The Stagecoach Metaphor

During a 1-1 executive coaching session with a client CEO, we spent the hour grading the performance of his leadership team members. The score he gave one of his functional department heads stood out, and not in a good way.

The functional manager was hired when the company was at an earlier stage of evolution. 

In response to a series of questions, the CEO gave me answers like:

“I find myself getting deeply involved in their function and making decisions for them”
“I have to tell them what to focus on. They should be telling me what the priorities are” 
“I am constantly chasing them up to get projects done on time” 
“They’re a hard worker, but they spend their time on low value tasks”
“I need them to build a team of capable people around them they can delegate to”
“I guess I don’t fully trust them to get the job done”

In summary, the CEO doubts whether the incumbent manager “has the chops” to take their functional department to the next level and support the company’s growth ambitions.

I pulled out my trusty Stagecoach Metaphor to illustrate the concept of “pulling vs pushing” (see generated image above).

I like to think that I developed the Stagecoach Metaphor myself (and Google Gemini assures me I did). But feel free to correct me if I am mistaken and I will attribute it accordingly.

Picture this: The stagecoach is your business. The CEO is the stagecoach driver.  

Scenario A.

Your managers are a team of coach horses “pulling” your business toward the future at a quick gallop. In this metaphor the CEO is sitting high in the carriage seat with good forward visibility. You focus on vision and strategy. Your hands hold the reins lightly to steer the coach, keep the team aligned, and moving at the right pace for the conditions. You seldom need to use the whip. You might even tap the brakes on occasion so you don’t lose control and crash. 

Your managers are “bar raisers”. They are “pulling” the performance of the business (and their departments) up to the next level. I wrote about this concept in my article, “The 18 Month Rule for Hiring”. Think about where you want your team to be in 18 months’ time in terms of team size, sophistication, and level of performance. Make sure you appoint managers who can “pull you up” to that level.

Scenario B.

Your managers are a team of draft oxen. I have nothing against oxen, but they cannot be steered with reins from the carriage seat like horses. Oxen must be led on foot. You are forced to climb down and walk alongside them, “pushing” and yelling and prodding them with a stick to keep them moving forward at a walking pace. If you step away, they grind to a halt.   

You may still reach your destination, but the pace of oxen is slow. You need to “push” and micromanage them every step of the way. This consumes a lot of your personal energy.  Is that how you want to operate?  

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Of course, I do not want to imply that your staff are beasts of burden, but hopefully the Stagecoach Metaphor illustrates an important concept about the makeup of your management team.

People who were a good fit when you were a small, early-stage company may not be the right fit when your company grows and scales. The people who got you here may not be the people who can get you to the next level.

They might have been an A-Player once, but performance expectations have outgrown their capabilities. Now this person is a B-Player holding your team back.

It’s a tough decision to remove people who are considered “loyal” employees. I coach my clients, “Don’t mistake loyalty for performance.” Your duty is to act in the best interests of the company.

I challenged the CEO: “Is your Manager pulling your business upward and raising the bar, or do you have to push them just to meet the current bar for performance?”

Of course, we both knew the answer. The agenda for our next executive coaching session is to develop a plan and timeline to upgrade the capability of that business function.

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Until next time…
Stephen