Unlock Your True Leadership Potential with these 4 Coaching Lessons

"Feedback is the breakfast of champions." - Ken Blanchard

Over the past weekend, I had the privilege of immersing myself in the coaching world at Henley Business School.

This unique experience shared with exceptional peers, has enriched my understanding of coaching in ways I'm eager to share and provide a view of how these learnings can be applied to corporate environments.

My reflections are structured around four key themes:

Cultivating Self-Awareness, Embracing Feedback as a Gift, Trust as the Foundation, and The Power of Focusing on Others.

Cultivating Self-Awareness ??

The Learning:

• Observe Peers: I identified my coaching preferences and refined my techniques by observing my peers' coaching styles.
• Reflect Using Henley 8: Using the Henley 8 methodology, I pinpointed specific areas for improvement and developed a more effective style.
• Leverage Personality Strengths: Understanding how my Protagonist personality influences my coaching approach allowed me to address potential biases and utilise my natural strengths.

Action You Can Take Today:

• Apply Henley 8: Use the Henley 8 methodology to gain insights into your leadership style and identify areas for improvement.

Feedback is a Gift ??

The Learning:

• Provide Timely Feedback: I learned the importance of providing feedback immediately to ensure relevance and clarity.
• Use Structured Feedback: Practising a structured feedback process where both the coach and coachee shared thoughts on strengths and stretch areas encouraged mutual understanding and growth.
• Reflect, Internalise, and Act: Reflecting on feedback to align it with personal and professional goals and creating an action plan with specific steps and measurable goals helped me integrate feedback into my coaching practices.

Action You Can Take Today:

• Use the SBI Model: Apply the Situation-Behaviour-Impact model in your next feedback session. For instance, "During yesterday's meeting (situation), you interrupted several times (behaviour), which made it hard for others to share their ideas (impact). In the future, please wait for others to finish speaking before you contribute."

Trust is Everything ??

The Learning:

• Build Psychological Safety: Creating an environment where coachees felt safe to share their thoughts without fear of judgement fostered deeper, more honest conversations.
• Practise Active Listening: Giving the coachee my full attention, acknowledging their feelings, and responding thoughtfully without interrupting built a strong foundation of trust.
• Show Vulnerability: Coachees sharing personal and vulnerable topics helped strengthen trust within the group. By showing vulnerability myself and encouraging others to do the same, we built deeper, more authentic connections. This mutual openness paved the way for more meaningful and supportive relationships.

Action You Can Take Today:

• Practice Active Listening: Stop talking, bring your attention back to the speaker when your mind wanders, and reflect on what you think you have heard to show understanding. For example, if your mind starts to drift, refocus on the speaker and say, "So, what I hear you saying is that the current project deadlines are causing a lot of stress, correct?"

Focus on Them ??

The Learning:

• Reflect and Paraphrase: Reflecting what the coachee has said to show understanding and clarify confusion helps coachees feel understood and encourages deeper exploration of their thoughts and feelings.
• Ask Open-Ended Questions: Asking questions that require more than a yes or no answer encourages the coachee to share more and explore their thoughts and feelings in depth, facilitating self-discovery.
• Be Patient with Silence: Being patient and allowing silence during coaching sessions encourages the coachee to think more deeply and share more, helping them process their thoughts and come up with solutions.

Action You Can Take Today:

• Ask Powerful Questions: Encourage deeper reflection with questions like, "What would you do if you had no limitations?"

To Conclude

These key learnings from the Executive Coaching weekend emphasise the importance of developing self-awareness, recognising that feedback is a gift, building trust, and focusing on others.

Outcome—Integrating these principles into your leadership approach can create a more open, trust-filled, and productive workplace. Embrace these practices to help your team reach its full potential.

What resonates most with you?

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#Coaching #Leadership #HenleyBusinessSchool #ExecutiveCoaching #PersonalDevelopment #ContinuousLearning