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July News  This month's topic is Coaching Tips for Leaders and Managers. This is a popular theme at the moment, as many organisations are wanting to grow the Coaching Skills of their Leaders and Managers as they strive to encourage their employees to be more accountable and empowered. Thanks to you all for letting me know how much you enjoy these newsletters, I'm glad they hit the spot. Each month I learn something by writing these newsletters, either something completely new strikes me or I remind myself of something I've forgotten! Featured Topic: Coaching Tips for Leaders and Managers Most leaders in the corporate world today struggle to adjust to the role of Coach - or 'Leader Coach' (a great term coined by Wright, S. and MacKinnon).
Leadership is seen to be all about having a vision, developing a strategic plan to support that vision and inspiring staff to deliver against that set plan. Coaching is felt to be something that is 'soft and fluffy' and best done by HR!
In fact, in today's world where priorities and organisations are constantly changing, this old picture of leadership is becoming less and less viable. In times of high change and uncertainty, leaders can't expect to know everything or influence everything that goes on. Strategies and plans need to constantly evolve. So, individuals and teams need to be encouraged to understand the organisation’s general direction and feel empowered to work toward it to the best of their ability. The fastest way to achieve this is through Coaching. As a Coach you can helping individuals and teams to build on their strengths, confront their blind-spots and make their own decisions, based on increased individual and organisational awareness. The following tips will hopefully help you to challenge yourself to think more like a Coach, more of the time. Top 10 Coaching Tips 1. Coach yourself first Coaching starts from the inside out. In order to begin to be a 'Leader Coach' you'll need to discover your own strengths and weaknesses. From this position of honest awareness you'll be able to empathise and support others better. Ask yourself honestly how good you are at each of the following areas (points 2-10). Who are you as a Leader? What do you stand for? Create a development plan for yourself for your weakest areas - once you have a development plan for yourself it will be much easier to help others to do the same. 2. Experience being a Client It is very difficult to coach effectively without first having been coached. We learn so much from our experience as a client - what enables us to trust the Coach, what makes us feel uncomfortable and shut down, what works for us and what doesn't. Book a session with a Coach for yourself to work through your development plan. 3. Develop a plan for each individual You can think of development planning like strategic planning. You are helping each individual to think about their personal vision and set goals for how they are going to get there. Once the plan is created the coaching supports, challenges and motivates reaching each of these specified goals. 4. Make coaching your priority Coaching itself is not that tricky but making time for it can be. However, if you make time for it, most people will get huge value from just having the space and time to think. If you don't value (and make time for) coaching it will become another thing on your never ending 'to do' list. If you don't commit to it your staff will distrust your motives and the coaching will be an uncomfortable process. Once you make time for it, and begin seeing the results, you will find this easier and easier to do and coaching will become part of who you are as a Leader. 5. Listen In your next one-to-one, try to really listen to what is being said. Listen to the words being used, what is not being said or what is implied. Try and mirror the words and body language. Try and really understand where the other person is coming from. Don't try and solve the problem just listen and check for understanding. 6. Ask questions and explore When you are acting as a Coach you do not need to come up with the answers yourself, your role is to guide and facilitate. If you think you have the answer you are likely to ask leading questions which may not get the best results. Trust the resources of your client and ask questions to help them make discoveries them-self - which may surprise you! There are a lot of coaching models that can help in this process. I'll be happy to share my favourites if you contact me. 7. Appreciate the other person We often make up our minds about a person or an issue before any conversation starts. Try letting go of any assumptions and just appreciate the other person. This doesn’t mean you have to agree with everything they say, but that you value them as a human being and value their opinions even though they differ from yours. Try it and notice how the rapport between you increases. 8. Admit your vulnerability We are all vulnerable, flawed human beings which is what makes us so inspiring and brilliant! If you can begin to admit your failings you will encourage them to open up to you. Your strengths come from your vulnerabilities so doing this will also make you a more inspirational Leader :) 9. Silence is golden! Don't be afraid of silence. In this crazy world of ours we often need to quieten down before we can begin to think clearly. Silence during a coaching session can be a time of inspiration and noticing. 10. Trust yourself, trust your 'client' and trust the process You don't have to work too hard to get great results from a coaching session. If you can relax, trust that you are doing the best you can and trust that your 'client' will have have the answers if you create the right environment, a bit of magic will happen :) I hope you find these tips useful, as always I'd be delighted to hear how you use them. Activities last month Health Coaching If you've looked at our website recently you will have noticed that we've added a new 'tab' on the front page for Health. This is a growing area for us and a topic that I'm particularly passionate about.
Fortunately, leaders are becoming cognisant that they need to care for themselves in order to be effective and this is probably due to more and more leaders experiencing health issues that can be directly attributed to stress and overwork. If you'd like to explore this topic from an individual, team or organisational perspective please contact us. Resilience Workshops We are continuing to evolve and deliver our Resilience Workshops based on the 'Being Resilient' booklet. We have one hour, two hour, half-day, full-day and two-day formats which we modify to suit individual client needs. I love doing these and each one is different. If you'd like to know more please contact us. What is coming next month? Next month the Featured Topic will be Effectiveness at Work. If you enjoy this newsletter do please feel free to forward it onto a friend or colleague. If you've just received this newsletter from a friend or colleague and would like to subscribe please click here. Warm wishes Helen. Executive Coach and Consultant Pelican Coaching & Development www.pelicancoaching.com |