How to Turbo-Charge Your Leadership Effectiveness

Who is the best leader you've ever worked for?? If you're fortunate, many names pop into your mind.??

Ask yourself, what made that leader so impactful for you...

Was it their recognition of your abilities?? Public accolades?

Someone who marketed, supported, and promoted you?

Or perhaps it was someone who challenged and stretched you, at times to the point of frustration.

All of those qualities are commendable and a desirable skill set to have in any leader.

Yet there is another leadership quality that supersedes all of them.

Unequivocally, the most effective leaders are those that cause the people around them to think, and to think for themselves.? No other leadership skill will impact the culture and results of an organization than one that teach people to be thinkers, self-sufficient, problem-solvers, and relentless growth-seekers.

So how does a leader accomplish all of that?

Through the power of coaching.?And I'm not referring to the typical definition of coaching, such as in the sports world.

I'm talking about what Harvard Business Review calls an evolution. "It's a way of asking questions so as to spark insights in the other person."??

It's not about telling the other person what to do, a trait so prevalent that it's almost shocking to find someone who doesn't subscribe to this behavior.? I'd venture to say that this behavior describes a manager, NOT a Leader.

A huge part of what gets in the way of asking questions to spark internal curiosity, is that it's often quicker and easier to tell someone what to do than it is to teach them how to do it (which is just one of several steps in training a skill that is repeatable and executable at a high standard, by the way).? Managers want things done, right now, yesterday, in fact.?

And while that behavior may produce an immediate result, it also creates a dependency on the manager for continued instruction.

A far more effective choice- and it is a choice- is to teach people the skill, and then coach for development and performance beyond that point.

Becoming a High Performance Leadership Coach is rooted in the intuitive art of asking evocative questions in response to a question or comment posed to that Leader.

It's an art, and a skill, that anyone can learn who has the willingness to unlearn what they've always believed to be true about how to 'manage' people.

Curious?

Here's an exercise to help you get started.? The next time an employee asks you for help, asks a specific question or poses a problem to you, think about how to respond with a question rather than a solution.? Questions such as:

"What do you think?"

"What ideas do you have that might work?"

"Where could you find potential answers to that question?"

"What have you already tried?"

"What else could you try that might work?"

"If someone came to you with that question, how would you respond?"

Here's the key.? At the moment a question is posed, your natural instinct is to answer, because it's your habitual response.? Challenge yourself to pause, tap into your intuition- yes, you have intuitive ability, you're just rusty in using it- and ask a question in return.? Trust that your intuition will know an effective question to ask.

"I never cease to be amazed at the power of the coaching process to draw out the skills or talent that was previously hidden within an individual, and which invariably finds a way to solve a problem previously thought unsolvable."?

~John Russell

Allow me to give a shout-out to several of those High-Performance Leaders that had a significant impact on me, my career, and my life:

• Marlene L. Olshan
• Bob R.
• Pam Merten
• Ann Perinchief
• Fabian Mansson
• Carl Seletz
• Linda Heasley
• Greg Elder
• Chad Donath
• Jerry Spencer
• Melissa Whitehead

I have been fortunate indeed, with Leaders such as these.

Would your name appear on a similar list for those whose lives you impact?

If you're uncertain, you can change that...

Commit to making curiosity-infused, intuitively sparked question-asking a new tool in your toolbox.? Like anything else, it takes time to develop.?

Know this.

N0 other leadership skill will have the same degree of impact than that of a High Performance Coach.

And there's no better way to become an effective Coach than to have a Coach yourself.? There's a reason why many of the world's most successful people have at least one.

For a very brief time, I have limited open spots available to offer a coaching partnership opportunity to you.? If you're seriously interested in turbo-charging your leadership skills, then you'll want to explore this further.? Curious, growth-obsessed leaders can reach me here for a conversation:? Deb's Calendar

Deb

Deb Dredden

Founder, Deb Dredden Transformational Coaching

Founding Member / Faculty,??Conscious Coaching Academy

949.939.2577 / [email protected]

Choice Is Your SuperPower!?

Deb Dredden Transformational Coaching

"You can't go back and change the beginning but you can start where you are and change the ending."~C.S. Lewis