Where Should You Spend Your Coaching Time?

Arguably, one of the hardest roles I ever had was my first front-line management job.

There were all kinds of challenges. What kind of leader would I be? How do I move from IC to manager? How do I coach effectively? And most importantly: where do I spend my time?

As I progressed into VP and CRO roles, my teams became more experienced. They had already proven they could operate at a high level. Front-line management is different. It's the wild west. Who is leaning in? Who is passing through? Who is coachable? All while you're figuring out your own path.

Most leaders say people are their most important asset. I agree. But then I watch how they spend their time. And most get it wrong.

We all have the same constraint: time. Roughly 520 hours per quarter.

Most leaders default to one of two approaches: they spread their time evenly across everyone, or they spend most of it on their lowest performers. Both are wrong. Not because those people don't matter. Because the return on that time is low.

I segment teams into four groups: A, B, C, and D.

A players consistently outperform. They run their business well. They forecast accurately. They land between 105 and 125 percent of quota.

B players are close. They typically fall between 80 and 95 percent. They're not broken. They're one or two skills away. Closing. Pipeline management. Deal qualification. They're coachable. They're your future A players.

C players land between 60 and 75 percent. They have multiple gaps. They struggle with consistency, process, or behavior. Coaching them is possible, but it's slow.

D players are below that. Consistently under 60 percent.

If A players run down the path, B players walk it, C players have left it, and D players never knew it existed.

If you spend your time on C players, at best you get a C+. A move from 62 to 68 percent. At the cost of significant leadership cycles. If you invest that same time in B players, you can move them from 90 to 105 percent.

That's a material outcome. Same time. Different return.

A players need attention, but not heavy coaching. Feed them. Support them. Keep them focused. But don't over-manage them. B players are where the leverage is. That's where coaching time should go. Because that's where growth happens. And over time, that's how you build a team of A players.

C and D players require decisions. Not just coaching. Because at some point, time spent there isn't development. It's delay.

Time is the most constrained resource in leadership. Spend it where it compounds.

Next: how to actually rate and rank your team.