If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” —John Quincy Adams
The integration of coaching and leading roles is increasingly seen as essential in modern leadership. Effective leaders often need to be good coaches, helping their teams navigate challenges, grow their capabilities, and reach their full potential. Likewise, coaches who adopt leadership qualities can inspire and drive collective success, ensuring that the development of individuals aligns with the broader goals of the team or organization. Kevin McGarry in “Lead With Purpose” suggests that employees desire a people-centric leadership approach, where communication, transparency, and character-driven leadership are key. He shares that leaders should focus on fostering collaboration, offering support, and empowering their teams to take ownership of their roles and development. By creating an environment where employees feel heard and respected, leaders can enhance both individual performance and overall team effectiveness.
Why Upgrade Leading/Coaching Skills
Enhanced Team Performance
Coaching to performance focuses on enhancing an individual's or team's ability to achieve specific goals and improve overall effectiveness. It involves leveraging coaching techniques to align efforts, boost skills, and drive results. By using coaching techniques, leaders can help their teams align their personal goals with organizational objectives, enhancing overall performance and productivity. When leaders coach, they help their teams to set clear goals and work towards them more efficiently. This often leads to improved performance and better achievement of organizational objectives.
Jim Collins in both “Good to Great” and “Built to Last” contends that great performance comes from focusing on what an organization can be the best at, what drives its economic engine, and what it is deeply passionate about. He also shares the concept of Level 5 Leadership, a style in which leaders exhibit a combination of humility and professional will. A crucial key to coaching to performance is unlocking potential and improving performance through questioning rather than directive management.
Key Talent Retention
According to the Work Institute 2024 Retention Report in 2023 almost 45 million workers chose to leave their employer voluntarily to likely seek work elsewhere. This indicates that a little over 27% of workers in the U.S. chose to quit their jobs in 2023. There is little doubt that a certain number of employees are simply going to quit their jobs annually. The alarming issue is that the number of quits as a percentage of the civilian labor force has increased 37% since 2014. Coaching can significantly help retain key talent by fostering personal development, increasing engagement, and creating a supportive environment. Coaching helps retain key talent by fostering growth, engagement, and resilience, while also building stronger relationships and improving job satisfaction. Investing in coaching sends a clear message that the organization values its employees, leading to longer tenure and reduced turnover.
Problem Solving Skills
Thinking partnerships are designed to empower the team member to think independently. Rather than offering advice or guiding the conversation, the coach encourages the individual to lead the process. This helps with building confidence in decision-making and problem-solving abilities. In her book, “Time to Think” Nancy Kline focuses leaders on creating a space where team members can freely express thoughts, explore possibilities, and come to their own insights without interruption or judgment. Critical thinking also helps teams think strategically about goals and align efforts with the broader organizational vision. Support is a component of the coaching thinking partnership as it provides opportunities for emergent and meaningful conversations. The leader coach sees himself or herself as a barometer of where the team member is in with regards to their own thought processes. Questions are asked to draw out deeper, more thoughtful meaningful conversations and take the team member into thinking about future possibilities. Questions such as “go forward three-six months, you were amazingly successful with clients, what did you do differently that led to that success?” and “what might get in the way of your success?” cause the team member to think both in terms of best-case scenarios while also preparing to overcome challenges.
Focus on Development and Accountability
Coaches must help team members understand the gap between current performance and desired outcomes. This involves looking at skills, behaviors, and external factors affecting performance through the use of performance reviews, self-assessments, and feedback as strengths and areas for improvement are identified. Coaching techniques can help employees set their own goals and develop action plans, fostering a sense of ownership and responsibility for their own growth. Understanding what motivates team members can create an environment that fosters enthusiasm and engagement. In “The Oz Principle” by Roger Connors, Tom Smith, and Craig Hickman, the authors share distinguishing between “above the line” and “below the line” actions. Operating "above the line" refers to taking ownership and responsibility for outcomes, both good and bad. It is a proactive approach, where individuals and teams focus on what they can do to improve a situation rather than blaming external circumstances. Acting "below the line" involves making excuses, blaming others, and feeling like a victim of circumstances. Below-the-line behavior is passive and often involves avoiding responsibility and accountability.
Listening Skills
Many leaders who have been part of the Global IOC coaching program admit they have opportunities for growth in this area. Not simply listening to respond but listening deeply to understand team members' perspectives and needs. This improves communication and ensures that leaders can address issues more effectively. Great listeners also become adept at providing feedback in a way that is constructive and supportive, helping team members grow and improve. In “You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters,” Kate Murphy explores the importance of listening in a world where true, attentive listening is becoming increasingly rare. Murphy encourages leaders to be more present in conversations, ask thoughtful questions, and resist the urge to interrupt or formulate a response while the other person is speaking.
Conflict Resolution Skills
Coaching skills enable leaders to facilitate open and constructive dialogues during conflicts, leading to more effective resolution and maintaining a positive work environment. Approaching conflicts with greater empathy, understanding the underlying issues and working towards mutually beneficial solutions also leads to higher levels of team engagement. By understanding different perspectives and guiding individuals towards mutually agreeable solutions, leaders can address issues constructively and effectively. Patrick Lencioni, in “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” shares that conflict resolution is a key part of building cohesive and successful teams. He argues that conflict is a normal component of team collaboration. Avoiding conflict can lead to artificial harmony, where important issues go unresolved, affecting the team's performance. Team conflict resolution is about helping individuals and teams navigate disputes constructively, build better communication and emotional intelligence, and foster collaborative problem-solving.
Deepening Relationships
Coaching can be a powerful tool for deepening relationships, whether in personal, professional, or organizational settings. Through effective coaching, individuals can develop better communication skills, build trust, and foster deeper connections. Developing deep relationships with team members leads to increased trust, better communication, improved engagement, higher retention, and overall stronger team performance all of which have been discussed previously in this blog. The emotional and professional support gained from these relationships is essential for creating a thriving, collaborative, and resilient work environment.
Boyatzis and McKee in “Resonant Leadership” focus on the benefits of emotional connection, the authors position the relationship as key to successful coaching which has been proven time and time again in the research. The resonant coaching leader not only creates resonance with followers but also creates this resonance with self through the process of renewal. A second team of authors, Kouzes and Posner in “Encouraging the Heart” share this thinking with Boyatzis and McKee. They contend that effective leader coaches are connected with team members as they demonstrate genuine caring for the team member. Without this caring, the relationship between the leader and team member may feel more transactional rather than transformational.
The paradox of the leader as coach phenomenon exists in duality in that it is both about the development of self and the development of relationships with others. Leaders as coaches drive change yet stabilize the team. They also honor past successes while looking forward to the future. Finally, leaders as coaches integrate both science and art. Managing the paradox contributes to its complexity and to the complexity of designing effective leader as coach development programs.
If you are interested in “sharpening your saw” with regards to coaching and leading skills, contact Dr. Peggy Marshall directly at drpeggy@globalioc.com