OK, the wait is almost over. Even if you don’t like football, you’re likely going to be joining the 100+ million who will be tuning into Super Bowl LII this Sunday. The Philadelphia Eagles, coached by Doug Pederson are the underdogs to beat Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots.
Personally, I’m more drawn to the coaching match-up. Though most of the attention will be on Pederson & Belichick, they have assembled a team of coaches that is impressive.
You can open a coaching conversation with a question such as “How would you like to grow this month?” Your choice of words is less important than your intention to clear your mind, listen with your full attention, and create a high-quality connection that invites your team member to open up and to think creatively.
ASK, DON’T TELL.
In a coaching conversation, it’s essential to restrain your impulse to provide the answers. Open-ended questions, not answers, are the tools of coaching. You succeed as a coach by helping your team members articulate their goals & challenges and find their own answers.
CREATE & SUSTAIN A DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE.
While your role as a coach is not to provide answers, supporting your team members’ developmental goals and strategies is essential. Follow-up is critical to build trust and to make your coaching more effective. The more you follow through on supporting your employees’ developmental plans, the more productive your coaching becomes, the greater your employees’ trust in you, and the more engaged you all become.
FOCUS ON MOVING FORWARD POSITIVELY.
Oftentimes in a coaching conversation, the person you’re coaching will get caught up in detailing their frustrations. Take a moment to acknowledge your employee’s frustrations, but then encourage her to think about how to move past them.
BUILD ACCOUNTABILITY.
In addition to making sure you follow through on any commitments you make, it’s also useful to build accountability for the employee’s side of formulating & implementing developmental plans. Accountability increases the positive impact of coaching conversations and solidifies their rightful place as keys to organizational effectiveness.
What will coaching your employees do for you? It will build stronger bonds between you and your team members, support them in taking ownership over their own learning, and help them develop the skills they need to perform at their peak.
COACH – Enjoy the Game!
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“Coaches who can outline plays on a blackboard are a dime-a-dozen.
The ones who win, get inside their players and motivate“
– Vince Lombardi
