• Get out of the way. Stop being dazzled by your own brilliance. Let go and trust the power of teamwork.
• Keep an open mind. Sometimes what looks like insanity may make a great deal of sense.
• Make it easy for team members to get their jobs done. Clear the way by removing any barriers to productivity. Ensure the team has the resources it needs.
• Choose your battles wisely. They’re a poor use of time. Issues that seem critical now often aren’t in the long run.
• Spend time with your team. You’ll learn how to support them much better than by being aloof and alone in your office.

I’m sure this list is incomplete.  What have I missed?

A leader’s job is to ensure that the highest level goals of the organization are realized. As long as you are committed to the success of the group, you are leading. Below are 5 ways to support your “team,” whether that is a formalized project team or an informal grouping of employees.

• Set direction; don’t give directions. Trying to tell everyone what to do is micromanaging, not leading.
• Ask yourself the question: “Is what I’m doing helping the group to succeed?” Ask the group, too. If the answer is no, stop!
• Remind the group why it exists. A team’s charter can sometimes get lost.
• Align your team. Once goals are clear, help everyone match their part of the job to the goals.
• Ask questions. Explore with real curiosity the link between members’ actions and the team’s goals.

Next week, I’ll share five more ways to support your team.  In the meantime, feel free to chime in with some ideas of your own.

It can get lonely at the top.  Who can you trust?  Who can you talk to  when you are confused, fearful, uncertain?  Probably not your direct reports.  Your spouse?  Maybe, but there are drawbacks.  As a coach, I remind my clients that they have the answers they need.  They just need to slow down, focus, and think.  And, sometimes it really helps to think out loud with someone who can listen, ask questions, and help you connect the dots.

A Yale professor, William Deresiewicz, believes that the best leaders are also the best thinkers.  In a commencement speech he gave at West Point, Deresiewicz said that “thinking means concentrating on one thing long enough to develop an idea about it.”  Specifically, your own idea.  Thinking requires concentration and focus.  Asking yourself the tough questions and finding your own answers.  Questions like these: What is the right thing to do?  What are the implications my decision?  Who am I being?  What is important to me?  Where am I getting in my own way?

If you’re not taking the time to ask yourself these kind of questions, maybe it’s time to slow down and think.  Deresiewicz said to think better you need to talk to yourself and listen to your own voice.  And, “one of the best ways to talk to yourself is by talking to another person. One other person you can trust, one other person to whom you can unfold your soul. One person you feel safe enough with to allow you to acknowledge things–to acknowledge things to yourself–that you otherwise can’t.  Doubts you aren’t suppose to have, questions your aren’t supposed to ask.”

Do you have a thinking partner?

2010 also brought me a healthy new grandson, profitable new business alliances, and professional accolades.   Through it all, I was grateful to be able to share the joys and the sorrows with the special people in my life.  The gift of 2010 was the deepening of many of my relationships – with family, friends, colleagues, clients, and with myself.  And, that last relationship – the one between me and me – evolved and deepened the most.

Looking ahead to 2011, I’m confident that this will be a great year.  I’ve got lots of things brewing, so stay tuned.   Right now, I want to share something I learned last year that has me really excited about 2011.   I’ve discovered a powerful process for identifying what is preventing you from getting what you really want.   I’ll introduce you to this process during a complimentary 90-minute teleclass on Wednesday, January 26, 2011 at 12:00 noon Eastern.  It doesn’t cost you anything to attend, so click here to sign up.  If you can’t be on the call live, that’s OK.  Go ahead and register and I’ll send you the recording.  I hope to ‘see’ you on the call.

According to a study by the Center for Creative Leadership and Cylient, businesses plan to expand their use of coaching into 2009.  More than half (53 percent) of the companies surveyed said that they expected their organizations to do more coaching in 2009 than in 2008. Only 4 percent said that they expected less coaching.  Additionally, companies will be employing coaching in more diverse ways.

“In addition to individual coaching—which continues to be focused more on high-potential leaders than just on derailing leaders—coaching-skill workshops, team and group coaching and coach-to-coach mentoring are emerging as additional coaching activities that are used by organizations.  As the current economic stressors force business to stretch the limits of leader agility and adaptability, coaching is emerging as a critical learning strategy for business leaders.”

To learn more about this study, read the white paper here.

If you are interested in developing coaching skills among the leaders in your organization, visit the Training page to read an abstract and some testimonials for my popular workshop, Unlock Your Team’s Potential Through Coaching.

]]> http://www.catalystleadershipcoaching.com/coaching-a-critical-skill-for-leaders/feed/ 0 http://www.catalystleadershipcoaching.com/coaching-trends-and-stats/ http://www.catalystleadershipcoaching.com/coaching-trends-and-stats/#comments Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:49:43 +0000 Kim Freedman http://catalystleadershipcoaching.com/?p=190 The January 2009 issue of the Harvard Business Review includes an interesting article on coaching, What Can Coaches Do For You? The author, Diane Coutu, points out that the popularity and acceptance of leadership coaching continues to rise.  She also mentions a trend that I applaud.  And, that is most companies have moved away from engaging executive coaches as a way to address derailing behaviors in the C-suite and toward developing the leadership capabilities of high-potential performers (also known as hi-po’s in talent management lingo).  The author also points out some issues in this growing field of coaching.  One issue is that of measuring return on investment.  As a former HR director, I believe this is a pretty common problem when the investment is in people development.  The value of coaching is primarily in the eye of the beholder and most measurement is at Level 1 on Donald Kirkpatrick’s scale.  That being said, any attempt to measure the value of coaching, even if it is qualitative, is better than none.

There are a number of other interesting observations and statistics about coaching in the HBR article.  It also has a great graphic that illustrates the relationship between coaching and psychotherapy.  If you are interested in more on this topic, you can:

• Get a free copy of HBR’s research report on executive coaching
• Order a reprint of the article What Can Coaches Do For You? at www.hbrreprints.org
• Buy the January 2009 issue of Harvard Business Review at your local bookstore or newsstand

“Question: I’ve got much more visibility and responsibility that I did just a year ago. How do I make the case for working with a coach without letting my boss think I can’t handle my job?

Answer: To make the case to your boss – and to get the most out of a coaching relationship – think about what you want to change or what skills you need to develop to meet the needs of your organization. You and your boss can probably agree on areas for improvement without suggesting that you aren’t up for the job at hand.

Meanwhile, let your boss know that research shows that leadership coaching helps to improve individual performance in several ways, including:

• Greater self- and contextual-awareness. Coaching is about you and where you work. You will gain insight about yourself as a leader within your organization.
• Greater understanding of others. A coach helps you understand why others might think and act the way they do. You’ll learn about about actions you can take to help them or to focus them in a direction that is better for the organization.
• Enhanced ability to communicate. A coach works with you to find ways to improve how you convey what is important to you, to the business and to others.
• Enhanced ability to coach others. Once you have experienced the value of coaching for your own development, you will be much more prepared to notice and leverage coaching opportunities with your team. This capacity will be a key differentiator between a good leader and a great one.

Finally, be careful what you wish for. Don’t sell yourself and your boss on the benefits of a coach if you aren’t serious about learning and making smart changes. If you aren’t willing to put in the effort, coaching will be a waste of time and dollars – and you will lose credibility with the boss.”

That last piece of advice is right on.  Coaching is about learning, growing, making necessary changes, getting into action and staying on track.  If you aren’t ready to take a hard look at yourself and stretch outside your comfort zone,  you aren’t ready to work with a coach.  If you are ready, then contact me, CCL or another leadership coach and get to work.

I didn’t follow that advice, although I did stay at one company for 17 years. If I had followed the advice I got way back then, it is very likely that I would have been ‘downsized’ by now, leaving me with no job, no pension, and lots of missed opportunities.

Times have definitely changed. I talked with a 20-something recently and he has already had 4 jobs since graduating from college. And, except for his most recent (and short-lived) job at a start-up, these were highly paid engineering jobs at major corporations. Like many smart, ambitious, young professionals, he wants more challenge and more opportunity than these companies were able or willing to provide.

Smart employers are beginning to understand what they need to do in order to retain the best and brightest of Gen Y. These employers offer their employees ample opportunities to learn, grow, and develop through formal education, stretch assignments, community volunteer projects, training of all kinds, and formal and informal coaching.

Smarter employers insist that their employees learn, grow, and develop. What do these types of organizations get in return for the investment in their people? How about more engaged, committed, and productive employees? How about a culture of learning, innovation, and continuous improvement? How about revenue growth and lower turnover? Dozens of studies have shown that these are the outcomes for organizations that create and sustain a learning and coaching culture.

If you are interested in learning how you can begin to create a learning and coaching culture in your organization—and your organization could be just the small team of people that you lead—contact me for a complimentary consultation.

Leader or athlete, people who work with a coach are looking to maximize their potential, to improve their performance, and to win. What is the game you want to win? How might you benefit from working with a coach?

What types of training or guidance have you had on how to coach others?
Respondents said they learned about coaching most commonly from “reading” (70 percent); “figured out my own way of coaching” (62 percent); and “learned from watching others” (60 percent).

What types of training or guidance would you like to have on how to coach others?
Respondents said they would most like “coaching programs or workshops” (68%); “opportunities to practice coaching” (54%) and “books and articles” (53%).

Although there are a number of good books available on the topic of coaching, it is difficult to become a good coach by just reading. I offer a one-day experiential workshop that introduces leaders to the coaching role and 5 critical coaching skills. If you are interested in learning more about this workshop or bringing it to your organization, please contact me.

Below are some other results of the CCL poll on coaching.

Have you ever had a one-to-one leadership coach?
60 percent of respondents said they have worked one-on-one with a leadership coach.

What was the most valuable outcome of the coaching?

If you were able to work with a coach, which outcomes would you want?

What is your level in your organization?
Upper middle managers (26%) had the strongest representation in the poll, followed by top management and executive management (22% each).

In what sector do you work?
Employees of businesses with 499 or fewer employees made up the largest block of respondents (26%), followed by those in businesses with 500 to 4,999 employees (21%) and businesses with 10,000 or more employees (18%).