You’ve found yourself in a leadership position because you’ve excelled at your job. But, is there more to effective leadership? Absolutely.
Adding coaching skills to your leadership toolkit will dramatically improve your effectiveness. Leadership coaching is an integral part of getting results through others. It’s about ensuring those you lead are satisfied, challenged, and successful in their roles.
Leadership coaching requires self-awareness
We’ve talked about this before, the need for self-awareness.
Effective leaders have a sharp awareness of their own personality traits, such as:
Their strengths
Areas for growth
Motivations, goals, dreams
Factors that hinder them
Building your employees' self-awareness is a key component of effective coaching. It is, in fact, foundational to the success of any coaching interaction. One of the key focuses of the coach is to improve the coachee’s self-awareness so they can better problem-solve, take action and move forward.
We know that job satisfaction in the workplace directly impacts the overall success of a company. Happy employees who stay are rooted there because of leaders who invested in them.
And providing coaching support is a terrific way to invest in your people and demonstrate that you care about them and their career progression.
Leadership coaching requires focus
Finding the time to coach others can feel challenging. You have your own tasks to accomplish, and allocating your time to uplifting others can take away from your own agenda.
But if you make coaching others a priority, you’ll be prompted to create space in your day to guide others to succeed in a way that is not self-serving. By taking time to coach others you’ll spend less time doing and more time leading.
“Leaders grow to be great when they cultivate an environment that encourages others to grow to be great.” – Bob MacDonald
There are three key actions you can take that will build your coaching skills and elevate your team. Let’s dive deeper…
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3 steps you can take to coach your team
1. Ask, not tell
As opposed to telling others how things should be done, asking questions is a great way to help foster professional growth in others. Creating a framework for self-discovery with coaching allows your team to develop new skills organically. It allows them to feel challenged in their role.
You might not know where to start, but there are resources available that can give you a framework.
2. Practice curiosity and empathy
Great coaches play the role of compassionate investigative reporters. Being coach-like requires practicing empathy and staying curious a little bit longer in your conversations. The better you listen to your team members and show that you care, the more they will feel trusted, be eager to learn new skills and be inspired to take on new responsibilities.
3. Take the time to acknowledge wins
Leadership coaching is not just about encouraging growth. It’s about recognizing it when it happens. Being a good leader isn't just about celebrating your own successes. It's about recognizing the efforts and hard work of your team.
Ensuring others feel good about their work and giving them the recognition they desire will keep your team happy, and a happy team is a team that thrives.
Leadership coaching: helping everyone rise
It can be a struggle to get a seat at the table. But, leadership isn’t just about helping yourself rise to the top. It’s about guiding others towards success, as well.
A leader who coaches wholeheartedly is a leader who wins in the long run.
So, ask questions, be curious and empathetic, and celebrate others’ successes. You’ll see your team thrive, and you’ll discover that leadership is a journey best shared.
Would you like help framing your leadership objectives? Contact me, and we’ll get started.
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