Communication is a key skill for any executive, especially when it comes to interacting with their boss. How can you as an executive coach help your coachee improve their communication style, frequency, and quality with their boss? Here are some tips to guide you.
Before you can help your coachee communicate more effectively with their boss, you need to understand the current state of their relationship, communication patterns, and challenges. You can use various tools and methods to assess the situation, such as surveys, interviews, feedback, 360-degree reviews, or observation. The goal is to identify the gaps, strengths, and areas of improvement for your coachee's communication with their boss.
To improve communication with their superior, your coachee can : 1. Practice active listening to understand their superior's communication style. 2. Clarify expectations regarding objectives, deadlines and project details. 3. Empathize with their superior's concerns. 4. Maintain clear, concise communication, avoiding jargon. 5. Provide regular updates on their progress. 6. Develop the ability to give and receive constructive feedback. 7. Learn to resolve conflicts respectfully. 8. Adapt their communication style to their superior's preferences. 9. Build a positive, professional relationship. 10. Ask for clarification when necessary. 11. Document important conversations. 12. Use patience and perseverance to improve communication skills.
Based on the assessment, you and your coachee should set clear and realistic goals for improving their communication with their boss. These goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). For example, a goal could be to increase the frequency of feedback from their boss by 50% in the next three months. You should also help your coachee prioritize the most important and urgent goals, and break them down into manageable steps.
As your coachee works on their communication goals, you should provide them with regular feedback and support. Feedback should be constructive, timely, and balanced, highlighting both the positive and negative aspects of their communication with their boss. You should also help your coachee reflect on their progress, challenges, and learnings, and adjust their goals and actions as needed. Support can include providing resources, tools, tips, or encouragement to help your coachee overcome any barriers or difficulties.
Another way to help your coachee communicate more effectively with their boss is to teach them communication skills and strategies that suit their situation and style. For example, you can teach them how to use active listening, empathy, assertiveness, or persuasion techniques to enhance their communication with their boss. You can also teach them how to adapt their communication style to match their boss's preferences, such as using formal or informal language, visual or verbal cues, or direct or indirect messages.
Angela was a high-achieving executive at a tech company. Intelligent and ambitious. She was struggling to communicate effectively with her new boss. During our kick off meeting, she described “John” as a demanding and critical boss. He had high expectations, no room for errors. Angela was now afraid to speak up in meetings or share her ideas. We identified 2 areas to work on: 1. active listening; paying attention to what “John” was saying, to understand his perspective, and create thoughtful responses. She increased rapport with “John” and understood his needs better. 2. assertiveness; Angela learned assertive communication techniques to share her ideas with “John”. Her confidence exploded! Her boss even complimented her!
One of the best ways to help your coachee improve their communication with their boss is to give them opportunities to practice and role-play. You can create realistic scenarios and situations that simulate the communication challenges that your coachee faces with their boss, and act as their boss or an observer. You can then give your coachee feedback on their performance, and help them identify what worked well and what needs improvement. You can also help your coachee prepare for upcoming communication events with their boss, such as meetings, presentations, or negotiations.
Finally, you should celebrate and reinforce the success that your coachee achieves in communicating more effectively with their boss. You can use various methods to acknowledge and reward your coachee's efforts and results, such as praise, recognition, feedback, or incentives. You should also help your coachee sustain and build on their success, by encouraging them to continue practicing, learning, and improving their communication with their boss.