| All organizations have access to more
or less the same resources. They
draw from the same pool of people
in their markets or geographic
areas. And they can all learn
about the latest tools and techniques.
Yet not all organizations perform
equally. There is a huge gap between
high- and low-performing organizations.
What accounts for this huge gap
is leadership.
Leaders develop and bring out
the best in people. This dramatically
expands the performance capacity
of an organization. With a strong
leadership foundation, management
systems and processes, as well
as technology and technical expertise,
expand to their full potential.
That's why coaching has become
such a key management development
topic in so many organizations.
Too many managers are bosses,
technicians or even bullies. They
kill team spirit, arouse mediocrity
and suck the energy out of the
room. The results are poor morale,
loss of talented people and low
performance.
Effective leaders, by contrast,
develop people. Rather than running
around solving problems, while
overflowing e-mail and voice-mail
boxes suck up huge amounts of
their time and energy, strong
leaders empower and enable others
to solve daily operational problems.
Of course, successful leaders
also direct and control when needed.
But mostly they teach and engage
people throughout their organization
to reach ever-higher performance
levels. Strong leaders don't just
see people as they are. They coach
people into becoming what they
can be.
Here are the best practices of
leaders who provide the best coaching
to the people in their organization:
Clarify roles and goals
There's an old saying that teaches,
"the clearer the target,
the surer the aim." It's
common sense: We can't achieve
top-level performance if we're
not clear what it looks like.
However obvious this critical
coaching strategy may seem, many
managers fail to practice it.
Unclear roles and goals is a primary
cause of job dissatisfaction.
Effective coaches are masters
at helping people set the performance
bar very high by aligning organizational,
customer and team needs with the
individual's personal goals. While
jobs may be shifting and roles
evolving to meet changing conditions,
a strong leader will get everyone
involved in a continuing process
of redefining and resetting roles
and goals. Strong leaders build
upon successes and string together
small wins to boost confidence
about what can be achieved.
Build on strengths
Abraham Lincoln once said, "It
has been my experience that people
who have no vices have very few
virtues." Dwelling on our
own or another's weaknesses rarely
improves them. And it sure doesn't
do much for self-confidence, passion
or commitment. Like a good hockey
coach who has specialty players
or lines for specific situations
-- such as power plays or penalty
killing -- a strong leader finds
people whose strengths most closely
match the requirements of the
role (and whose weaknesses are
less important) in a given situation.
Rather than defining the ideal
role and trying to find a perfect
person to fit it, effective leaders
find someone who meets most of
the key criteria. He or she then
tailors the responsibilities to
align with the individual's strengths.
Strong leaders give people a chance
to do what they do best every
day.
Confront poor performance
When performance problems arise,
they need to be confronted. Like
porcupines in love, such discussions
can be painful for both parties.
That's often why managers avoid
them.
Leaders, however, know that poor
performance is like a highly contagious
disease. The longer it goes unchecked,
the more everyone suffers.
Confronting performance problems
is generally more humane than
letting the individual and his
or her co-workers suffer. An underperforming
team member is often unhappy and
likely mismatched to his or her
job.
If training, developing or some
of the other coaching approaches
don't appreciably improve performance,
helping the individual find new
work inside or outside the organization
will put everyone out of their
misery.
Servant leadership
So much of what is done by a mediocre
(or worse) manager makes it difficult
for people to get their work done.
"I am from head office and
I am here to help you" sends
the snicker meter over the red
line in many organizations. Too
often managers have made it harder
for people on the frontlines to
get their job done.
Strong coaches start by building
agreement or buy-in to roles and
goals. Then they flip things around
and serve their teams and organizations.
In his book, The Contrarian's
Guide to Leadership, University
of Southern California president
Stephen Sample writes, "If
a would-be leader wants glamour,
he should try acting in the movies.
However, if he in fact wants to
make a consequential impact on
a cause or an organization, he
needs to roll up his sleeves and
be prepared to perform a series
of grungy chores which are putatively
beneath him, and for which he'll
never receive recognition or credit,
but by virtue of which his lieutenants
will be inspired and enabled to
achieve great things."
Give good feedback
Effective leaders are effective
communicators. And an essential
part of this skill is the ability
to deliver useful feedback. Good
feedback nourishes growth and
development. Without it, the leader
as coach is unable to clarify
performance targets, develop skills
and abilities, reinforce progress
or build on strengths. Strong,
relevant and useful feedback shows
how much leaders care about the
growth of people on their team.
A core element of corrective feedback
is to objectively focus on the
problem, issue or behavior and
not the person. Through guiding
self-reflection or giving behavioral
observations, good coaches provide
balanced feedback that helps people
clearly see what they should keep
doing, stop doing and start doing.
Ask and listen
Asking and listening are fundamental
to strong leadership. They are
learnable skills. Whether we choose
to develop them or not depends
upon our values.
Managers will claim they care
about people in their organization.
But their failure to seek out
and really listen to other views
or ideas tells the real tale.
What comes across is, "If
I want any of your bright ideas,
I'll give them to you."
Many managers feel that the people
in their team or organization
have misguided views or petty
issues. "That's just their
perception," is a common
response to input that they don't
agree with. "We need to show
them the reality of the situation,"
they'll often counter. Attitudes
are something to be adjusted rather
than probed for underlying improvement
opportunities. Weak managers often
believe that customers' perceptions
are to be changed rather than
better understood and learned
from. Often, internal or external
partners (such as distributors,
other agencies or departments
and suppliers) are classified
as whiners who just don't get
it.
Asking probing questions and listening
attentively to the answers is
a key sign of a strong leader.
Mediocre managers do all the talking.
They would rather be wrong than
be quiet. Leaders, on the other
hand, listen. They know that coaching
and developing people is impossible
without paying attention to others.
The old bromide, "They don't
care how much you know until they
know how much you care" illuminates
the base of mutual respect so
fundamental to good coaching.
Cheerlead
It has been said that there are
only two types of people who thrive
on being recognized for their
achievements: men and woman. We
have all experienced the incredible
energy of getting recognition
or appreciation from people whose
opinions we respect. We cherish
notes, cards, awards, trophies
or the warm afterglow of a compliment.
A common complaint of people in
low-performing organizations is
that they don't get recognition
and appreciation from their boss.
They feel like a piece of furniture.
It's a huge contributor to declining
levels of morale and self-motivation.
It's one of the reasons people
leave an organization to work
elsewhere.
Effective coaches understand the
power of sincere recognition,
genuine appreciation and celebration.
These are what provide the atmosphere
of encouragement that develops
confidence and builds on strengths.
This encouragement needn't come
from the leader. It can be just
as meaningful coming from peers,
customers, team members and other
partners.
But it's the leader who sets the
emotional tone and atmosphere
for recognition, appreciation
and celebration in his or her
organization.
Originally appeared in The Globe
& Mail, adapted from Jim's
bestseller, The Leader's Digest:
Timeless Principles for Team and
Organization Success. View the
book's unique format and content,
Introduction and Chapter One,
and feedback at http://www.theleadersdigest.com.
This book is a companion book
to Growing the Distance: Timeless
Principles for Personal, Career,
and Family Success. Jim Clemmer
is an internationally acclaimed
keynote speaker, workshop/retreat
leader, and management team developer
on leadership, change, customer
focus, culture, teams, and personal
growth. His web site is http://www.clemmer.net/articles.
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