We know from research and from our personal experience that the leadership styles a leader chooses to use have a direct impact on what it feels like to work in that organization—the organizational climate. Think about your best and worst bosses: It felt different to work for each of them, and they likely used very different leadership styles. One of the leadership styles that we know from research has a positive impact on an organization and the results it achieves is a coaching style. Given that, positioning managers as coaches has become very popular. One...

This is the first in a five-part series that describes how managers can coach people to practice genuine collaboration in the workplace. Each post represents an excerpt from ATD’s new book, Focus on Them, scheduled for publication in December 2018. Winsor Jenkins is a contributing author of the book.The importance of culture cannot be overstated when it comes to collaboration. We know that technology continues to be an enabler of collaboration. However, if we believe that culture is a pattern of basic assumptions invented, discovered by, or developed by a given...