COACHING AS A LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY

Does a leader need to coach his / her team, members ? Wt should be the working relationship between a coach and his / her team members ? These are some of the questions, I have been asked by my clients for the past 10 years.


The person being coached trusts the leader’s judgment and experience and will listen to advice and suggestions. The coach believes in the capacity of the group member to learn and profit from his or her advice. The coach is a trusted superior, and the person being coached is a trusted subordinate.


What is Coaching ?

Coaching is a way of enabling others to act and to build on their strengths. To coach is to care enough about people to invest time in building personal relationships with them ( Hitt 1988 ). The organization also benefits from coaching because it can lead to a competitive advantage, based on the elevated productivity of many of the workers who are coached ( Peterson & Hicks , 1996 ).


Characteristics of Coaching

Roger D. Evered and James C Selman ( 1989 ) regard coaching as a paradigm shift from traditional management, which focuses heavily on control, order and compliance. Coaching, in contrast, focuses on uncovering actions that enable people to contribute more fully and productively. People feel less alienated than when working under the control model. Coaching is seen as a partnership for achieving results. At the same time, it represents a commitment to collaborating in accomplishing new possibilities rather than holding on to old structures.


When coaching is elevated to a philosophy of leadership, it becomes more complex than a handy technique leaders and managers use to rev up and sustain performance.


Coaching is a comprehensive and distinctive way of being linked to others in the organization. The type of relationship inherent in coaching facilitates the accomplishments of coaching. Mentoring is one example of this unique relationship. Protégés are inspired to greater achievement partially because of the quality of their relationship with their mentors.

Coaching in the work place is the art of management. Because of the uniqueness of a coaching relationship, the person being coached is better motivated to accomplish goals for the good of the organization. Unfortunately, my experiences told me that, in most firms coaching is not ordinarily understood as a way of working and relating. As a result, most management development programs do not give enough attention to developing the skills and qualities of effective coaching.


Coaching is dyad, that is like leader/group member, or director/actor, it cannot exist without at least two participants. The interaction of the two personalities influences the coaching outcome. Some leaders, for example, can successfully coach certain people but not others.


Coaching required a high degree of interpersonal risk and trust on the part of both people in the relationship. The coach might give the person being coached wrong advice. Or the person being coached might reject the coach’s encouragement. Think of the risk involved when a basketball player asks the coach for advice on how to correct a shot that is not working well. As a result of the coaching, the player might shoot more poorly, to the embarrassment of both,. Similarly, an organizational leader might coach a team member in a direction that backfires – for example, by resulting in even fewer sales than before.


A key advantage of coaching is that it generates new possibilities for action and facilitates breakthrough in performance. A manager might say to a supervisor, “ Have you thought of getting your people more involved in setting objectives ? If you did, you might find greater commitment and follow-through. “ The supervisor begins to involve his team members more in setting objectives, and performance increases. Coaching has achieved substantial results.


Coaching Skills and Techniques

There are many ways to acquire coaching skills and techniques. One of the ways is to watch how others are doing it and practice it ; another way is to attend a three days coaching course which involves modeling and role playing.

I have the following suggestions that may help to improve the readers’ coaching skills:-


Communicate clear expectations to group member.

For people to perform well and to continue to learn and grow, they need a clear perception of what is expected of them. The expectations of a position become the standards by which performance will be judged, this serving as a base point for coaching. If a team member is supposed to contribute three new ideas, for improvement of operations per month, coaching is justified when an average of only one idea per month is forthcoming. It is not overlap for group members and managers to have only 50 percent overlap in their perceptions of the group member’s job responsibilities.


Focus on specific areas that require improvement

To coach a group member toward higher levels of performance, the leader pinpoints what specific type of behavior, attitude, or skills requires improvement. An effective coach might say, “ I read the product line expansion proposal you submitted. It is okay, but it falls short of your usual level of creativity. Each product you mentioned is already being carried by competitors. Have you thought about ………. “ Another important factor in giving specific feedback is to avoid generations and exaggerations, such as, “ you never come up with a good product idea, “ or “ you are the most unimaginative product development specialist I have even known. “

Listen Actively.

Listening is an essential ingredient in any coaching session., An active listener tries to grasp both facts and feelings. Observing the group member’s nonverbal communication is another part of active listening. The leader must also be patient and not poised for a rebuttal of any difference of opinion between him or her and the group member.

To encourage a person to listen actively, is to talk about his or her performance, asking open ended questions, facilitates flow of conversation,. For example, ask: “ How do you feel about the way you handled conflict with the marketing group yesterday ? “ A close ended question covering the same issue would be: “ Do you think you could have done a better job of handling conflict with the marketing group yesterday ? “


Give Emotional Support

By being helpful and constructive, the leader provides much needed emotional support to the group member who is not performing at his or her best. A coaching session should not be an interrogation. An effective way of emotional support is to use positive rather than negative motivators. For example, the leader might say, “ I liked some things you did yesterday, yet I have a few suggestions that might bring you closer to peak performance. “ Another facet of giving emotional support is for the leader or manager to be a toxic handler, a person who shoulders the sadness, frustration, bitterness, anger, and despair of group members so that they can work productively. The ready availability to be a sympathetic and empathic listener is a major part of being a toxic handler, and coming forth with creative solutions to vexing problems is also helpful.

Help remove obstacles

To perform at anywhere near top capacity, ,individuals may need help in removing obstacles such as a maze of rules and regulations and rigid budgeting. An important role for the leader of an organizational unit is thus to be a “ barrier buster “> A leader or manager is often in a better position than a group member to gain approval from a higher level manager, find money from another budget line,. Expedite a purchase order, or authorize hiring a temporary worker to provide assistance.

Give a commitment to change

Unless the leader received a commitment from the team member to carry through with the proposed solution to a problem, the team member may not attain higher performance. An experienced manager or coach develops an intuitive feel for when employees are serious about performance improvement. Two clues that commitment to change is lacking are: 1) over agreeing about the need for change, and 2) agreeing to change without display of emotion.

Applaud Good results

Effective coaches on the playing field and in the workplace are cheer leaders. They give encouragement and positive reinforcement by applauding good results. Some effective coaches shout in joy when an individual or team achieves outstanding results; others clap their hands in applause.

Conclusion

Coaching Is a partnership for achieving results. It requires a high degree of interpersonal risk and trust on the part of both sides in the relationship. To be an effective coach, whatever the individual’s specific background, a range of competencies is desirable. Such competency skills like - capacity to learn, reflective practice, contextual knowledge, cognitive capacity, accountability, understanding of adult education principles, values, listening skills, motivating skills, independence, facilitation skills, understanding change strategies and experience of life.

Wishing the reader best wishes in your pursuit to coach your staff.