Coaching as a Core Leadership Skill

Leadership Reflections

• Reflect on leadership experiences in the past week. Consider what went well, what could have been improved, and what you learned from those experiences.

• Observations on current events and leadership styles. Analyze how different leaders handle challenges and successes, and what impact their approaches have on their teams and organizations.

Examples of Leadership

• Donald Trump: The structure of cabinet meetings with press presence may inhibit dissenting opinions, questioning whether leaders receive necessary negative feedback. This can lead to a lack of diverse perspectives and potentially flawed decision-making.

• Vladimir Putin: Concerns about information filtering and leaders getting accurate information to make informed decisions. The reliability of information is crucial for effective governance and strategic planning.

• These examples reflect the Nokia situation: Leaders may not receive the information they need, leading to strategic missteps and missed opportunities.

Coaching as a Core Leadership Skill

• Coaching is seen as a core leadership skill, contributing to:

  • Practicing strengths: Helping individuals identify and develop their unique talents.

  • Maintaining self-awareness: Encouraging leaders and team members to understand their own strengths, weaknesses, and impact on others.

  • Building relationships: Fostering strong, collaborative relationships through open communication and mutual respect.

  • Having a purpose: Aligning individual goals with the organization's mission and values.

  • Caring about results and guiding people on a journey: Supporting team members in achieving their objectives while providing guidance and mentorship.

Building Momentum and Direction

• Focus is on building momentum and direction through:

  • Coaching: developing people and aligning them to strategic goals. Effective coaching involves setting clear expectations, providing regular feedback, and empowering individuals to take ownership of their work.

  • Cascading strategy: Translating business plans into individual objectives. This ensures that everyone understands how their work contributes to the overall success of the organization.

Repetitive Messaging

• People need to see a message 7 to 9 times before behaviorally responding. Consistent communication is essential for driving change and ensuring that key messages are understood and acted upon.

• Sales example: Most sales occur on the seventh to ninth visit, but salespeople often give up after the second. Persistence and follow-up are crucial for achieving sales targets.

• Performance appraisal: Annual reviews are ineffective; regular follow-up is essential. Continuous feedback and ongoing coaching are more effective for improving performance and fostering professional growth.

Coaching Objectives

• Define coaching: Understand the principles and practices of effective coaching.

• Identify core coaching skills: Recognize and develop the essential skills needed to be an effective coach, such as active listening, empathy, and effective questioning.

• Learn a technique for structuring conversations: Utilize proven methods for structuring coaching conversations to maximize their impact.

• Understand when to coach and implement coaching in organizations: Know when coaching is appropriate and how to integrate it into organizational practices.

Fundamental Premise of Coaching

• When asking someone's opinion, that person is more likely to change their behavior compared to the person asking. Involving individuals in the problem-solving process increases their ownership and commitment to the solution.

• Thinking about the answer: Processing information and connecting thoughts leads to behavioral change. Encourage individuals to think critically and develop their own solutions.

• The more people think of answers themselves, the more likely they are to act on them. Self-discovery and personal insight are powerful drivers of behavioral change.

Engaging Subordinates

• Engaging subordinates in conversation leads to increased trust, liking, and commitment. Open communication and dialogue are essential for building strong, collaborative relationships.

• Leaders should use questions to guide people to solutions, leveraging their potential insights. Effective leaders empower their teams by asking questions that stimulate critical thinking and problem-solving.

• Leaders might be disconnected and might not be doing the job anymore. It is crucial for leaders to stay connected with their teams and understand the challenges they face.

Helping People Develop Solutions

• Coaching helps people develop solutions instead of just giving instructions. This empowers individuals to take ownership of their work and develop their problem-solving skills.

• Giving answers may be quicker, but it doesn't facilitate learning or skill-building. While providing answers may seem efficient in the short term, it hinders long-term growth and development.

• Coaching encourages skill development, confidence, and capability, reducing future dependency on the leader. By investing in coaching, leaders empower their teams to become more self-sufficient and capable.

Opportunities for Coaching

• Addressing problems: Guide people to develop their solutions rather than providing immediate answers. Use coaching to help individuals analyze problems and develop effective solutions.

• Performance issues: Coach individuals to change behavior and improve performance. Provide constructive feedback and support to help individuals improve their performance and achieve their goals.

• Regular programmed catch-ups: Monthly or bi-weekly sessions for performance and development. Regular check-ins provide opportunities for ongoing feedback, support, and development.

Regular Check-ins

• Regular check-ins include:

  • Monitoring progress: Tracking progress towards goals and identifying any challenges or roadblocks.

  • Providing feedback: Giving constructive feedback to help individuals improve their performance and develop their skills.

  • Connecting and supporting the person: Building strong relationships and providing support and encouragement.

  • Aligning priorities to 3-5 key tasks: Focusing on the most important tasks and aligning them with organizational goals.

  IT Manager Example

• Before: Employees listed many tasks, accomplishing few. This highlights the importance of prioritization and focus.

• After: Narrowing focus to top five priorities increased achievement. By focusing on a few key tasks, individuals can increase their productivity and achieve better results.

• Analogy to computers: Focusing on a few tasks improves efficiency. Just as computers perform better when they focus on a few tasks, individuals can increase their efficiency by prioritizing and focusing on their most important tasks.

When Not to Coach

• Emergency situations (e.g., fire alarm, earthquake). In emergency situations, immediate action is required, and coaching is not appropriate.

• When a person is highly stressed. Coaching is not effective when individuals are highly stressed or overwhelmed. It is important to address their immediate needs first.

• Respond to immediate needs, then address underlying issues later. Focus on addressing immediate needs before addressing underlying issues through coaching.

Directive vs. Coaching Management

• Coaching the majority of the time establishes you as a supportive leader. By consistently using a coaching approach, leaders can build trust and foster a culture of development.

• Occasional directive actions are accepted if coaching is the norm. Occasional directive actions are more likely to be accepted if they are seen as exceptions to a generally supportive and developmental approach.

• A balanced approach maintains a developmental focus. A balanced approach that combines coaching and directive actions can be highly effective in driving performance and development.

Coaching vs. Mentoring vs. Teaching

• External Coach: Relies on information from the individual. External coaches provide guidance and support based on the information provided by the individual.

• Leader as Coach: Can provide feedback based on direct observation. Leaders who serve as coaches can provide valuable feedback based on their direct observations of the individual's performance.

• Mentor: Offers insights about the organization and career advancement (50/50 talking). Mentors provide guidance and support based on their experience and knowledge of the organization and career paths.

• Teaching/Lecturing: Primarily one-way communication. Teaching and lecturing primarily involve one-way communication of information.

• The spectrum goes from directive to facilitator. This spectrum highlights the range of approaches that can be used, from directive instruction to facilitative coaching.

Benefits of Coaching

• Coached individuals:

  • Attempt challenging job objectives: Coaching encourages individuals to take on challenging assignments and push themselves beyond their comfort zones.

  • Report being more engaged: Coached individuals report higher levels of engagement and motivation.

  • Have lower stress levels: Coaching helps individuals manage stress and maintain a healthy work-life balance.

  • Develop a growth mindset: Coaching fosters a growth mindset, encouraging individuals to embrace challenges and view failures as opportunities for learning.

Organizational Benefits

• Return on investment: Average of $5.7 return for every dollar invested. Coaching provides a significant return on investment through increased productivity, engagement, and well-being.

• Increased engagement and productivity: Coaching leads to higher levels of engagement and productivity among employees.

• Improved relationships and teamwork: Coaching fosters strong relationships and effective teamwork.

• Increased sales and development: Coaching can drive increased sales and facilitate the development of new skills and capabilities.

• Higher levels of well-being: Coaching contributes to higher levels of well-being among employees.

• Well-being impacts through degrees of separation within the organization: The positive effects of coaching can spread throughout the organization, impacting individuals at all levels.

Knowledge Retention

• Training courses: 10% retention after three months. Traditional training courses often result in low levels of knowledge retention.

• Coaching post-training: 70% retention after three months. Coaching following training significantly increases knowledge retention rates.

• Applying coaching to implement training content increases retention. Coaching helps individuals apply what they have learned in training, leading to higher retention rates.

Benefits for Leaders (Eisenhower Matrix)

• Coaching falls into the high importance, low urgency quadrant. Coaching is a high-impact activity that is often not urgent but is essential for long-term success.

• Investing time in this area reduces the amount of urgent, high-importance tasks. By investing time in coaching, leaders can reduce the number of urgent, high-importance tasks they need to address.

• Builds team capability and aligns to organizational direction. Coaching builds team capability and ensures that individuals are aligned with organizational goals.

• Saves time: Leaders save about a day a month through coaching. Coaching can save leaders time by empowering their teams to handle more tasks independently.

• Reduces interruptions by building capability in others. By building capability in others, leaders can reduce the number of interruptions they experience.

Google Analytics Study

• Frequent meetings with managers is the number one factor for team performance. Regular check-ins and coaching conversations are essential for driving team performance.

• Technical knowledge was ranked number eight. While technical knowledge is important, it is not as critical as effective management and coaching.

• Frequency of coaching impacts engagement. The more frequently leaders coach their teams, the more engaged their teams will be.

• New Zealand study shows an increase in meeting with their manager from once every 13 weeks to once every 6 weeks. Increasing the frequency of meetings and coaching conversations can have a significant impact on team performance and engagement.

Why Coaching Works

• Improvement requires feedback. Feedback is essential for identifying areas for improvement and guiding individuals towards better performance.

• Coaching increases confidence by giving context and guidance for change. Coaching provides individuals with the context and guidance they need to make meaningful changes.

• Coaching encourages stopping and thinking about job performance. Coaching provides opportunities for individuals to reflect on their job performance and identify areas for improvement.

• Agile project management: Reviewing processes at the end of a project. Agile project management methodologies emphasize the importance of reviewing processes and identifying areas for improvement.

• Prioritizing: Helps reduce stress and feeling overwhelmed. Coaching can help individuals prioritize their tasks and manage their workload more effectively, reducing stress and feelings of being overwhelmed.

• Building connections: Helps leaders understand and support their team. Coaching helps leaders build stronger connections with their teams, enabling them to provide better support and guidance.

Core Skills for Coaching (LISTEN)

• Listen actively

• Increase Trust

• Strengths

• Trust

• Empathy

• Nice

• Listening and asking questions are fundamental.

• Requires a good headspace and self-awareness. Effective coaching requires leaders to be self-aware and in a good mental space.

Levels of Listening

• Appearing to listen: Thinking about the response. This is the lowest level of listening, where the listener is primarily focused on formulating their response rather than fully understanding the speaker.

• Focusing: Listening to the content only. This level involves paying attention to the content of the message but may not involve fully understanding the speaker's emotions or perspective.

• Deep listening: Focused and trying to understand. This level involves actively trying to understand the speaker's message, emotions, and perspective.

• Mindfulness can help to maintain focus. Practicing mindfulness can help leaders stay focused and present during coaching conversations.

LEARN Technique for Active Listening

• Look interested: Use interested posture.

• Encourage: Use eye contact, smile.

• Ask questions: Follow up questions.

• Repeat/Summarize: Repeating back what was said.

• No arguing

Mind Wandering

• Mindfulness can help to focus and refocus. Mindfulness techniques can help leaders stay focused and present during coaching conversations.

• Techniques: Tapping the leg under the desk to bring back thought. Simple techniques like tapping the leg can help leaders refocus their attention when their mind wanders.

Establishing Trust

• The Trust Equation is as follows:

Trust = (Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy) / Self

• Credibility: Be credible and don't tell people what to do especially if you are not up to date. Leaders must be knowledgeable and competent to be seen as credible.

• Reliability: Following through on doing what you say you're going to do and consistency in your behavior. Consistency and follow-through are essential for building trust.

• Intimacy: Knowing someone as a person, their goals and aspirations. Building personal connections and understanding individuals' goals and aspirations can foster greater intimacy and trust.

• Self: Not making themselves look good but genuinely helping others. Leaders should focus on helping others rather than promoting themselves.
  Meeting Regularly

• Meeting regularly ensures:

  • Reliability

  • Intimacy

• Booking the appointment as the leader creates reciprocation.

Address the Elephant in the Room

• Addressing the negative actually can increase trust. Openly addressing difficult issues can build trust by demonstrating honesty and transparency.

• If you don't there is a 5 to 1 ratio for the marriage or effective team, if we got beyond the 11 to 1 then the relationship won't work either. Maintaining a healthy ratio of positive to negative interactions is essential for building and maintaining trust.

• The film Saving Private Ryan provides an example of this in one instance, saying I complain up so he complained when he got the mission and says this is a dumb idea, but once he had the mission he didn't complain to the team.

Appreciative Inquiry

• Developed by David Cooperrider: Focus on what's going well instead of problems. Appreciative Inquiry focuses on identifying and amplifying strengths rather than dwelling on weaknesses.

• People learn far better from their successes when they are really really confident. Individuals are more likely to learn and grow from their successes when they are confident in their abilities.

• Key principles:

  • What we focus on becomes our reality. Our focus shapes our perception and experience of the world.

  • Asking questions influences the group and/or individual. The questions we ask can shape the direction of conversations and influence individuals' thinking.

  • You can't carry the past forward.

  • It's important to value differences.

  • The stories make change
    Positive Examples

• Construction company example: Focus on teams with no rework.

• Shift example: Focus on shifts with productivity.

Five D Model for Appreciative Inquiry

• Define the goal positively: Don't stay we want the rework but stay, but instead stay, we want to get it right the first time

• Discover the best of what is: Discover successful scenarios and emulate.

• Dream: Find what perfect would look like.

• Design: Focus on how we get closer to the dream.

• Deliver: Get the work out of the dream.
  Practical Application

• Using the New Zealand All Black video as an example.
  

  Define goal: to become the most dominant in the history of the games he said.

Effective Questioning

• Get people to discover their aspirations.

Core Strength for Effective Questioning

• Questions should evoke learning so love of learning

• You want learn about them
  Empathy

• When a person's upset, help them resolve. A lot can be hard to solve when people are really angry.
  Ratio of Positives

• Overall is a key aspect of the strength build up to make sure they know that ratio of positives so they remember when problems have to be solved.

• Key things to show is to look for the positive and recognizing the positive good performance of the others. What is a success
  Focus on Strengths

• According to the research, when you have too much stress can lead to disengaged workforce in terms of the Gallup metrics for engagement to performance. If not focused on strength or weakness, 5% engaged if focused on strength only. So focusing on the strength is something to always be engaged.

• When leadership has been focused on 4 to 5 points the wellness and productivity go above the averages for a high performance.
  Structure the Conversation (COACH)

• Clarify the situation, expectations, goals.

• Options to improve that improve

• Agree

• Create a measurable objective

• Help

Clarifying Individual Understanding

• Clarify the problem.

• Clarify goals or expectations.

• Clarify positive, listening, asking questions, the dream and empathize within those things.

• You can also think about these things regarding what type of strengths will improve with time.
  Generating Options

• Where they want to be at and what might they do to achieve those dreams.

• This is the aspect of if they have a success, it can be from someone in the team.
  Agreeing to Options

• Agree to it and use your wisdom to program what the benefits and risks. What are going to be for the benefits in what the risk, What are the things that can be the dream and create what it can get there.
  Creating an Action Plan

• The more detail it is going to happen and here
  Helping Out

• Key items. Okay, you have got plans. Now, what do you need from me help you with, is the part of building into that system?

Addressing Issues and Difficult Conversations

• The key principle here is we need to address behavior. That is that's descriptive teams disrupt with and customers by doing address the individual at the private with the issues. If it is a new issue.
  Compassionate Conversations

• Compassionate conversations are necessary to avoid tension.
  

  If someone is light for an important event, something to be okay. Is there anything that happened you know there. No emotion and ask that has happened now.

The power of less questions help to address. The less the less in action. We talk to people to get them to tell them what you need for me thank you. To talk to them but to not give the people. It's is it is to the relationship with this that does it create can improve but it also the problem that and don't make the problem on purpose assume something is going on

Coaching Framework

• Here you need to clarify the situation. If someone that's not like you are, this is a new one for you, this is something what it has to be what is doing to do new. The goal is get something that is better than the new way. The way you want to create and what is that that you would make me ask what you were thinking something has to be something has to be the the help.
  

  And you the okay. This You use what is the option what is perfect and what is in it there.

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