In today’s fast paced business world, it is more important than ever for leaders to slow down and assess how they show up for their teams. Leaders rely on their teams to deliver results, and teams look up to their leaders for support and development opportunities.
How many times have you chosen the quickest path to get to the desired result? Giving your team member an answer, taking on their work because it’s easier or quicker than explaining what needs to be done, or deprioritizing feedback whether positive or constructive because something else is more important. I know I’ve been there.
The solution to breaking the cycle above is for leaders to step into a coaching mindset a little more often. You don’t need to be perfect at it, just make progress. Lets define what coaching is before we dive into how you can integrate coaching into your conversations.
The ICF (International Coaching Federation) defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential. The process of coaching often unlocks previously untapped sources of imagination, productivity, and leadership.
Three things you can start doing to practice a coaching mindset:
- Stop giving advice – Tame your default instinct that you immediately know how to solve someone else’s problem before they even finish speaking. More importantly, where is the learning and growth opportunity for the other person if you’re solving the problem for them?
- Be more curious – Instead of applying your assumptions and bias to the situation, listen with the intent to understand and ask questions that seek to find meaning.
- Listen attentively – Maintain presence in the conversation and actively listen to what is being said. Listen for what is not being said and pay attention to non-verbal cues as well. Acknowledge what they are saying. By doing so, you’ll build trust and safety by showing that you value the other person.
By adopting a coaching mindset, you are facilitating conversations where you begin to evoke your team’s awareness to alternative choices, encourage a practice of reflection that leads to further learning and growth, and create an environment of trust and safety where the continued development of your team happens more frequently throughout coaching conversations.
Coaching is the slower path to get to the desired result, but it’s the only approach that facilitates change. It empowers others to get there on their own as opposed to telling them what to do. Coaching allows your team members to work through the cycle of becoming more aware, discovering alternative choices, and building a plan of action. This creates the opportunity for self-reflection which leads to learning and growth.
Effective leaders should be continuously self-reflecting to identify opportunities for improvement. The advantage of maintaining a coaching mindset is that it demands you to enhance your level of self awareness thereby turning the practice of self-reflection into more of a habit.
It’s never too late to improve how you lead. Step into a coaching mindset to start facilitating the change needed to build a high performing team.