​Are you watching the Rio Olympics? If you are, you may have noticed that the athletes’ coaches are right where the action is. They coach in the moment, not hours or days after the event. 

If there is one thing that is becoming clearer to me every day, it is the need to bring coaching in organizations to where the action is!

Organizations need leaders at all levels. To be competitive in today’s fast-paced business environment, managers have to also be leaders. As a manager and leader, you have to be able to engage and develop your people, especially the Millennials. One of the most effective tools to achieve this is coaching. Human beings are at their best when they are valued, feel listened to, and are acknowledged for their contribution. Engaging them in an ongoing dialogue stimulates learning, builds self-awareness, and leads to improved decision-making. Coaching conversations encourage less “telling” and more “listening and inquiry”, leading to a “commitment and accountability” culture.
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Transforming your organization requires a change in focus, and in the way you communicate. The key transformational components are depicted in our Coaching Culture Model:

• Being curious allows you to gain insights into the thinking of others, and to acquire knowledge that helps to build more effective relationships.

• When you are aware of your own thinking, emotions, and triggers, you can choose mindful actions, instead of “autopilot reactions”, and avoid drama, confusion, and loss of trust.
• Powerful questions are at the core of learning and connecting with others in a meaningful way.

• Your presence is required when you "listen to understand". Once you understand, you have options on how to respond. 

Coaching is at the center of our model. It facilitates the embodiment of desired changes by practicing new behaviors. “Being” a coach is different from “doing” coaching. To “be” a coach, new behaviors have to become part of who you are. When you “show up” as the “genuine article”, you inspire trust and invite open communication, two pillars of effective relationships. I speak from experience when I say that your team will respond with enthusiasm and higher performance. It is invigorating and fulfilling to be part of such an environment.

Achieving this transformation requires making coaching part of your everyday life. That is exactly why it has to happen where the action is.
See Leader as Coach

“According to Gallup’s 2013 State of the American Workplace report, 50% of employees merely put their time in, while the remaining 20% act out their discontent in counterproductive ways, negatively influencing their coworkers, missing days on the job, and driving customers away through poor service. Gallup estimates that the 20% group alone costs the U.S. economy around half a trillion dollars each year”.

I just read this in an article focused on leadership development that should "connect closely to market realities" (HBR-Blue Ocean Leadership). The article’s authors wrote “Blue Ocean Strategies”, published in 2005, and it appears they are expanding their concept into the leadership development realm. 

I recommend the HBR article. And here is what really caught my attention: “Distribute leadership across all management levels”.  Wow, I’ve been talking about this for years, and many of my clients “get it”. If you want to learn more go to www.topviewleadership.com where you will find our “Middle Managers Leadership Coaching Program” I strongly believe, as do the HBR authors, that today’s and tomorrow’s organizations need leaders at all levels to be successful.

What are you doing to develop your Middle Managers? Let’s talk! 

Just read a great article written by Marvin Bower, former Managing Partner at McKinsey. At age 93 
Mr. Bower urges all senior managers to abandon "Command-and-Control" structures. Amen to that!

These structures were invented in the 18th and 19th Century during the Industrial Revolution. They continued to be the top model during the 20th Century, and they are still in use in many organizations today. To the surprise of many, Information Age managers continue to "hang on", wondering why the system doesn't work. It is to those managers that I recommend Mr. Bower's article. My readers are familiar with my view that today's organizations need leaders at all levels to be successful. This can only happen when senior managers embrace leadership as the driving force for the 21st Century organization, and when they build environments of trust and engagement. 

Enjoy the article! 

Today I want to share one of my favorite TED Talks with you: Simon Sineks's "How great leaders inspire action". It is my belief that today's organizations need leaders at all levels. To BE a leader you must know WHY you do what you do. Looking forward to your feedback.