The Operations Bridge

There’s a moment that happens dozens of times a day for any frontline leader: someone does something short of the standard, and you have a split second to decide how to respond. Correct it and move on, or slow down and coach it. Most of us default to correcting, because it’s faster. I’ve come to think that default is quietly expensive.

Correcting fixes the moment. Coaching fixes the pattern

When I tell someone “do it this way instead” without asking why they did it the other way, I’ve solved today’s instance of the problem. I haven’t touched whatever caused it, so it shows up again next week, sometimes with someone else, and I end up having the same conversation on a loop without realizing it’s a loop.

Coaching starts with a question, not an answer

The shift for me was learning to ask “walk me through what happened here” before jumping to “here’s what you should have done.” Half the time the answer reveals something about the process, the training, or a constraint I didn’t know about — not just a person who needs to try harder. The other half, the person actually talks themselves into the right answer, which sticks far better than being handed it.

Know which moments deserve which response

• Safety issues: correct immediately, coach afterward once things are stable.
• Recurring mistakes: always coach — correcting a repeat issue for the third time without asking why is a sign the correction isn’t working.
• First-time issues with a new task: coach, since the person likely hasn’t built the judgment yet.
• Time-critical production moments: correct in the moment, then circle back to coach later without letting it drop.

Coaching takes longer in the moment and saves time over the long run. Correcting feels efficient and quietly costs you the same conversation, over and over, with your name attached to it every time.