Are you Coaching or Fixing?

When you fix, the thinking happens in your head. When you coach, you create the conditions for it to happen in theirs.

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July 28, 2026

Originally published in One More Rep, a weekly newsletter for people managers who want to get better through practice. Subscribe here — it's free.

Week 30. Rep 30. July was about handing the work off. August is about developing the people doing it.

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Read

The Moment

Your direct comes to you with a problem. You listen for about thirty seconds, see the answer, and give it to them. They thank you, leave, and come back next week with another problem to solve.

The Pattern

Fixing often feels like leadership. It's fast, it's competent, it demonstrates expertise. When you solve someone's problem, you both leave the conversation feeling good: they have an answer, you showed value and expertise.

This is a short term solution with a long term cost. Your team stops thinking before they come to you. They don't develop judgment because yours is always available. They become skilled at accessing your experience and knowledge, but not building their own.

Why This Matters

Coaching and fixing can look similar in the moment. Both involve a conversation about a problem. The difference is where the thinking happens.

When you fix, the thinking happens in your head. When you coach, you create the conditions for it to happen in theirs. That distinction is what we're working on in August.

Before you can coach deliberately, you need to know which one you're actually doing right now.

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Rep

This Week's Practice

Time to build an inventory. Not of your team's problems, but of your own pattern. How often do you give the answer versus ask the question? How often does someone leave a conversation with your solution versus their own?

Your Rep

Track every problem-solving conversation you have with a direct this week. For each one, write down: did you give them the answer or did you ask them a question that helped them find it?

What to Notice

Success looks like:

• You can see a clear pattern across the week: you lean one way more than the other

• At least one conversation where you caught yourself about to fix and asked a question instead

  
  

Resistance looks like:

• "I do both"...you probably lean one way; look closer

• Counting conversations where you asked one clarifying question and then gave the answer as coaching

It's working when:

• You notice the urge to fix before you act on it

Common Mistakes

Mistake #1: Thinking questions are always coaching. Asking "have you tried X?" is still fixing, you're just phrasing the answer as a question. Coaching asks questions you don't already know the answer to. "What have you already tried?" is coaching. "Have you tried emailing the client directly?" is not.

Mistake #2: Coaching when fixing is actually right. Some problems need your answer. A new direct facing an urgent client issue doesn't need questioning, they need your expertise. Know the difference before the conversation starts.

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Reflect

• What does your pattern tell you about what your team is learning from you?

• Where did you fix when you could have coached, and what stopped you from asking instead?

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Cristina Stensvaag is co-founder of LeaderReps and creator of One More Rep, a weekly practice-based leadership newsletter for people managers.