6 Tips for Leaders as a Coach

In the face of rapid, disruptive change, organisations realise that leaders do not have all the answers. Yet, leaders play a vital role in building Organisations that are humane and capable.

So, in short, the role of the leader is changing. In my view, leaders are expected to have coaching skills to build competent and agile organisations that are fully resilient. I am sharing my experience in this blog post on how leaders can leverage coaching to unleash collective intelligence. Follow these six coaching tips and notice the change you can bring to your organisation.

Focus on environment creation

First, create a psychologically safe environment for the people you are coaching. They need to feel comfortable and included to feel psychological safety at work. It is easy when you have a non-judgmental approach in your attitude. Provide them space where they can be at ease to take risks and create a rewarding ambience. If you are the boss, ensure that they can open up and let them know your supportive side even while evaluating. 

Try and work within the agenda.

The motive of providing coaching is to improve the thought process. The primary focus lies in sticking with the agenda of getting a better outcome. It is always great to align the agenda with the organisation’s goals without imposing solutions. The push you provide from your managerial position should always fetch a productive collaboration in the end. Make it a point to stick by expanding the solution space. 

Simplify to collaborate

Simplifying what you are trying to achieve does not always lie in directing. A great leader-as-a coach does not always provide direct answers to ease the process. Instead, make it possible for others to comprehend and come up with solutions. For example, it would help focus on your team’s needs when holding a conversation. Then, provide the necessary feed to fulfil it so that you can collaborate to facilitate the process. 

Self-awareness

Pointing towards the shortcomings or strengths is more accessible when someone directs it. But resolving them or improving the thinking process is only possible when self-awareness kicks in. A good leader always finds ways to boost self-awareness by their behavioural impact. Demonstrate the needs and show the ways to identify better through their coaching skills. It is a pre-requisite skill that you need to be an able leader. 

Experience and learning

Coaching does not mean spoon-feeding. Instead, it is a way to guide to learn more and comprehend better. Giving a chance to gain experiences and learn from them is the right way. An effective leader-as-coach asks powerful questions and always encourages using experience to fuel development through their lessons. It is the foundation of self-improvement. It is also helpful to build a competent Organization.

Practice what you Preach

Lastly, commit to the facts you are coaching. Only limiting yourself to words will not influence the people you are coaching. What you need is a complete outlook that gets shaped through your lessons. Imply what you say and make it a point to reflect it via your behaviour. Actions truly speak louder than words, so why not apply them to accomplish better?

Remember all these to gain a better perspective in coaching others. You also learn more as you teach others, so it is vital to keep your mind open. Above all, True leadership is an attitude. Put these 6 points into practice and notice the benefits. 

About Author

Venkatesh Rajamani has more than 17 years of experience delivering working software in short, feedback-driven cycles. He has helped many organizations adopt agile software delivery practices, including large banking, payments, telecom, and product organizations. He started his career as a Software Engineer and spent almost 8 years as a hard-core Programmer. He has worked for or with large software delivery organizations, including HP, IBM, Logica, Paypal, Ericsson, RBS and HID. He founded tryScrum.com in 2018 to execute his mission of Humanizing Organizations. Venkatesh is fluent in 4 languages. He is based in Chennai, India and sets the overall direction for tryScrum. He is the world’s first person to hold PKT, CAL-Educator, PST, CEC & CTC together. He loves reading books, travelling and public speaking.