How full is your circle?

Have you ever wondered if you have what it takes to lead effectively? In June 2018, I was engaged to carry out a coaching assignment for some senior business executives in a major logistics firm providing supply chain services to blue chip organisations. The participants involved ranged from the Deputy Managing Director to heads of departments. Prior to the first coaching session, I asked them to complete a pre-coaching questionnaire and the coaching preparation form. The questions were designed to stimulate their thinking in a way that will make our work together more productive. The coaching session preparation form helped them to prepare for the session and allowed them to optimise their results and our time together by asking questions.

The participants were expected to have one-on-one sessions ranging from sixty to ninety minutes with me. We used the first session to address the issues and concerns they had raised in the pre-coaching questionnaire and the coaching preparation form. Prior to the second coaching session, the participants were asked to complete the Leadership Capabilities - How Full is Your Circle - questionnaire. This is a tested methodology which is designed to produce great results for leaders seeking coaching to get better at leading others. This diagnostic formed the bedrock of our subsequent conversations. The role of leadership in an organization is to continually scan the external environment to see what could affect the business, and drive results over the long-term through people. To do this, senior-level executives draw on a core set of leadership capabilities, regardless of their role, industry or geography under two broad headings: People and Strategic leadership.

People Leadership Capabilities

1. Build self-awareness and listens
2. Provides direction and focus
3. Engages and inspires

Strategic Leadership Capabilities

1. Drives innovation and change
2. Supports high performing teams
3. Drives for results

I introduced this concept and structured the conversations on how each manager assessed and bench-marked themselves based on the six capabilities that research has shown are critical to leadership performance on a scale of 1 to 5 as shown below.

1 = Critical development needed

2 = Development needed

3 = Competent

4 = Strength

5 = Exceptional Strength

The spider web-like Leadership Capability Profile generated provides a graphical indication of areas needing attention. At this point, you see how full your circle is. We then start the deep dive. The sessions were not only aimed at improving self-awareness and insights on the six capabilities, but also to choose a specific behaviour to work on in order to demonstrate measurable improvements. The focus was on helping the managers to start doing something, building on identified strengths, review something they needs to stop doing, or something they should do less. 

Our discussion covered behavioural change through coaching, further review of the leadership capabilities dashboard that the managers completed, current challenges and recommendation of various tools needed to build on strengths and leadership. In order to deepen knowledge of emotional intelligence and talent management through coaching and counselling, the managers were tasked to read articles on how to manage a temperamental talent and the hidden driver of great performance.

Across board, the sessions were well received by the managers. They commended the initiative because it has helped them to find meaning and share pressing concerns in a safe, non-threatening setting. Some reported that they have started coaching team members. Many felt it projected their organisation as a company that placed premium on employee effectiveness and growth. Most of them with direct reports have shared the feedback I gave them with their team members in order to develop a better understanding of the strengths of individual team members as the first step towards building an effective team. Some said they now try to listen more, rather than do most of the talking. 

Research shows that individual confidence builds up and managers become more relaxed in having beneficial conversations after productive coaching conversations. I counseled them on how to address a range of situations and challenges that leaders face, from how to better engage employees to building good relationships, managing up, resolving conflict, creating a high-performance culture, leading change, building teams, and juggling multiple priorities. One question that kept coming up was 'when is the next session going to take place?