What the MyNavy Coaching Manual Says About Culture
Culture does not change through slogans. It changes through leader behavior, especially the way leaders listen, ask questions, and create trust. According to the U.S. Navy, coaching is a communication skill and a leadership mindset that helps build a coaching culture, supporting “readiness, adaptability, resilience, decision-making, and operational excellence.”
The MyNavy Coaching Manual (Updated December 2025) says the goal is to create a culture that “enhances warfighter and operational readiness” by developing a “resilient, adaptable, and mission-ready” organization. It also ties coaching to collaborative communication, personal self-awareness, regular feedback, and deliberate professional growth.
Key Takeaways
Coaching means asking more open-ended questions (The O in OARS), refraining from giving the answer, avoiding advice-giving, leading with empathy, and staying people-focused
Coaching is a "Learn with Me" approach that builds self-awareness, ownership, and accountability
Coaching is not mentoring, a “Learn from Me” approach, and it is not performance counseling
Coaching works best in a “psychologically safe environment free from retaliation and reprisal”
Coach-like behaviors help reduce poor decision making, destructive behavior, and unnecessary stress (while accelerating agile execution)
Coaching as a Leadership Capability
If we want a stronger culture, we need leaders who do more than direct. We need leaders who know how to coach.
Culture changes when leaders create space for better thinking and stronger ownership
If we want people to take ownership, we need fewer assumptions and more open-ended questions
If we want honesty, we need environments where people can speak up with confidence
If we want better performance, we need leaders who can listen actively, be relationship-focused, and help others think through their own solutions
If we want growth, we need coaching that builds self-awareness, accountability, and follow-through
If we want readiness, adaptability, and resilience, we need coaching to be part of everyday leadership, not an occasional event
Coaching is not a soft add-on (see core competencies). It is a practical leadership capability that shapes how people think, how teams work, and how culture performs
Bottom line
Coaching is a leadership choice. If leaders keep defaulting to answers, they will keep creating dependency. If we want stronger teams, better ownership, and the collaboration agile work requires, leaders need to move away from command-and-control behaviors and make coaching part of everyday leadership.
Comments