Five Elements to be a Coaching Leader

Leaders are often advised to "coach" team members. The advice usually means supporting, developing, and helping. As simple as the role sounds, many leaders struggle to be "coaching leaders." Perhaps it's due to some confusion as to what coaching means in the business sense.
 
The field of coaching has grown tremendously over the past two decades. As of this writing, there is no license or credential required to hang a shingle as a coach. Many individuals call themselves coaches based solely on experience as HR professionals, consultants or therapists. True coaching, however, differs from all of these professions.
 
Being an effective "coaching leader" requires an understanding of the elements of coaching. Here are five that are key:

Coaching leaders enable employees to be their best

Coaching is a partnership
Effective coaching requires two parties, committed to the process and willing to work toward the coachee’s goals. If an individual is “sent to coaching,” he or she may not be very engaged. Likewise, a leader cannot partner with an individual that he or she has already written off. If either the coach or the coachee is not fully invested in the process, up through and including sustained change, the coaching will fail.

Coaching does not involve giving advice
Unlike a consultant or a mentor, a coach rarely offers advice. The coach’s job is to support the coachee’s self-discovery, helping to identify what will work best for the coachee. Therein lies the magic of coaching. Think about a time that someone (especially a spouse) told you how you could change for the better. Now consider a change you identified and committed to. Which situation had the better outcome?

Coaching depends on active listening
Listening is one of the most powerful gifts that a human can give another, and it’s especially meaningful when delivered by an employee’s leader.  In this time-crazed world, it’s difficult to find someone with the capacity to really listen. Active listening means giving full time and attention to another (no phone calls, emails or distractions of any kind.) It involves hearing more than words – tone, pace and body language can yield tremendous information, sometimes revealing what the spoken word attempts to hide.

Coaching relies on curiosity
It’s difficult to be curious when you know all the answers. Good coaches ask a lot of questions. These questions aren’t informational – who, what or when. Instead, they are expansive – how, what if, (and carefully), why. Expansive questions enable deep thinking. "Why" should be used sparingly, though, since it can sometimes evoke defensiveness.

Coaching is future-focused
Because the art of coaching involves supporting discovery, it isn’t useful to focus on the past. Unlike therapy, which addresses old wounds to promote healing, coaching is solely about creating new futures. On rare occasion, a coach may tap into a coachee’s past success to call out a useful strength. But there is no place for examining old hurts or dwelling on failures.

Becoming a coaching leader involves understanding exactly what coaching means. Armed with this knowledge, a leader can become a valuable partner for an employee’s journey of self-discovery and true sustained improvement.

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