How do you balance coaching and mentoring with your own workload and responsibilities?

As an organizational leader, understanding and focusing on the role that addresses the most pressing needs at any given time is critical. Adapt your approach based on your team's development stages and goals. Focus on the purpose and adapt the process which works best for the coachees' progress. These are development tools and a good mix at the right time, for the right purpose is the key for a great recipe.

Coaching can be a place where outsourcing to professional executive coaches can make a lot of sense for several reasons. First, your own executive time is a limited and expensive resource. Second, external coaches are experts trained to coach effectively. Third, external coaches can focus on the coaching and not worry about all the other primary work roles an executive will have. Fourth, an external coach can bring an independent perspective that will make them good sounding board that can see through internal biases. When you bring an external executive coach in, the executives in your organization can still play an important role as the sponsor of the coaching. They can help guide and assess the value of the coaching.

Listening is a skill that appears simple and natural. However, many share daily experiences that the person they spoke to was a bad listener. As a leader, coach and a seller, we often play the role.of change agent to our teams and clients. How can one help them move from a current state to the desired state if one does not listen with their ears, eyes and heart?

The importance of listening cannot be overstated. It is the bridge that is required for taking the team members from point 'A' to 'B'. How the relationship evolves hinges primarily on the ability to actively and empathetically listen to the employees for their aspirations, challenges, and goals. It is only when they feel heard and understood, that they develop a sense of trust, which is essential for open and honest discussions, leading to deeper insights in a supportive environment.

In addition, letting your team "fail" is essential. We learn from our mistakes, and if the mistakes are held against the team, they'll be hesitant to take on new roles and or projects. Letting them make mistakes and then debrief as what they can do next time to get a better result is very empowering.

Encourage team members to take ownership of their growth. Provide resources and let them drive their development with your guidance. Delegating responsibilities to team members allows for their growth and also leaves you with valuable time to focus on coaching, mentoring, and training your team, as required. As a leader, you model the behavior you want to see- you are not an expert and a 'know-all'; you are continuously learning and evolving as a leader- by showcasing the importance of growth by open feedback, adapting and evolving, you create a learning environment where independent thinking is encouraged and is considered safe.