Leading and empowering Development.

As leaders we have a responsibility to ensure that our teams are protected, nurtured, and are given every opportunity to develop and grow as part of their journey of growth and attaining knowledge. It’s not an easy job to ‘people’. Taking on the feelings and emotions of those around us will emphatically impact on our own personal demeanor and wellbeing.

As part of Leadership growth, I shared a few tips with my Leadership team on coaching their teams in 1:1’s and Personal Development discussions. I’m an avid supporter on internal promotional and developmental opportunity for team members within the department and as a result, we have a responsibility to groom and empower those team members to become the Leaders they deserve to be!

Team coaching provides a sounding board for leaders to test new ideas, experiment with various approaches, and receive honest feedback from team members. They also help leaders develop action plans and accountability structures to ensure that they are making progress towards their goals and the goals of the organisation. Coaching enables self-awareness, identifies blind spots of personal performance and supports positive engagement to phase out old habits and behaviors, improve team dynamics, identify growth opportunities, fine-tune a growth mindset, unlock true potential, perform at their best in any situation and yield better business results.

A dictated stance to team performance and improvement is old school and, in my opinion, ineffective. Team members want to feel part of a story, a journey, something that they have a vested interest in. Providing constructive guidance on what someone should do to improve, should be a respectful and collaborative dialogue that paves the way to positive change.

Some of the tips shared with my team include:

Create a safe and supportive, yet challenging environment.

We all need our thinking challenged at times. Providing safety and support includes assuring team members that they’ve been heard and that their feelings and values are understood.

Try to work within the team members agenda.

Coaching sessions are not about the leader, and thus the team member should decide which goals to work on and even how to go about improving.

Facilitate and collaborate.

Like Socrates, who always led his students with questions, the best coaches don’t give direct answers or act as the expert. The ultimate choice should rest with the team member, with the Leaders acting as the facilitator and enabler.

Advocate self-awareness.

You want your team to learn how to recognize their own strengths and present weaknesses. ?

Promote learning from experience.

Most people can learn, grow, and change only if they have the right set of experiences and are open to learning from them. Support the team member in reflecting on past events and analyze what went well and what didn’t.

Lead by example

This may be the most difficult to exemplify, as it means putting into practice the lessons you’ve been trying to communicate.

?What does this do for a team/individual?

o?? Promotes positive Organizational Culture Change through influence.

o?? Innovativeness and Creativity enhance ability to think differently and embrace a new perspective.

o?? Promotes Ethical decision-making and behaviors.

o?? Improved Diversity and Inclusion by addressing unconscious biases and

fostering a more inclusive culture.

o?? Promotes a more collaborative and engaged team/workforce

By developing our team members for leadership, we can make an impact on the future growth of the organization and the individual. We empower our teams to help others reach the potential of their abilities, empowering them to be more involved with the mission of the organization and contribute to its success.