Archive for the ‘Leadership Coaching’ Category

As a Manager How do You Combine The Roles of Evaluator and Coach?

Monday, January 23rd, 2012

Isn’t it a paradox that as a manager, you have to act as an evaluator and as a coach at the same time? I am sure you feel the tension between the two roles.

Nevertheless the two roles are linked together

As an evaluator, you measure the performance of your direct reports. As a coach you look for areas of development. This combination is not only difficult for you but also for those you coach.

It is like a Catch-22

Your employees may be hesitant to bring their mistakes to your attention for fear of affecting their performance appraisals. If you don’t come to know about their shortcomings, you will never have a clear picture of what’s going on. This will adversely affect your ability to manage your group.

So what is the key to managing the dual roles?

The key to managing is creating an atmosphere of trust. Research has shown that employees learn best from managers who display sincere interest in their long-term career development. It has also been seen that employees learn best from those managers who provide both support and autonomy. Employees open up to those managers they trust.

Therefore, act as an evaluator and a coach at the same time by building trust. This will reduce the tension between the two roles and make you a more effective manager.

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This Fair Exchange is the Key to Your Leadership. Do You Know About It?

Sunday, March 13th, 2011

Can you be a leader without having group members?

I don’t think so…

If that is the case, then what should be the strategy, so that group members accept your directions and influence?

It sounds simple

but you must learn exactly what your group members need. The members of the group will only accept your direction if you help them to fulfill their needs.

This fair exchange is the key to your leadership

They can then decide what to do to satisfy those needs in exchange for performing certain duties for you.

Therefore, as a leader, you have a wide range of incentives to offer to the group

You must satisfy more than simply the financial needs of your people. You earn your position of leadership by doing things that give them hope – that their needs will be satisfied.

The understanding of the implications of these needs should be of great importance to you

I urge you to investigate the works of the psychologist, Abraham Maslow who created a five-tiered pyramid that represents the relative importance of five different levels of human needs. Combine your investigation with Frederick Herzberg’s two-factor motivation theory, and it will provide you with a greater insight into the needs of group members.

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What is Your Leadership Style?

Tuesday, March 1st, 2011

Do you have a role model?

As a student of Leadership Styles, you must have a role model that is worth imitating. If you don’t, then please look for one.

You have to be very discerning about what you learn

In the luxury of retrospect, I can say that as a new manager or first level leader, you will be tempted to copy your role model. Without realizing, you may adopt the principle of parallelism – to be a replica of the leader you look up to…

I am of the view that:

1.      You must have a role model.

2.      You should be able to learn a lot from his leadership style.

However, there is a caveat–

1.      The role model should be worth imitating but should not be imitated.

2.      If you try to develop a style by imitating your manager, it might look flattering to him initially, but soon you will graduate into a constant irritant with no identity.

If you are trying to be a clone,

You will always be an inferior quality of clone. Interestingly, and at every level of hierarchy, the quality of the clones will deteriorate.

Don’t graduate from the School of Parallelism

I know there is another school of thought that promotes parallelism. However, I am of the opinion that it is not a good strategy. Your role model may have a force of personality that makes him successful in spite of the flaws in the personality. What has worked for him may not be sufficient for you.

You are unique,

Therefore, discover your own leadership style. When developing a unique leadership style, imitation is NOT the best strategy.

Finally,

Your actions should reflect your deep-rooted values and attitudes and not of someone else.

Next Step: Sign up for the First Level Leadership E-zine and get access to good information without any fluff right into your mail box. When You Subscribe to our audio e-zine, you’ll receive a FREE Audio Learning Program: “Seeds of Leadership.” Get your copy now.

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How To Display a True Mark of Leadership?

Sunday, February 13th, 2011

Do you work in an environment which is highly confrontational and competitive?

If you are in an environment where conversation turns into a battle, then you might add a new dimension to your behavior – you may find yourself becoming argumentative, which may be completely against your grain.

I know sometimes arguments are unavoidable…

But they usually make you look angry, hostile and competitive. They also make you look like you don’t care if don’t get along well with others.

What matters most to these individuals who are always in a combative mood?

To them winning an argument is all that matters regardless of the damage they do for their reputation. When you’re interacting with such individuals remember they’re usually insecure, aggressive, or both.

So what should you do if you work with such characters?

DISCUSS  BUT  NEVER  ARGUE! As a leader you cannot look bad.

What are the benefits of discussing?

  1. You sound and look mature.
  2. Your focus remains on solving problems through deliberations and consideration.
  3. Your opinion will be more respected.

Arguments tend to focus on self-justification rather than on conflict resolution.

So the next time

When someone turns a conversation into a conversational battle, please don’t be like him. Don’t argue, just discuss.

Such people actually give you an opportunity to shine

Don’t lose that opportunity. Develop this leadership trait; it will take you further ahead in life. To keep your civility in such times is a true mark of leadership.

Next Step: Sign up for the First Level Leadership E-zine and get access to good information without any fluff right into your mail box. When You Subscribe to our audio e-zine, you’ll receive a FREE Audio Learning Program: “Seeds of Leadership.” Get your copy now.

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Leadership, Leadership Development, Motivation, Team Work – All sounds too Mumbo Jumbo? (Part 1)

Sunday, March 28th, 2010

Leadership is a combination of organizing and motivating. The confidence which is given by the manager to his team can be developed by giving value to:

  1. Their job
  2. Them as individuals
  3. Them as a team

The Job – As a manager it is important for you to maintain the motivation within the department. To do this, three aspects of the job need to be taken into consideration:

Context: All too often people are told to get on with daily tasks in their jobs without being given a reason for completing them. The end result is “telling” rather than ‘selling’ atmosphere generated by the manager. You must be able to carry people along by allowing them to understand the context of the job and where it fits into the organization. This will stimulate interest and initiative from the individual.

Example: ‘Leading by example’ is an everyday cliché, but it has merit. Team members will view you as an example to emulate and therefore, you must set a positive example and approach to all aspects of work.

Importance: A good leader will let people know how important their work is, and recognize the importance of that work. Regardless of how ‘low profile’ or ‘high profile’ the job is, emphasis of importance must be offered to the owners of the job, if they are to remain motivated.

In the subsequent posts, we shall dilate on the other two categories mentioned above.

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Posted in Leadership Coaching, Motivation | 1 Comment »

Managing Change

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

Leadership Coaching is also of great significance in an ever-changing business environment. The issue faced by many managers is how to minimize resistance to new working practices? For many individuals fear of failing or fear of the unknown are the barriers to change. Coaching is a practical way to overcome these problems-by providing individuals with knowledge and guidance which enables them to achieves difficult objectives. It is a method which delivers quick and often impressive results, where recipients of the coaching get instant feedback on performance. Through coaching, individuals share experiences with others, thereby dramatically improving the others’ learning curve and the time it takes to achieve competence.

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Benefits of Coaching

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010

Effective coaching can bring the following benefits:

  1. Improved Performance-people do their jobs better.
  2. Staff Development – staff can be groomed for greater responsibility.
  3. Increased jobs satisfaction
  4. Better personal relations
  5. More delegation and empowerment-which leads to better use of time and increased motivation all around.
  6. A wealth of ideas are generated-in an atmosphere of continuous improvement those managers who can produce and implement new ideas will survive and prosper.

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Coaching

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

Coaching is a vital part of any business. Indeed, it could be argued that coaching is a critical means by which a company ensures that it does not repeat the same mistakes and errors. An effective way for a leader to learn and share information is through consciously reviewing key learning points. This is what lies in the heart of coaching. A dynamic process, which focuses on doing things better, move intuitively – through learning. Its value is not in telling others what to do, but in getting people to learn for themselves through creating the right environment.

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The Essence of Leadership Coaching

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

I am tempted to start this post with a quote from Galileo – “You cannot teach a man anything. You can only help him discover it within himself.”

In a world of management, what does Leadership Coaching mean? Every one talks about Leadership Coaching but what does it mean? I am of the opinion that before you can develop coaching skills, you must have a clear idea of – ‘what is coaching?’

Shall we arrive at a working definition of Leadership Coaching so that you can weave coaching into your management skills?

Coaching is –

a system of learning and development

helping someone achieve his or her goals

all about sharing knowledge in order to maximize performance

a method of focusing on future possibilities

Coaching is not:

an opportunity to tick off someone’s behavior to correct his or her actions.

Forcing someone to take actions

That you are the phantom of knowledge and have all the answers

In short leadership coaching is an activity designed to help people to improve their performance

As a coach, you try to get the best out of coachee. Coaching is a means of systematically increasing the capability of people so that their job performance improves. It is all about learning and performing. Coaching is very different from teaching or instructing. The coach encourages people to take responsibility of their learning.

There is no universally accepted definition of the term ‘Leadership Coaching’

How ever, there is no doubt that Leadership Coaching is an opportunity to contribute to another person’s development. There is a caveat – coaching is based on mutual agreement; therefore it is not appropriate for every situation.

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