Manila, 15 July 2020 — Are you ready to roll with taking actions?

Using a Coaching Style

Have you already learned how to lift the performance of the teams and staff in your workplace by using a coaching style in your 1:1 conversations? In our pandemic time, having quality conversations is more important than ever to improve results and transition to a new normal. Fortunately, you have lots of options for setting up 1:1 calls, and it’s possible to learn the skills you need.

In #Grow3Leaders, using a coaching style is our theme for this month, and it’s one of the effective leadership behaviors that we learn and practice together. We already reviewed Three Coaching Traps and we have started unpacking Short Coaching Styles in the form of TAP Coaching.

Leaders tell me that they like how a coaching style can bring a mindset shift and generate new, out-of-the-box ideas. That’s what happens through Aha moments in the conversation which can be cathartic, profound, and moving experiences. It can feel like eating a ripe banana when you’re hungry. The relief and good feeling are palpable.

Banana or Bamboo

Most leaders, however, struggle how to turn these insights and Aha moments into higher performance and better results for individuals and teams. The missing link is to transform the high moments of the conversation into action.

During the conversation, it’s easy to feel an attraction for the new ideas that come up. On the other hand, the energy you need to mobilize to turn them into action successfully can feel like ... work. It’s easy to come up with reasons for delaying action. You are tempted to say that the conditions are not quite right yet, so it’s better to wait. And that’s how you miss the boat.

What’s needed is having more than one conversation or coaching session. Whether you are a professional coach or a busy manager using a coaching style, it’s the process of leading a coachee, staff, or team to results that matters. That involves a transition, and you need to plan it as a process, not as one discussion. Compared to the banana feeling of instant gratification, we’re talking here about a process like growing bamboo. That’s what gets you the full benefit of using a coaching style.

That said, there are in my experience three magic keys to help you make each coaching session or coaching-style conversation successful.

First Key: Connecting

The first key is to build the connection, to open up a space. In professional coaching, this always involves a commitment to confidentiality.

Second Key: Clarifying

The second key is to clarify direction (goals), alignment (mindset), and commitment (solutions). This part of the coaching conversation will work best when you use a simple coaching framework, especially when you are just starting.

Third Key: Actioning

The third key is to agree on what action will be taken, and to follow-up on the achievement and the learning from that action. No coaching conversation is complete without this.

Assuming that you have acquired the necessary coaching skills, the first two keys are usually made to work. The risk is to miss out on using the third key effectively. That’s where developing a bias for action will help. It is what sets successful leaders, managers, and coaches apart, and it starts with recognizing how the wheel of success works by Attracting Achievement through action.

Resources to Tap

Once you understand the importance of developing a bias for action, there are resources to help you integrate this into your work and life. Here are some that have helped me.

I consider Eat that Frog by Brian Tracy as a classic full of practical and to-the-point advice.

A more contemporary work based on large-scale research is The Progress Principle by Teresa Amabile, a professor at Harvard, and her partner Steven Kramer. What stood out for me in their work is the importance of using the motivation generated by making progress daily and of celebrating that progress.

I have also benefited tremendously from what I consider a cutting-edge resource, which is the Asian Efficiency website, with its tools, resources, and case studies. Hosted by founder Thanh Pham, this site also refers to Getting Results the Agile Way by J.D. Meier, a book that has helped me build processes for daily, weekly, and monthly wins.

Additionally, I found Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky helpful, especially for creative people who love to generate ideas and find it harder to focus on action than to come up with the next idea. I count myself in this group. Belsky suggests that most things in life can be approached as a project, with his Action Method helping you identify three things: action steps, references, and backburner items. He encourages you to fit everything into one of those three containers and contends that this makes it much easier to focus on and prioritize action steps. I believe that’s a good place to start to grow your Bias to Act.

Community to Practice

In #Grow3Leaders we practice becoming Biased to Act as we implement the leadership behaviors we learn. Just like the two women on their scooters in the photo, we want to be ‘ready to roll.’ Our secret sauce is to add the power of collaboration, to learn, act, and succeed together. We focus on a visible goal (the change we want to influence together in our workplace) through visible leadership behaviors to get there, and visible collaboration (in Collab) to make it happen.

Along the way, we run into obstacles, limiting mindsets, etc., and we deal with them as we go, much like a martial arts practitioner keeps going to the Dojo to practice with others. #Grow3Leaders is an international and cross-generational community of leaders. You are ready to join and take on the Grow3Leaders challenge when you invite three colleagues to come with you and become influencers of positive change in your workplace together.

We learn and practice effective leadership behaviors together and ‘out loud’ to create positive change, including in these difficult times of dealing with Covid-19 and the new normals that are emerging. Joining us is free of charge—not free of commitment. If you have questions, reach out to me on LinkedIn to get a quick answer or to set up a call.