An essential part of your role as a leader is to grow your people. This means building on their strengths and providing development opportunities in areas where they need and want to grow. One of the best ways to do this is to build your own capacity as a coach.
So how do you lead as a coach?
Start by admitting you do not have all the answers. Empower your team to come up with new ideas and encourage them to voice their opinions. Give them permission to suggest an imperfect idea and then provide support and encouragement to polish it into a workable solution. Allow them to make mistakes.
Employees need to feel valued, connected, challenged, and recognized. They want to use their strengths and know that they are contributing to the success of the organization. And they want opportunities to learn and grow.
Here are some tips for growing your people by leading as a coach.
Ask questions rather than giving answers. When an employee comes to you with a problem, don’t immediately provide a solution, even when it’s something you’ve seen before. Give them the opportunity to work it out by asking questions. What do you think is the root of the problem? What have you tried so far? What are some additional ideas you have?
Listen first. In one-on-one meetings, spend the majority of your time listening – to their updates, their concerns, their ideas. Ask about specific areas where they need your support. Summarize what they’ve said so they know you were really listening. Keep it positive. And follow up!
Provide regular feedback. Both by coaching to their natural talents, and by providing development opportunities in areas they need to strengthen. Use a collaborative approach to identify development areas based on the employee’s career goals, your observations and the needs of the organization. Effective, interactive feedback is essential for a good coaching conversation.
Communicate for connection. Help individual employees feel connected by communicating with them regularly about what’s going on in the company. Provide opportunities for employees to connect and build relationships with one another. This is especially important now when so many employees are working remotely and feeling isolated.
Initiate career conversations. Encourage employees to think about what’s next, whether that’s expanding knowledge and competencies in their current role or preparing to level up. Provide relevant opportunities to challenge them and be sure you recognize their efforts by saying “thank you” early and often. Applaud the behaviors you want to see repeated.
For more on transitioning from leader to coach, check out this article from Harvard Business Review.
Till next time, keep it real.
Karen
