Put me in Coach...

wjt340
Jan 10, 2024
2 min read

I've spent a lot of time over the years helping people discover how they can become better leaders. From a training/professional development standpoint, there are many HR led programs that promise to give us the skills we need to manage teams & people. I think there's value in some of them, but for me, the most impactful thing you can do, is teach people the art of Coaching.

I always start by asking people: "who's your favorite sports Coach?"...and we go from there. It's amazing how just that one question can make people see their roles as people leaders so differently. All of a sudden, their heads fill with thoughts of inspiration, admiration, excellence, drive, team-spirit, camaraderie and winning! All of that in place of thoughts of the dreaded performance review in a boring conference room, or the myriad of paperwork you have to fill out for underperforming employees.

Once you've got people in the right mindset - where they are ready to emulate their favorite Coach - you can give them the foundations of what to consider as they change their approach to driving performance. Here are a few of my thoughts on where to start:

Attitudes lead to behaviors - Attitudes drive behavior. If you can understand why someone is behaving the way they are, you stand a much better chance of changing their attitude.
Behaviors lead to outcomes - Behaviors produce outcomes. Are employees willing to accept the consequences of their behavior? Helping people focus on outcomes, is the most effective way to drive changes in behavior - it gives people a sense of control too. Incidentally, outcomes reinforce or change attitudes, so it's a positive cycle.

Other factors that influence how your Coaching conversation will go:

A person's emotional state - you will need to take this into consideration if you want a constructive coaching conversation - you don't necessarily need to wait for them to be in a fantastic mood, but do be mindful of their personal circumstances and be prepared to customize how you deliver the message
The state of your relationship - are you on good terms, and is there trust between you? Have there been issues with performance conversations in the past that you need to factor in? Have you been at odds with each other lately?
A person's willingness to change - are they typically open to feedback? If they've been resistant in the past, are they ways for you to combat that in the coaching conversation? What will you do if they become difficult?

Final thoughts on why coaching is so important: