The old way of being a boss is over.
No longer can the leader drop orders from a place of position, unless they are in the military.
Business is not life and death like it is for our beloved service members. More and more businesses are finding that leadership with effective coaching skills is a more desired pathway to progress.
Employees no longer want to work just to keep their job. They want to work to be a part of something bigger than themselves. Great managers know the way to create belonging and influence motivation in their teams. The way is through essential coaching skills.
Read on to know what coaching skills are practised by competent managers and leaders.
What are Effective Coaching Skills?
Effective coaching skills are developed to help others in achieving personal or professional goals. In a managerial or leadership role, effective coaching skills will support both the individual and the company.
The empirical evidence of the effectiveness of such skills has, in the past, been a hindrance to progress. Luckily, more and more empirical studies have been created to study the benefits of coaching.
The benefits of coaching are far-reaching. Through coaching, all organizations could enjoy improved performance, team cohesion, increased retention, improved conflict resolution, and increased motivation. For coaching to be effective, the skills are developed and nurtured throughout an organization.
Don’t be a stage loving demagogue if you want to motivate your team. The ability to check your ego at the door before interacting with subordinates is crucial. Effective leaders are confident in their interactions but do not make progress about themselves. Empathy and building rapport are coaching skills that are vital in leadership.
The team is hired because of expertise and ability. Generating movement toward common goals in a business requires the respect that people are there to do their jobs. Respect begets respect. Relationship building is an effective coaching skill and will start with respect and trust.
The proper use of the Socratic Method and open-ended questioning are skills that leaders should always possess. They are effective in allowing a team to utilize their strengths to benefit the organization as a whole. Open-ended questions expand perspective, and more open pre-frontal cortexes are better than one.
Active listening is a critical coaching skill possessed by competent managers and leaders. Being able to fully understand your team’s message and emotional connection behind their message enables a leader to improve communication. This is a powerful skill to connect with other people in every area of life.
With more and more organizations embracing coaching as a way of managing, these skills are being perfected and taught around the world. All of the tools working together can create higher functioning on all levels. Mindful leaders create change, and mindful leaders have effective coaching skills.
Coaching Skills for Managers and Leaders
Here are some ways to take effective coaching skills into the role of manager and leader.
These skills take practice, but the improvement in team cohesion will be evident almost immediately. Everyone has had “that boss” that crushes your spirit. These are employee desired ways to not be that guy.
Stop with the group motivational speeches and replace them with celebrations of valued work and accomplishment. Take the time for each individual to know they are heard and valued in your organization. One to one communication is much more effective in helping your team to stay on track toward common goals. Every employee needs to know they’re useful.
A manager with effective coaching skills does not bark orders. The collaboration will be valued over controlling in a well-coached organization. The more of the team actively engaged in moving that team forward, the better that team will perform.
Healthy stress builds skills and confidence, where excess pressure builds distress. Don’t whip your team. Employees respect a hard-working leader rather than being afraid of a fear-mongering leader. Leading by example is incredibly important in an organization.
Teams that feel the stress is shared are far more likely to be motivated in helping with forwarding motion. Delegating responsibility is a great way to introduce a healthier growth mindset in a team.
Don’t punish failure, as it is part of success. Coaching an employee through a mistake is a much better approach. Nobody ever got to be the best at something without doing it wrong along the way. An effective leader helps their team to learn from their errors to avoid them in the future.
Infuse positivity into the working areas of your organization. When employees know their strengths and can consistently build their work from those strengths, a more cohesive workplace may be forged. Creating space for celebrating what is working for an organization is a pathway for continued growth.
When things get “hot,” you get “cool.” When things are “cool,” it’s time to ramp things up. An effective leader manages their reactions to stressful situations well. Self-awareness is a skill that can be cultivated. It is incredibly helpful when leading a group of people.
Active listening is a powerful skill to cultivate as a manager and leader. Some employees may need added support due to personal adversity, as well. Supportive, active listening benefits a team with trust and understanding. Here are a few ways to improve this important coaching skill.
- Eye contact, full focus on the other person
- Mirroring body language
- Posture
- Talking less, questioning more
- Listening for understanding
- Deliberate, mindful speech
- Positive reinforcement
- Remembering what was spoken
- Paraphrasing, clarifying, and reflecting back what was said
- Providing feedback with permission
Compassion is another coaching skill that is much needed in the workplace. Employees are human beings. A leader who sees them as such, while still expecting the bottom line to be protected, will find a more connected team.
4 Examples of Coaching Skills in Action
An employee has been consistently late and underperforming at the employee’s job. A manager has noticed this reduction in productivity. Rather than creating fear in this situation, a competent manager will dial-up empathy and collaborate with active listening in a critical evaluation conversation. Illuminating this employee on how the use of personal strengths can help the employee overcome whatever obstacle is being faced, will help improve productivity.
When facing a crisis, which is subjectively defined, a skilled manager approaches it with a cool head. Asking ideas from all team members on how to “fix” the situation will generate more ideas than trying to solve it individually. A manager with effective coaching skills can approach any obstacle with a calm, objective focus. A deeper understanding of problems and solution-focused questioning creates pathways to resolutions.
A new employee who is visibly nervous about their new role is linked with another professional by a manager. The two are encouraged to set goals together and to hold each other accountable. This coaching skill would enable a team to collaborate and to create a social connection that will build community within the organization.
There is a conflict between two employees. The effective coaching skills of active, equal listening and emotional intelligence are used to reduce anger, stress, and ineffective communication. Allowing space for each party in the conflict to be heard and to also co-create solutions helps to unify the team.
Source: positivepsychology.com
