How To Coach Your Team

Do you know how to get exceptional results through others as a leader?

If your results are not where you want them to be, then you could be missing a key element in your existing People Strategy for your business or department.

I’m talking about your ability to coach the people that affect your business and career.

Coaching is not a magic wand, but those who’ve mastered it will tell you it can work like one.

I’m observing a lot of misinformation out there about coaching as a leadership tool. I’ve also noticed that many leaders and entrepreneurs have no real coaching protocol they follow.

So, I thought it was time to get you up to speed on how you can use coaching to your advantage, while also dispelling a few leadership coaching myths.

Leadership Coaching Myth #1

Myth: Business leaders and entrepreneurs eventually learn coaching skills on the job.

Fact: Trial and error is a default approach that can cost you time, money, and lots of ineffective leadership habits. Instead, you and your team need to develop sharp result-focused coaching skills. And this is why: The ability to coach your people—to change behavior, performance, and thinking patterns in your team, cross-functional partners, and customers, is one of the quickest routes I know to getting high-quality outcomes.

Leadership Coaching Myth #2

Myth: A result-focused coaching approach is automatically developed by leaders through years of experience on the job.

Fact: Not only is result-focused coaching a skill that many leaders and teams underutilize, but the very concept of coaching as part of a leader’s role is often misunderstood. Without the right skills and approach, coaching remains a random conversation rather than a driver of performance and accountability.

Leadership Coaching Myth #3

Myth: Coaching is an emotional approach to be used with people who need touchy-feely interaction.

Fact: Coaching is a powerful business tool, plain and simple. If you’re not using it as a key strategy, you’re missing out on benefits like high performance, low turnover, and a corporate culture that drives professional growth that’s aligned with your company’s mission.

Leadership Coaching Myth #4

Myth: Coaching is only used to solve people problems and to deal with conflict.

Fact: Coaching is a communication and positioning tool that can be used as an up-front approach to prevent problems and create buy-in across all levels of the organization.

Leaders who know how to use result-focused coaching are able to:

* Build high-performance teams.
* Quickly resolve and prevent problems.
* Attract and retain top talent and customers.
* Build partnership and a collaborative knowledge network.
* Activate their strategic plans through others.
* Develop a solution-driven culture.

Leadership Coaching Myth #5

Myth: Most savvy leaders and entrepreneurs already know how to coach and empower high levels of performance.

Fact: Asking how someone’s weekend was or giving a pep talk with the office door closed is NOT result-driven coaching. As you transition into a leader who coaches AND communicates for specific results, you’ll know which approach to use in which situation.

Coaching for results is an art that you can develop through practice. The key is to apply the right knowledge and skills to start getting the results you want.

My suggestion: Identify the priority area where coaching should be used as a tool within your organization, team, or department right now. Tip: It’s usually at the intersection of communication gaps.

Schedule a Strategic Consult

If you’re responsible for improving team performance and want clarity on how to coach more effectively as a leader, a strategic consultation can help.

Together, we’ll identify what’s currently limiting results and determine the level of support needed to move performance forward.

Clarity is your first step toward measurable progress.

About The Author

Diana Keith is a people strategist and business psychologist who works with leaders and their teams to increase innovation, morale, and performance.