What Personality Traits are Best Suited for a Coaching Style of Leadership

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Leaders who adapt a coaching style of leadership can reap many benefits. The organization can attract people who are seeking to be empowered in their job and this can translate into improved job satisfaction and motivation.  

Leaders who coach their employees rather than be directive can experience greater freedom to work on higher-level projects and have fewer employee issues to deal with. 

Some personality types are best suited to become coaches rather than more autocratic style leaders. As well, job interests play an important component in whether a leader will want to coach people.  

I use the PXT Select assessment to better understand each leader and their dominant leadership style. 

The assessment is divided into three areas, thinking style, behavioral traits, and occupational interests. Each dimension is matched to a customized performance model for each job. For example, a leader who is working with a team of engineers would need to have high thinking style scores to effectively communicate with engineers she/he manages. 

Thinking Style 

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Thinking style answers the question, can the person do the job? It is broken down into five scales, composite score, verbal ability, verbal reasoning, numerical ability, and numerical reasoning. The composite score is the average of the other 4 and will indicate the pace of learning.  

Behavioral Traits 

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This section answers the question, how will the person perform the job? There are nine behavioral dimensions measured as you can see in the diagram. Each dimension is matched to the performance model. One important skill for leaders to be coaches is listening. Active listening is a skill that leaders who want to use a coaching style of leadership need to be good at. But not all leaders have the personality traits that make it natural and easier to be a good listener.  

To be good at this skill I look for leaders who score at or a little above the mid point for the scales of Pace, Assertiveness and Decisiveness.  

If someone scores too high on the Pace dimension, they might be impatient and not want to listen well. If they score too high on Assertiveness, they might be too dominant and tell rather than ask good questions, another important skill for being a coach leader. 

If Decisiveness is too high, the tendency might be to decide for the person and not allow the employee to make their own choices.

Interests 

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This section answers the question, will the person do the job? There are six occupational interests measured, Enterprising, People Service, Financial/Admin, Technical, Creative, and Mechanical.  

For a leader to be interested and motivated by coaching people, it is important for them to have People Service as one of their top interests. For example if a leader is an engineer and has for their top three interests, Enterprising, Creative and Mechanical, they would want to spend their work time being hands on in creating new products or services. They would probably avoid coaching people unless it was tied with another of the top three interests. People Service is especially important as you want to be motivated when it comes to spending time helping people grow and develop. 

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Leadership Approach 

What I especially like about the PXT Select is that it can generate a Leadership Report that combines scores from different dimensions of the assessment and provides insight into how the person will perform as a leader. It identifies areas of strengths and challenges. 

The six skill areas clusters are Creating a Vision, Developing Strategies, Ensuring Results, Inspiring People, Being Approachable and Mentoring Others. It provides insight into how the leader will perform in each of these leadership clusters lusters and is a vital source of information for personal development. 

Natural Versus Developed Types 

Some people are more natural at developing and implementing the right skills to become a leader who coaches rather than directing people.  

It is difficult if not impossible to change who we are. But we can learn to understand ourselves better through tools like the PXT Select and having a coach to guide our development. It’s important to know your strengths and challenges and find a way to balance yourself as you work on developing new habits and skills to coach people and reap the benefits of a coaching style of leadership. 

You can request a test run of the PXT Select as well as sample reports. You can also watch the recorded webinar, PXT Select: The Secret to Great Talent from the experts at Wiley.    

What Lesson in Leadership Can You Learn from an Apple Watch? 

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I recently got an Apple Watch mainly for fitness and health reasons. It asked me to set fitness goals and it tracks progress toward these objectives. 

It’s really working well. I like the reminders it gives me and what stands out is when I reach a goal, whether it be to stand up so many times in a day or to exercise, it sends me congratulations. It tells me, “Great job!” and even though it’s just an electronic device, it feels good to get that kind of feedback and know that you’re achieving your goals. 

But it made me think of the workplace and the importance of leadership and giving feedback and recognition. 

As a leader, giving feedback to employees is important for several reasons: 

  1. Improving Performance: Feedback helps employees understand where they are excelling and where they need to improve. This can help them adjust their work habits, increase productivity, and ultimately improve their overall performance. 
    1. Building Relationships: Feedback provides an opportunity for leaders to build relationships with their employees. By providing positive feedback, leaders can show their employees that they value their contributions and appreciate their hard work. Constructive feedback, delivered in a supportive way, can also help employees feel heard and valued. 
    1. Increasing Motivation: Feedback can be a powerful motivator. When employees receive positive feedback, they are more likely to feel motivated and continue to work hard. Constructive feedback can also be motivating, as it shows employees that their leader is invested in their success and wants to help them improve. 
    1. Identifying Areas for Development: Feedback can help leaders identify areas where their employees need further training or development. This can help leaders create development plans for their employees that address specific areas of need and 0help them grow professionally. 

    Giving feedback and recognition are two powerful things that every leader can and should do to profit from the benefits listed above. Yet many leaders have difficulty putting this simple behavior into practice.  

    An Apple Watch comes with the programming built in to set goals and send reminders. Leaders and managers need to program themselves to make giving feedback and recognition a habit. So, it takes conscious effort and repetition just like forming any new habit.  

    For some people, giving feedback and recognition is an easier habit to develop. This is true for relationship-oriented types and harder for intellectual or physical types.

    What triggers do you need to implement to remind yourself to give feedback and praise? 

    Start by setting a goal and work out what obstacles can stand in your way. Use my goal planning worksheet for this.  

    Next keep a performance log to note down feedback opportunities and reasons for praise. I also have a form for this. 

    As part of your goal planning, you should look for opportunities daily to give feedback and recognition. You want to reinforce what people are doing well and where they need improvement.  

    Becoming an effective leader takes work and you need to know which skill to work on. That is why a 360-leadership assessment like the Checkpoint is a great tool to bring awareness to where improvement is needed. A 360-degree leadership assessment compares the leader’s self-perception of his/her leadership skills with those of his direct reports, peers, and his/her boss.  

    Combining the 360-leadership feedback with a psychometric assessment like the PXT Select provides deeper insight into the causes of certain leadership behaviors. 

    Combing these tools with coaching from a skilled facilitator is key to personal development and new habit formation.  

    Overall, feedback is an essential tool for leaders to help their employees succeed and develop professionally. By providing feedback regularly and constructively, leaders can build strong relationships with their employees, increase motivation, and improve overall performance. 

    How to Reduce Employee Turnover 

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    Employee turnover is costly and disruptive. It impedes your ability to deliver products and services and drains resources.  

    It makes sense to reduce turnover, especially nowadays when the unemployment rate is so low, 3.5% in the US as I write this. This means when posting a job opening you are likely to get applications from people already working but dissatisfied. 

    What drives employee dissatisfaction to the point where people start seeking new job opportunities? I researched various articles on this topic and came up with reasons for turnover. Here are a few: 

    • Career development 
    • Manager Behavior 
    • Work-life Balance 
    • Job Characteristics 
    • Compensation & Benefits 
    • Retirement 
    • Work Environment 
    • Interesting Work 
    • Feedback & Recognition 

    These factors that lead to turnover have been problematic for a long time and companies have made good efforts to address them, but turnover is still an issue. 

    Even if you address these employee concerns strategically and put in place good practices to retain people, there are two reasons why these practices may not be effective. 

    Job Fit 

    If you hire people with the skills to do the job but are not an ideal fit, eventually they may become disengaged. This is a common problem as many people have learned specific in-demand skills but do not have the right personality traits and motivation for the work.  

    I am a good example. When I started out in management in a family business many years ago, I realized that I needed to better understand business finance and accounting. I enrolled in an accounting course that focused on budgeting and cash flow. This was given at a local college as an adult education. The course really helped me in business and was very valuable. 

    However, I dislike work related to finance and administration, so I tend to avoid it. The point is I have the skills for a certain level of financial management, but my personality and motivation do not fit the job requirements. So even though I could do the work, I would not do it well for those reasons.  

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    When hiring people to be engaged with the job you need to consider the whole person. This means their skills and experience, their fit with the company, and their fit for the job. To assess this, you need to use the right assessment tool. I use the PXT Select as it measures thinking style, behavioral traits, and occupational interests.  Furthermore, the candidates are matched to a customized performance model or benchmark for the job.  

    The image shows a graphic overview of how a candidate fits a specific job. The full reports for selection and coaching provide deep insights into the candidate including interview questions and coaching considerations. 

    Thus, the first step for employee retention is to make sure the right person is in the right role so they will stay engaged. 

    Leadership 

    Suppose you meet with your leadership team and come up with a strategy to address the causes of turnover. These would be ways to deal with the issues I listed previously. Even if you implement a strategy, if the leader or manager does not do what they need to, the strategy will fail. 

    It’s like reading an informative book on leadership practices and then doing nothing with it. This is because many people in leadership or management roles are not suited to deal effectively with people. Take for example an engineer who is great at understanding the technology behind a product and implementing processes. But he may not enjoy training and coaching people. How then would he address career development or provide feedback and recognition?  

    It is important then that leaders and managers are promoted to their position not just because they are dedicated productive leaders in their field, but because they are also interested in developing and coaching people. To know this, you need to use the same approach as hiring a new employee and make sure that they fit the job. 

    Until this is done well, turnover will continue until the issue of leadership behavior is fixed. There is an old saying in HR circles; people leave a poor relationship with a manager or a team member, they don’t leave a job! 

    Make The Best Use Of Your Potential

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    Do you make the best use of your potential? 

    In my recent videos, I have discussed Types of People and knowing yourself, which is the key to unlocking your full potential. 

    I recently came across two examples of people. One rose to great heights, and the other became a criminal, and I’m going to talk about them in regard to the Types of People approach. 

    A movie titled Mully features a man from Kenya named Charles Mully.  

    As I watched the film about Mully, I thought of him, and which type he could be. And I’m guessing he was probably an active, positive type. We call this the Planner type and the dominant center of intelligence is the Intellectual. 

    Mully grew up in poverty; his father was an alcoholic, he would beat his mother, and his family abandoned him as a child. He was forced to find his own way in the world, but rather than adapt to a life of poverty,  he rose to become very successful. He became one of the wealthiest businesspeople in Kenya.  

    Searching for purpose in his life and remembering his past,  he made it his mission to help orphaned children.  He began rescuing them from the street and offered them a way to rehabilitate. 

    For any obstacle that was put in front of him, he found a solution.  He seemed to use his three intelligences in a balanced way, and nothing could stop him, even with limited resources. 

    Another character is Bernie Madoff. He was a very bright man and co-founded the NASDAQ Stock Exchange.  

    He introduced advanced computing into the stock exchange and founded a very successful trading company.  

    However, he also founded an investment advisory company that took people’s money and falsified returns. The money was never invested in stocks but was used to pay back other investors and finance Madoff’s extravagant lifestyle. 

    Bernie Madoff had even more potential to do good than Mully as he was never abandoned and went to university. But he became quite unbalanced and succumbed to his greed and need to be accepted and admired by the wealthy. 

    I’m not quite sure what type Madoff belonged to but I would guess the Inspirater type. This positive but passive type is good with people and businesses but can suffer from their vanity and cause great unbalance if not worked on. 

    I thought this was a great example of two people with extremely different upbringings could use their qualities in such different ways, one to do good and the other to self-destruct. 

    You can learn more about the Types of People approach to self-knowledge and how to become better balanced through my online workshop or soon-to-come elearning. Add yourself to the list to get news of these training programs that will be provided free of charge.  

    There is a narrative film about Charles Mully on Netflix and a documentary series on Bernie Madoff also on Netflix that I highly recommend.