The Leader as Coach: Creating High Performance in Change
The Leader as Coach: Creating High Performance in Change
This article suggests that coaching fulfills this need. Leading as a coach means letting go of the traditional notion of leadership as strategy and control from a distance according to a pre-determined plan of action – the proverbial leader commanding the troops from a position on the hill overlooking the field of battle. In times of rapid change when high levels of complexity and uncertainty are the order of the day, leaders can no longer assume they can know or control what goes on. Information and decision making are dispersed. Plans must be adapted constantly to changing conditions. Individuals and teams must understand the organization’s direction and be empowered to work toward it using their best capabilities and judgments in the moment.
In these circumstances, the role of leadership shifts to one of shaping the understanding, development and learning of team members so they can act both independently and in concert with the goals of the whole organization. The leader becomes a coach. If this sounds a bit far-fetched, consider a recent study conducted in a large, progressive global pharmaceutical company where the set of competencies for leadership were compared with the competencies of a coach. The result? Seventy-five per cent of the competencies were the same. To be an effective leader, one must be an effective coach.
Unfortunately, as quoted above, most corporate leaders are not good coaches. It’s not how we have been trained. It’s not how we are rewarded. And besides, it requires a level of emotional intelligence that makes most of us uncomfortable. We tend to start our careers in technical and/or professional roles where we get work done ourselves through our own expertise. As we grow and expand our leadership roles, however, more and more of what we achieve is done with and through others. We must rely more and more on our personal and interpersonal skills to get the results we want. That means managing performance, giving feedback, confronting issues, dealing with conflict, and a lot of other skills that fall at the bottom of the list of leadership competencies that most of us excel at. We have to learn to balance our understanding of external factors – strategies, priorities, results – with an equal understanding of internal factors – values, purpose, self-awareness.
So how do you increase your skills as a leader coach? First, you look at who you are as a leader. Coaching happens from the inside out. That is, you have to be aware of who you are, how you are perceived, what your own strengths and weaknesses are, and be learning and developing yourself before you can begin to help others do the same. You must be a model of what you want to see in others. If you haven’t had feedback on your own leadership within the last two years, that’s the place to begin. Focus particularly on your emotional intelligence competencies, the skills central to good coaching. Are you a good listener? Do you ask more questions than you give answers? Are you patient with individuals’ problems or do you jump in to solve them before you have even heard the whole story? Do you give regular feedback to your team members to support their ongoing development? Do you address conflicts or do you prefer to keep them under the table? Create your own development plan to take advantage of your strengths and work on any weaknesses.
Once you have a personal development plan, you are in a position to begin working with your team members to develop similar plans with them. Coaching is very much like strategic planning – you can think of it as preparing a personal strategic plan for each individual that is nested within the strategic plan for your unit or organization. It should cover where you are, where you’re headed, and how you are going to get there. Once the plan is created, the coaching supports, challenges and motivates reaching the specified goals. This sounds rather simple and it is – the trick is to actually follow through in the midst of the day to day chaos that characterizes most leaders’ work lives. It’s easy in theory but requires discipline, accountability, focus and persistence to get results. It must become who you are as a leader, how you behave as a leader, or it will be another “to do” on your long list that never quite gets the attention it deserves.
Here are three things you can begin today to be a better coach. Try them and monitor the reactions to see if there is a difference in others as a result of a difference in you.
1. Listen
In your next one-on-one conversations, try really listening with your whole concentration on what is being said. What is the story being told? What is the underlying message? Mirror back what is being said to be sure you understand. Remove distractions. Don’t jump in to solve the problem. Make eye contact and notice body language.
2. Silence
We are usually in such a hurry that we see silence as a waste of valuable time. As a result, we often move too quickly to a conclusion. We are impatient for a solution. Rather than filling the silence, let it be. Try leaving pauses before responding. Use this silent time to really think about what you want to say rather than formulating your answers and questions while the person is still speaking.
3. Unconditional Positive Regard
This term was coined by Carl Rogers. It means approaching each interaction from an appreciative point of view. We have often made up our minds about a person or an issue before the conversation starts. Try letting go of assumptions and just holding the person in positive regard. This doesn’t mean you have to agree with everything they say, but it does mean that you value them as a human being and value their opinions even though they differ from yours.
These coaching techniques are more challenging than they sound. If you master them, you will find the results are well worth the effort. So I encourage you to give it a try, to act, to experiment, to just do it!
References:
Buckingham, M. and C. Coffman. First Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999.
Wright, S. and MacKinnon, C. Leadership Alchemy: The Magic of the Leader Coach. Toronto: TCP Publications, 2003.
Lombardo, M. and R. Eichinger. The Leadership Machine. Minneapolis: Lominger Ltd., 2001.
Rogers, C. On Becoming a Person. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1961.
The Leader as Coach Creating High Performance in Change - To learn more about this author, visit Susan Wright's Website.
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Marcus Buckingham reflects on his Gallup research, “The corporate world is appallingly bad at capitalizing on the strengths of its people.” This condemnation is directed at the great majority of us as leaders who are unable to evoke the full and willing commitment of our teams to apply their energies to achieving our corporate goals. The need is clear: A strong, vibrant workplace where managers engage both the hearts and the minds of individuals and teams in using all of their talents to contribute to high performance results.
This article suggests that coaching fulfills this need. Leading as a coach means letting go of the traditional notion of leadership as strategy and control from a distance according to a pre-determined plan of action – the proverbial leader commanding the troops from a position on the hill overlooking the field of battle. In times of rapid change when high levels of complexity and uncertainty are the order of the day, leaders can no longer assume they can know or control what goes on. Information and decision making are dispersed. Plans must be adapted constantly to changing conditions. Individuals and teams must understand the organization’s direction and be empowered to work toward it using their best capabilities and judgments in the moment.
In these circumstances, the role of leadership shifts to one of shaping the understanding, development and learning of team members so they can act both independently and in concert with the goals of the whole organization. The leader becomes a coach. If this sounds a bit far-fetched, consider a recent study conducted in a large, progressive global pharmaceutical company where the set of competencies for leadership were compared with the competencies of a coach. The result? Seventy-five per cent of the competencies were the same. To be an effective leader, one must be an effective coach.
Unfortunately, as quoted above, most corporate leaders are not good coaches. It’s not how we have been trained. It’s not how we are rewarded. And besides, it requires a level of emotional intelligence that makes most of us uncomfortable. We tend to start our careers in technical and/or professional roles where we get work done ourselves through our own expertise. As we grow and expand our leadership roles, however, more and more of what we achieve is done with and through others. We must rely more and more on our personal and interpersonal skills to get the results we want. That means managing performance, giving feedback, confronting issues, dealing with conflict, and a lot of other skills that fall at the bottom of the list of leadership competencies that most of us excel at. We have to learn to balance our understanding of external factors – strategies, priorities, results – with an equal understanding of internal factors – values, purpose, self-awareness.
So how do you increase your skills as a leader coach? First, you look at who you are as a leader. Coaching happens from the inside out. That is, you have to be aware of who you are, how you are perceived, what your own strengths and weaknesses are, and be learning and developing yourself before you can begin to help others do the same. You must be a model of what you want to see in others. If you haven’t had feedback on your own leadership within the last two years, that’s the place to begin. Focus particularly on your emotional intelligence competencies, the skills central to good coaching. Are you a good listener? Do you ask more questions than you give answers? Are you patient with individuals’ problems or do you jump in to solve them before you have even heard the whole story? Do you give regular feedback to your team members to support their ongoing development? Do you address conflicts or do you prefer to keep them under the table? Create your own development plan to take advantage of your strengths and work on any weaknesses.
Once you have a personal development plan, you are in a position to begin working with your team members to develop similar plans with them. Coaching is very much like strategic planning – you can think of it as preparing a personal strategic plan for each individual that is nested within the strategic plan for your unit or organization. It should cover where you are, where you’re headed, and how you are going to get there. Once the plan is created, the coaching supports, challenges and motivates reaching the specified goals. This sounds rather simple and it is – the trick is to actually follow through in the midst of the day to day chaos that characterizes most leaders’ work lives. It’s easy in theory but requires discipline, accountability, focus and persistence to get results. It must become who you are as a leader, how you behave as a leader, or it will be another “to do” on your long list that never quite gets the attention it deserves.
Here are three things you can begin today to be a better coach. Try them and monitor the reactions to see if there is a difference in others as a result of a difference in you.
1. Listen
In your next one-on-one conversations, try really listening with your whole concentration on what is being said. What is the story being told? What is the underlying message? Mirror back what is being said to be sure you understand. Remove distractions. Don’t jump in to solve the problem. Make eye contact and notice body language.
2. Silence
We are usually in such a hurry that we see silence as a waste of valuable time. As a result, we often move too quickly to a conclusion. We are impatient for a solution. Rather than filling the silence, let it be. Try leaving pauses before responding. Use this silent time to really think about what you want to say rather than formulating your answers and questions while the person is still speaking.
3. Unconditional Positive Regard
This term was coined by Carl Rogers. It means approaching each interaction from an appreciative point of view. We have often made up our minds about a person or an issue before the conversation starts. Try letting go of assumptions and just holding the person in positive regard. This doesn’t mean you have to agree with everything they say, but it does mean that you value them as a human being and value their opinions even though they differ from yours.
These coaching techniques are more challenging than they sound. If you master them, you will find the results are well worth the effort. So I encourage you to give it a try, to act, to experiment, to just do it!
References:
Buckingham, M. and C. Coffman. First Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999.
Wright, S. and MacKinnon, C. Leadership Alchemy: The Magic of the Leader Coach. Toronto: TCP Publications, 2003.
Lombardo, M. and R. Eichinger. The Leadership Machine. Minneapolis: Lominger Ltd., 2001.
Rogers, C. On Becoming a Person. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1961.
The Leader as Coach Creating High Performance in Change - To learn more about this author, visit Susan Wright's Website.
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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