A leader’s prime responsibility is to engage and develop people so they perform well and are highly productive. This means they must coach people as well as manage their performance. Becoming a leader who coaches people requires developing certain qualities. Failing to do so could result in that dilemma that Roger was facing in one of my previous articles. He was faced with employees who were rigid and resistant to change and growth.
Here are the leadership qualities I believe are essential to becoming a coach rather than just a manager, which is what employees prefer today.
- Cultivate an interest in developing people. The role of a coach just as in sports to get your talent to perform at their best. This requires understanding their strengths and weakness and how to develop the strength to the max
- Set aside time regularly (I recommend once a month) to meet with each direct report for a coaching session. This is where you discuss their development, get to know them better and build trust. You can of course act as a manager in this session to review goals and projects, but if you want to be a coach, you must keep time to focus on development and training. This offers an opportunity to recognize people for their efforts and accomplishments.
- Learn to listen actively. This is an essential skill that requires developing as most high energy leaders can be impatient and could tend to listen in order to figure out the solution to an employee’s problem. Active listening means you listen to understand first and use empathy to show that you recognize what the other person is feeling.
- Empower people to solve their own problem. Leaders are great problem solvers but a coach’s role is to get people to use their talents and abilities to solve problems for themselves. Teach your employees to bring you solutions not problems.
- Delegate responsibilities to employees effectively. This involves training and coaching them on assuming responsibility for the new tasks and making sure they are well supported. This will free up the leader to take on bigger more strategic responsibilities and build confidence in the employee.
I recommend choosing one of these 5 points to focus on developing in the coming weeks. Where can you improve as a leader?
I will cover these points and qualities of an effective leader/coach in future articles and videos so subscribe now to stay informed.
Stephen Goldberg