
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.
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