Coaching for Performance is one of my Bitesize Leadership Techniques. They are exactly what the title suggests. Short snippets of leadership tips, tools, process and ideas for you to use on a just-in-time basis. Use them as an update and to refresh your leadership professionalism. You could call it leadership in a hurry! This article is the last of three about Coaching for Performance: Reviewing and Follow Up. The previous two article were about Planning for Coaching and Carrying out the Coaching.
This article is an Executive Summary of my eBook of the same name – Coaching for Performance –published on Amazon Kindle. If you are a subscribers to Kindle Unlimited you can read the eBook for free.
What & Why
Coaching for Performance is about unlocking people’s potential so they set high positive expectation around the goals they intend to deliver and exceed. It’s helping them adopt a realistic view of what it will take to be successful in achieving those goals. And it’s supporting them in achieving the goals by adopting an inquisitive non-directive approach, asking purposeful questions, listening, giving feedback and adopting a coaching style or mind-set in all aspects of leadership communication.
Quote from Tanya Clemons, former V.P. of Global Executive & Organizational Development at IBM: “We have done lots of research over the past three years, and have found that leaders who have the best coaching skills have better business results”. Reviewing and Follow Up Coaching is about how to plan your time for coaching, and support your Coachees as they implement their performance plans and focus on achieving positive business results.
How
Here are some practical principles you can follow for Reviewing and Follow Up Coaching:
Invests Time Wisely. Your goal as a Leader and Coach is to achieve results through others by making the most of the valuable resources who are your direct reports. Now is a good time to decide how you will invest your coaching time for the next period; for example, for the next quarter.
Provides Support. In the period of time in-between formal or ad-hoc coaching sessions you have an important role to play with your Coachees. You provide a role-model for others to follow. You set the positive climate that encourages open and honest dialogue about business performance and personal development.
Shows Empathy. Empathy in coaching is the ability or process used in understanding the Coachee’s situation and feelings. Empathy is crucial to trust, cooperation and openness. It is also crucial to achieving mutual understanding. The nature of empathy is that people can see if it is there or not.
Maintains Self-esteem. This is the precious commodity you hold in your hands when you are coaching. How you engage with your Coachee, the questions you ask, the feedback you give them (directly and implied) all play towards their life script, their inner voice or Self-Talk that is working 24/7 to regulate their self-belief, confidence and engagement.
Champions Results Through Others. You strongly align with the leadership work value of achieving your results through others. This is the role of a Leader. As a Leadership Coach, you work with your Coachees at an emotional level to energise them so they want to achieve. It is about moving others to action. People are not moved to act unless they trust and have confidence in their leader’s competence and motivation.
Further Reading
The LARA Leadership Learning series consists of 10 short modules published as Kindle eBooks and Paperbacks on Amazon. They are organised against the Leader of Others leadership competencies. If you are a subscribers to Kindle Unlimited you can read these eBook for free.
Coaching for Performance GROWing human potential and purpose (fifth edition). John Whitmore.
The Tao of Coaching. Max Landsberg.
Coaching for Performance Part 1: Planning for Coaching The first article in this series.
Coaching for Performance Part 2: Carrying out the Coaching The second article in this series.
Preparing & Planning for Coaching An article on this Blog from May 2016.
