets the air. And that won’t take you very many places.
Let’s meet Janice — a razor-sharp analyst at a bustling tech firm. Given a new market research project, she launches with gusto, dreaming up a sprawling report filled with data visualizations, competitor insights and intricate trend analyses. For two weeks, Janice works late into the night, perfecting every detail.
But here’s the twist: Her manager only wanted a concise summary with three market trends. The briefing was vague, and Janice, hesitant to ask for details, made assumptions about what was needed. She hoped her thoroughness would dazzle.
When the day of the big reveal arrives, Janice’s manager is caught off guard — not by the depth of the work, but by the mountain of unrequested detail. The disconnect is glaring: two weeks of effort spent chasing the wrong outcome, forcing the team to scramble and condense her findings into the brief summary actually required.
Janice walks away with a hard-earned lesson: never underestimate the power of a simple check-in. Clarifying expectations could have saved everyone time, energy and frustration. From that day on, she made a point of confirming objectives first, aligning her efforts with what truly mattered.
Observing Janice’s experience, her supervisor Greg saw a bigger pattern at play. What if every member of his team made similar assumptions? The cost of wasted time and energy could spiral quickly. He began outlining project outcomes with greater clarity, ensuring everyone was rowing in the same direction.
This example, while seemingly managerial, reveals the intricate dance between managing, leading and coaching. It sits at the crossroads: the manager sets priorities, but the coach transforms intentions into aligned action.
Coaching isn’t about hovering or micromanaging. Too much direction stifles trust and initiative; too little, and people drift off course, as Janice did. The trick lies in tuning your approach to each person’s skills and confidence, offering the encouragement and guidance that help them shine without holding them back.
And when it comes to evolving, coaching is about more than quick fixes. Sure, improvisation solves today’s problem, but if the same issue surfaces repeatedly — like that team member who can’t quite master sharing files in a digital workspace — it’s time to shift from patching holes to building skills.
Leadership isn’t a set of isolated hats to swap in and out. The lines between leading, managing and coaching blur and blend, turning the practice into more art than science. But by examining our habits, dissecting our routines, and demanding clarity and connection, we close performance gaps — and open the door for our teams to rise to their full potential.
Let’s lift each other up. Let’s turn assumptions into alignment. Let’s call people up and let them perform.
Keith Risinger is the executive director of leadership development at Eli Lilly and Company. Throughout his 26-year tenure, Risinger has had the opportunity to shape the leadership landscape within the organization. His experience is concentrated in and spans coaching, teaching and advising teams to be more effective at work. In his role, Risinger works closely with teams across Lilly, providing guidance and support to help them navigate the complexities of teaming and leadership aligning everyday effort to enduring value. When he's not working, you can often find him on the cranking end of a fishing rod, enjoying the tranquility and challenge of the sport.
