How to Be an Effective Leader and Coach

Welcome to Leadership Resilience, where I’ll share biweekly thoughts on resilience, leadership, and strategy. Learn more about me and what I do here.

Most leaders love the idea of coaching others. Perhaps they are modeling their behavior after a sports coach they’ve played for, a university professor who took a special interest in their studies, or even a manager who provided some good career advice along the way. Seeing the people you coach grow, gain skills, and experience success is a very satisfying experience. Many leaders see coaching as a built-in skill, but in today’s more sophisticated workplace, we need a more targeted and process-driven approach so that time present is well spent and genuine efforts yield measurable results.?

Not every leader or manager is cut out to be a great coach. Some may lack the emotional intelligence to read and understand people well. Some may lack the self-management to understand how their efforts can drive business success. Regardless, not everyone has to be a great coach, but instead, be intentional about looking for the opportunities to help the business succeed by developing others. In Strategy-Driven Leadership, my book with Michael A. Couch, we outline several ways that leaders can be effective coaches.

Just about every leader can be a better coach. Start with focusing on these key areas:

• Meet the employees needs: Manager-coaches want to make certain that they remember the needs of the coachee are critical and must be taken into consideration as they are helped to develop. Recognizing the importance of the coachee’s aspirations is critically important to the success of their development.?
• Focus on the vital few: It is not unusual for people to want to work on 8-10 different skills, but focusing on what matters most will get people advancing in their development. We prefer to focus on one or two skills for a few months, and then, once some momentum is built up, we can move to add another. Learning new skills is not hard to do and can be advanced in just a short period of time. Remember my newsletter, On-Ramps to Development? We discussed several techniques on how to choose and develop a skill as both a leader and a professional.
• Show impact: Showing coachees the impact of the skills they need to learn or the tough decisions they need to make as an essential part of coaching and leading. Remember that learning the “why” is more important than the “how.”
• Don’t forget the team: Development is not just about the individual, but also the team. While many people work well on a team, others do not, and team-effectiveness competencies can be delineated in such a way that the team understands and builds the skills of teamwork for their success.?
• Encourage peer mentorship: While you are bringing the team together to learn about team skills, also examine ways to get team members to support each other’s development. Have your teams gather informally so they can discuss everything from work challenges to how to balance time with team members who have young families. If someone returns from a conference, have them share their findings with the team and discuss how to apply them to your workplace.?
• Talk about career planning: One of the great challenges facing all employees is where and how they will advance and develop professionally within the organization. Having that discussion with team members demonstrates a genuine interest in their work as they think through their next opportunities, which may include one where they can deliver more value for the organization.?
• Encourage diversity of people, ideas, and actions: Diversity will always need to focus on how we can address the needs of underrepresented people in the workplace. Research shows that the more diverse opinions and people with experiences we have in our world, the better the solutions we arrive at. Diversity also means that we create different experiences for people to engage in as part of their development. Check out Deepa Purushothaman’s book, The First, The Few, The Only, for “a roadmap forward for us to make a profound impact within and outside our organizations while ensuring that our words are heard, our lived experiences are respected, and our contributions are finally valued.” Her book was written for women of color in the workplace, but everyone has something to gain from her insights.

Your Challenge for the Week

Remember your development. Development is not just for your employees, but also for the leader.?

• What can you, as a leader, do differently to support your people as a coach?
• What can you learn as a coach that will benefit your professional growth?

Intentional coaching is about having a planned and an effective approach to development. With a few simple tools and basic coaching competencies, leaders can begin transforming everyday opportunities into learning experiences.

Thank you for taking some time with Resilient Leadership.?

If you would like more resources for your resilience and strategy-driven leadership journey, download my free e-book, 10 Keys to Being a Strategy-driven Leader, or you can check out The Resilience Advantage (co-authored with Alan Weiss) and Strategy-Driven Leadership (co-authored with Michael A. Couch).

You can also always contact me here.