The Leader Coaching Skills Platform
‘Deep Listening’
We help you listen more effectively than 98% of the peers in your organization.
It is still amazingly hard to find good listeners in most organizations.
It is the single, easiest way for you to stand out and build a connection.
Solution-Focused Conversations
We open our toolkit and share the simple, yet powerful tools that will transform your conversations today.
We help you get right to the heart of a conversation.
So that others will say: “I feel understood and taken seriously by you.”
Better Conversations
Do you also agree that you spend 70-90% of your work time in conversations?
A small improvement in this area will have a disproportionate impact on how you are perceived.
Coaching Skills works with your Team Members, with your Peers and yes, with your own Boss.
Tailored to People Leaders
We knot that you would join a professional Coaching Course in a heartbeat.
But right now you want the concrete skills that help you with your immediate conversations.
We help you with very practical coaching skill practice that is tailored to your reality
Do you feel you get involved in most of your Team’s daily challenges?
Do you feel stretched thin by solving other people’s problems non-stop?
You Have Strong Leader Qualities
You are an expert like no other.
You have strong expertise.
You are an expert in your team’s area.
People seek your advice.
You solve problems like no other.
You love solving problems.
Helping others is a key value driver for you.
It is how you get things done, fast.
You engage and support like no other.
You spend a lot of time with your team.
You give them thorough advice.
You draw on your expertise to help them.
Yet when exactly did you sign up to become a Firefighter?
No time to progress your own deliverables
All the problem-solving for your team members leaves little time to deliver on what only you can do in your Leader role.
You constantly fight Emergencies
You constantly fight fires.
Some days feel like an endless series of emergencies.
Your Conversations run in circles
Despite your efforts, there is no real progress with the team feels too slow.
You notice that some conversations repeat over and over again..
Dependent Thinking
Your team members often approach you even for small matters.
You are on stand-by almost 24/7.
Your 1:1s are mostly Functional
Your 1:1s rarely go beyond the latest project issues and urgent matters.
Career and Development conversations sometimes simply have to wait.
Your Attention is Scattered
Your attention is scattered.
You know you could deliver so much
But how?
The core:
You Lead through Conversations
Leaders are Focal Points
You are the connecting point between your direct reports and the Organisation.
Anything you say and do matters. In fact, there are no small things.
Lead through conversation
Leadership is delivered one conversation at a time.
Improving your conversations has
Leadership is Situational
What you did yesterday, might not work today.
What worked it person A, might not work with person B.
It is challenging, but also empowering.
When should you use which style?
DIRECTING
Directing means to provide explicit guidance that must be followed.
It is useful in situations of high risk and time pressure.
It is appropriate when the Leader objectively knows the best path forward due to their role.
SOLVING
When Leaders solve, then they take an advising role in the conversation.
They analyze problems, map them to their own experience and provide solution options to the best of their knowledge.
It is a core element of Leadership effectiveness
MENTORING
A mentor is not necessarily a Line Leader of the mentee. However, there is a senior/junior relationship. A mentor helps the mentee by providing personalized guidance and encouragement, based on their experience.
COACHING
When Leaders using coaching, they push down thinking’ in a trusting manner.
They partner with their team members to help them develop their own solutions and support their ownership.
Directing and Solving appear fast in the short term, but they reinforce dependent thinking. It slows us down in the long run, as we get over-involved.
Coaching feels slower because it relies on questions. It is fast in the long run, by developing growth and ownership.
Even a small degree of Coaching will deliver RESULTS.
Employees at Google want their Leaders to be Coaches first!
In a fascinating and grand effort, Google has spent a lot of resources since 2008 to understand what makes Managers great (Project Oxygen, find the results under Rework with Google)
The Team behind it published updated findings in 2018 (here)
What remains the No. 1 behavior of the best Leaders since 2008? (Full List here)?
“1. Is a Great Coach”
What remains No. 2 on the list?
“2. Empowers team and does not micromanage”
This cannot be understated: Among the most important behaviors of the highest scoring Leaders was that they were individual coaches who are skilled in empowering their team members and focus on their individual needs.
There is a clear link between Coaching and Performance.
It does not stop there.
Bersin & Associates have established a causal relationship between coaching efforts and business results (Executive Summary here). Examples:
“In organizations where Senior Leaders very frequently coach,
21% higher business results were observed.”
“Organisations with excellent cultural coaching support saw
39% stronger employee results.”
And most fundamental of all:
“Organizations that are highly effective at teaching Managers to coach were 130% more likely to state they have strong business results and 33% more effective at enageing employees.”
An overwhelming number of People Leaders has never experienced the impact that coaching can have.
Why?
Because ‘Coaching’ to them is just another word for advising and mentoring in a skillful manner.
Applying actual Coaching Skills in your Leader Role marks a dramatic shift in your conversations.
Back to Basics
We observe that the most important Coaching skills rarely receive enough attention: Maintaining Presence and Active Listening.
If we do not really listen to understand, we make assumptions on what we think others need. These are very often wrong.
The 80/20 for Leader Coaches
You are a Leader Coach. This means, you neither coach exclusively nor will you typically expand into general Life Coaching.
Our Programs are customized to help you activate Performance Coaching skills to achieve organisational goals.
Situational Focus
Our focus is not on turning you into a Full-Time Coach. Instead, we help you understand when it is best to Coach, to Mentor, to Direct even to Solve effectively. We take into account the reality of your daily work experience.
Bite-Size. Global. Accessible.
We deliver predominantly through online-Zoom workshops, using world-class facilitation and learning techniques. Our Content is bite-size, experiential and directly applicable.
In every Learning session, you will coach, process and apply.