Showing posts with label Coaching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Coaching. Show all posts
Monday, April 14, 2014
Positive Leadership: The Coaching Payoff
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Positive Leadership: Focus on Employees' Strengths and Potential (Not on Their Weaknesses)
It is much easier to focus on what your employees do well
than to try to fix their weaknesses. However, many leaders don’t understand how
to translate this truth into how they lead on a day-to-day basis. So how do you
make it happen?
Understanding your employees’ potential is going to take
some energy and thought on your part, especially if, like many of us, you’re
used to focusing on what people are rather than what they could be.
Here are a
few questions to ask yourself:
- Can they do something well that isn’t in their formal training or experience?
- Compare them to others with the same experience—are they doing anything faster or better?
- Do they appear to enjoy certain projects more than others?
- What kind of work do they show the most ownership for?
- What kind of work do they need the least guidance from you to do?
- What have they produced that has genuinely surprised you?
- Once you’ve identified employees’ strengths, take a few minutes in your next one-on-one meeting to tell them what they’re doing especially well, or to describe the potential you see in them in a particular area. Get their perspective. Do they know what they’re good at? How can you help them leverage those strengths? Do what you can, but then get out of the way!
Now, here are a few practical suggestions to help you bring out hidden strengths in your team members:
- Ask them what they like about their job and what they are less enthusiastic about. Make a list. Add the strengths in them that you see that they have not listed. Discuss how—or whether—these strengths map onto their current job or role.
- Even when giving corrective feedback, talk about the strengths you see in them.
- Instead of viewing them as a problem employee, take the approach that there has to be something they do well and it’s your job to help them find it.
- See whether you can structure the job around their strengths.
- If you can’t offer them a job or project that plays to their strengths, consider whether the employee might thrive in another part of the company.
The lesson is simple: Spend your time and energy developing
your employees’ strengths and limit your effort to address their shortcomings;
in these weak areas, they need only be passable. This is not the same as saying
that you should ignore weaknesses completely. In fact, one of the most
important aspects of Positive Leadership is acting swiftly and decisively in
the face of poor performance. Nevertheless, even in this situation you must
focus more time and energy on developing your team’s strengths.
Once you discover the individual strengths of your employees
and provide them with appropriate coaching, you’ll set them on the course to
develop their true potential. This will benefit both parties!
Monday, July 29, 2013
Positive Leadership: The Benefits of Having a Business Coach
As leaders we all need confidants. We need someone we can go
to outside our organisation and outside of our regular sphere of influence to
get unbiased feedback and opinions. There are a lot of people you can go to for
wisdom and advice, but with an ICF coach you will always feel like the coach’s
ideas and feedback are genuinely unbiased. The only thing the coach cares about
is your success. As a result, your coach will become a very trusted confidant.
For further information on our coaching services please contact graham.watson@positiveleadership.co.uk
For further information on our coaching services please contact graham.watson@positiveleadership.co.uk
Monday, July 08, 2013
Positive Leadership: The Qualities of an Effective Coach
No Ego: A great coach gets out of the way and allows the
coachee to own the content.
Credible: A great coach doesn’t necessarily have to be the
subject expert, but does need to have suitable experience to ‘walk the talk’.
Empathy: A great coach understands the coachee and
identifies with their background, their personal preferences and learning
style, their personal/ professional context, their needs, wants and
aspirations.
Process: A great coach understands, operates and takes
ownership for a coaching process that is open, fair and consistent.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Thursday, June 06, 2013
Monday, April 08, 2013
Positive Leadership: The Difference Between Winning and Succeeding
In this inspiring talk he shares the advice he gave his players at UCLA, quotes poetry and remembers his father's wisdom.
John Wooden, affectionately known as Coach, led UCLA to record wins that are still unmatched in the world of basketball.
Throughout his long life, he shared the values and life lessons he passed to his players, emphasising success that’s about much more than winning.
Monday, October 01, 2012
Positive Leadership: When is the Most Important Part of a Coaching Lesson?
A question for coaches and teachers: What’s the single most
important moment of a lesson?
Is it:
(A) the initial explanation of the skill being taught?
(B) the first couple of tries?
(C) the moment things click, when the learner “gets it”?
We think the answer is (D) — None of the Above.
There’s a strong case to be made that the single most
important moment of learning happens before the lesson actually begins.
We know that master coaches are extremely skilled at quickly
making a strong emotional connection with a learner, to create the bond of
trust that’s the foundation of all learning.
But mere emotional connection isn’t enough. The world is
filled with extremely charismatic, fantastically entertaining teachers who are
wonderful at creating connection but not so great at actually improving skill.
Because it’s not enough just to capture the learner’s attention — you have to create intention: an urgent desire to work hard toward a concrete goal, toward some vision of their future self.
Science is giving us a peek inside that process. A group of
researchers at Case Western were able to look at the brains of learners in two
conditions. In the first, the coach was judgmental, and focused on negatives
and the past. In the second, the coach was empathetic, and focused on the
future.
With the judgmental coach, the visual cortex showed limited
activity. With the positive, future-oriented coach, however, it lit up like a
Christmas tree. The researchers concluded that this correlated with someone imagining
their future.
The takeaway: when it
comes to learning, brains work exactly like flashlights. It’s not enough just
to turn them on; they have to be pointed toward a target.
A few simple ways to do this:
Encourage expression
about future goals. Where do they want to be a month from now? A year? Five
years?
Ruthlessly eliminate
negative statements — especially judgements — that cause brains to shut
down.
Count down until some
Big Future Event. How many practices do we have left until the tournament?
How many more lessons until the recital?
A calendar with Xs is a powerful tool.
Friday, June 01, 2012
Positive Leadership: Five Management Lessons from Olympic Athletes
Athletes are preparing hard for London 2012 at present. Once
the Games are over, the memories - and lessons – will remain. Whether you're a
sports fan or not, there are valuable lessons to be learned when you view the
efforts and results of these amazing athletes from the perspective of
leadership and peak performance.
Here are 5 such lessons - one for each Olympic
ring - to take to work this week:
They keep score
Olympic athletes know how they are doing all the time. They
know their results, but they also know their progress and improvement. If you
want to improve your performance, you’ve got to keep score of your own efforts
and results.
They have clear goals
Every athlete has a goal for the Olympics. To some, just
qualifying to be there is the target, while, for others, a medal - or a
specific medal, gold - is the obsession. In whichever case, the athletes are
all clear about their goals. You must duplicate that precision in your own work
life.
They practice
Actually, they practice, practice, practice - and practice
some more. They don't expect world-class performance after only putting in
occasional efforts in training. They know to be their best, they must practice
in focused and strategic ways to reach their goals. Do you practice like a
champion? Are you as diligent and consistent in learning the skills that will
help you succeed as they are?
They play to the end
They know where the finish line is, and they don't stop
until they hit it. They pick themselves up after falling and continue, or even
ignore injuries in their zeal to make it to the finish line. Their chance to
achieve their goal may be lost but they don't stop. And you will rarely hear
them blaming others for results, unlike many folks in the workplace who
constantly berate scapegoats. Olympic athletes play to the end, remaining
singularly focused on their endeavour. Do you?
They have coaches
It's unheard of for these world-class athletes not to have a
coach. Even though they are among the best in the world, they recognise that
they need help to keep improving their performance. It's the same for achieving
success in the office. The best thing you can do to improve your own or your
staff's performance is to find a coach.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Positive Leadership: Coaching Advice from John Madden
To today’s generation, he’s known more for his tremendously
popular video games and as half of the legendary announcer pair with Pat
Summerall. However, before his 20-year TV career and creation of the Madden
line of games that have been bought by the millions, John Madden very
successfully roamed the football side-lines as a head coach.
Madden retired from coaching at 42 with a Super Bowl ring
and the second-highest winning percentage in NFL history. Here is some advice from Madden for coaches in
all sports and any level of competition. (His advice applies equally well to
business coaches.)
John Madden on…
…the responsibility
of a coach: ‘The first thing that a coach has to be is a teacher. The best
thing you can do for your players is to get them ready to be as good as they
can. That’s your responsibility. It starts with fundamentals. Give them the
tools for the best chance at success.’
…learning from Vince
Lombardi: ‘Lombardi was my idol. He said it best years and years ago: “To
be a successful coach, you have to know what the end looks like.” You have to
know what you want. What’s your goal? It sounds simple, but it’s amazing how
many people don’t know what the end is. If you don’t know the end, then you
don’t know how to get there.’
…succeeding as a
coach: ‘Teams have the same number of kids, same number of practices and,
for the most part, the same calibre of players. Why do some succeed more than
others? They better prepare themselves and their players. You can’t just focus
on one area. You have to be able to analyse personalities. You have to be able
to game plan. You have to be able to teach. Every good coach who takes on the
responsibility of being a coach should strive to be as strong as they can in
all areas of coaching.’
…striving to be the
best: As a coach, you have to realise that you’re never finished. You have
to prepare for practice. After practice, you prepare for the game. After the
game, you prepare for the next practices and the next game. You always have to
prepare for what’s next if you want to succeed.’
Thursday, April 05, 2012
Positive Leadership: Attention to Detail
One of the most persistent myths about great coaches — who
are, of course, interchangeable with great teachers and great leaders — is that
their primary job is to come up with Big Ideas. You know, those creative,
last-minute, improvised bursts of genius that change everything: the
revolutionary strategy, the brilliant 11th-hour gambit, the heart-lifting
pregame speech. This myth, born in Hollywood, is built on the governing idea of
the coach/teacher/leader as visionary artist — a special one who sees something
no one else can see. In other words, the coach as wizard.
It’s a tempting view — because from a distance, it seems to
be true enough. The problem is, when you look closely at great
coaches/teachers, they’re doing precisely the opposite. They’re not thinking
like wizards. They’re thinking like construction workers.
For a revealing glimpse into this mindset, check out the Belichick Breakdowns, a weekly video by the man currently
regarded as the greatest living NFL football coach, Bill Belichick of the New
England Patriots, who have just played in their fifth Super Bowl in 11 years.
In the series, Belichick analyses half a dozen or so key
plays from the previous game. The
remarkable thing is what he considers to be key plays — and what he doesn’t.
The coach doesn’t focus on the big moments we notice — he skips over all the
amazing athletic moves, the key turnovers, and pretty much anything that you
might remember from the game. Instead,
he focuses exclusively and obsessively on Little Things — the perfectly
executed block that turned a 3-yard run into a 5-yard run. The way a defensive
player sealed off an end that led to an incompletion. He focuses, time after
time, on small moments.
This is not an accident — this is, in fact, his
construction-worker mindset in action. This mindset focuses on three
qualities, which can be approached as questions. Think of these questions as
the filter in a great coach’s mind, governing his attention and action.
- 1) Is it Replicable? Is this a one-off fluke, or is it an action that can be applied in a variety of situations? Blocking technique matters on every single play. If Belichick were a guitar teacher, he wouldn’t care about that great solo — instead, he’d obsess about thumb position and finger angle, the stuff that matters on every single chord you play.
- 2) Is it Controllable? Is this something that has to do with effort, awareness and planning? If you watch the breakdowns, you’ll see how he makes heroes of players who pay attention, who anticipate, who get to the right spot at the right time. If Belichick were a high-school English teacher teaching Huckleberry Finn, he’d make heroes of the students who are first to spot the themes and connections in the text, because that’s about awareness and effort.
- 3) Is it Connective? Is
it related to a successful outcome? Belichick understands that every big
play is built on a scaffold of solid technique. So he focuses, like any
good construction worker would, on the foundational things that made
success possible. Each of those small moves (the perfectly executed block)
is in fact vital, because without it all the good luck (the big pass play)
never happens. If Belichick were a sales consultant, he’d focus on the
first ten seconds of the sales call — because without a warm emotional
connection, the sale would never happen.
It’s no accident that Belichick’s Super Bowl counterpart was
Tom Coughlin of the NY Giants, who’s cut of a similar construction-worker
cloth. If you watched this year’s Super Bowl you saw the Giants win with an
overtime field goal in wet conditions. It turns out that the Giants practiced
all week snapping and kicking wet balls — they soaked them in a water tank. It
probably seemed silly and small and obsessive at the time. But in fact, they
were building toward a win.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Positive Leadership: Leadership Lessons from Coach K
Duke University basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski now has most
NCAA career victories (903). Krzyzewski has been called “the modern-day John
Wooden” by Louisville coach Rick Pitino and “a coach’s coach … a guy I think
every coach in America looks to and respects,” by Kansas coach Bill Self. He
has led the Blue Devils to 11 Final Four appearances and four national titles. In
this extract from an interview with Jerry Kavanagh for Athlon Sports,
Krzyzewski showed an appreciation for literature in speaking about his coaching
style and leadership.
'In the book Absinthe and Flamethrowers, the author, William
Gurstelle, writes that managers who take the greatest risks are the most
successful. Do you agree with that?
I think you have to be careful when you say that. Somebody
might think that to be a leader or a manager, “I need to take a lot of risks,
or else I’m not good.” I think you can’t be afraid to do what’s necessary. Some
people would equate that to taking a risk because it goes against the grain or
it’s not something that is normally done. But my feeling is that a leader has
to take the course of action that’s necessary to produce a positive result
after doing an analysis and preparing himself to take a look at that situation.
The world might call that a risk; a leader would call that the appropriate
action that needed to be taken. I think when you just take that one statement
(by Gurstelle), you can make a mistake by saying, “I didn’t take a risk today.
I better take one.” I think you go boldly in the direction that’s necessary and
in the direction that you’re prepared to go in.
You often talk about leadership. Napoleon defined a leader
as “a dealer in hope.” I read where you said, “Leadership can be lonely.” Can
you explain that?
Well, leadership is lonely because you don’t discuss
everything. Part of it is that in your moments of doubt or in your moments of
being nervous or wondering if this is the right thing that you’re doing, you
never want to show weakness to your group. And you don’t share that because
it’s not the main feeling you have, but because you’re a human being these
feelings hit you. Leadership can be very lonely, but there’s a certain amount
of time that you have to be by yourself, it has to be yours as you’re looking
into it, before you present something to your group. I think that’s a price
that you pay.
Some of the statements you have made have an application
beyond basketball. For example, “Fear can change you.” What do you mean by
that?
Some people are afraid of fear, so they avoid it. They don’t
try to do anything. They’re very cautious. And when you get into new
situations, there’s an element of fear that can excite you. It can freeze you
or stop you from doing something, because it’s new. It can be exciting, but
there’s still some fear involved. And I don’t think that you have to face fear.
You know, part of being courageous is facing fear and doing what you’re
supposed to do. People have different fears — fear of speaking, fear of heights,
a bunch of fears — and when you face those fears, you can turn them into your
strengths. That’s how you evolve as a person and how a group evolves as a team.'
Monday, April 25, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
Positive Leadership: Jose Mourinho, The Greatest Coach in The World
The best coach in the world is Jose Mourinho, head coach of soccer’s Real Madrid.
The March 7th edition of Sports Illustrated profiled “the best coach in any sport, anywhere.”
The resume of this great coach and leader: In seven full seasons managing Porto, Chelsea, and Inter Milan, he has won 14 major trophies which includes two Champions League titles and six domestic league championships. In addition, he has gone nine years without losing a home league game, a winning streak of 148 matches over four different teams.
The following are the key learnings all leaders can learn from 'The Special One':
Embrace Success – “Everybody wants me to be The Special One. But I don’t worry. There could be a worse nickname.”
Criteria – “He’s at the top, there’s no doubt about that. You have a certain criteria in terms of top management, and that is longevity of success – which is very difficult today – and what you win. You have to regard his achievements as really first class.” – Manchester United coach Sir Alex Ferguson
Challenge – “Real Madrid wants to be the best – of the present and future. That’s my challenge.”
Expanded Horizons – Mourinho studies the management styles of Microsoft and Apple. He also read Colin Powell, Jackson, and John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success.
Understanding – “A football coach who only understands football is not a great coach.”
Diversity – “My players are men. Men with different personalities, different cultures. To deal with this is very important is building a team.”
Universal Adoration – “You can see how close players are with him. He has a way of getting into players’ minds as a manager…the kind of man who’s ready to give you all his confidence and trust because he expects that you’ll give it back.”
High Intelligence – Mourinho fluently speaks 5 languages – Portuguese, English, French, Italian, and Spanish.
Customisation – Mourinho addresses his team in the language of the team’s country. This helps foreign players integrate into the culture they are currently living. However, he communicates with each player in their native language. Have you heard of anything like that from a leader.
Comfort - “By speaking five languages I can have a special relation with them. A player feels more comfortable explaining emotions in a language where he has no doubts. So he has no problem to open his heart, to criticise, and to be criticised.”
Humble Beginnings – Mourinho broke into the business not as a player, but as a translator.
Timing – Mourinho contends the most important moments in games are what he calls “transitions”, going from offense to defense. “You must have a great balance. That’s why I believe in having players with the tactical culture to analyse the game. All of them have to think the same thing at the same time.”
Respect - “What Mourinho brings is a newfound respect for the coach, a position that has always been criminally undervalued at Real Madrid.” – Sid Lowe
Adaptability – “At Real Madrid, I am adapting to the qualities of the players.”
Utilising Talent – “I’ve always had great players, but I’ve never had a Cristiano Ronaldo. Last year Real relied too much on Cristiano to decide things. The best thing is not to make him feel responsible for the success or non-success of the team…He can make the difference when things are very equalised, but behind him he has a structure. I think he’s much more comfortable.”
Family – “I have to do what they (wife of 21 years Tami and two children) want (when at home). I have to watch the programmes they want to see, the movies they want to go to. I have to go to wrestling because they enjoy wrestling.”
Thanks to Brian Dodd for this great article.
Sunday, February 06, 2011
Positive Leadership: GROW through Coaching
The acronym G-R-O-W to remind us of an effective strategy for one-on-one coaching.
'All coaching is, is taking a player where he can’t take himself.' Bill McCartney
Goal – In one-on-one coaching ask the person you’re coaching, “What do you want?” and "How will you know when you’re there?" Try to limit the number of goals to no more than two per one-on-one session.
Reality – Examine the current reality. It is the role of the coach to cut through the “fog” and help the person being coached to better define what is really going on. Ask questions like: “What are the numbers? What are the facts? What are you feeling?”
Options – Explore the options for achieving the goals. Ask questions like: "What have you tried in the past? What worked? What didn’t work?" Look at multiple options, and brainstorm together to find the best option.
Will - When you have chosen a path or an option, ask "When will you accomplish this goal?" Establish a deadline. This may be the most difficult question to ask, but if you fail to ask “Specifically, when will you do this?” you have not done all you can to coach this person towards success.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Leadership Coaching
It seems like everyone is doing it: getting a coach.
Leadership coaching has become big business. According to one recent study up to 40% of Fortune 500 companies in the USA are using coaches for leadership development of executives and/or successors. Coaching is hot, and with good reason. Studies have projected an ROI of 500%+. And that return is seen in areas such as the ability to optimise direct reports, work more effectively with peers, decrease conflict and increase job satisfaction and productivity.
Like all developmental tools, the return is dependent on the investment. That means those being coached must be active participants. And not everyone readily embraces that role. Some individuals get stuck on the fact that having a coach means others realise or will realise their lack of perfection. That perspective can happen even when coaching is positioned as a perk and a sign of organisational faith in potential.
It’s important to gauge coaching readiness before introducing an employee to the coach you have waiting in the next office. For those employees needing some additional reassurances, having other employees share their coaching experiences can calm fears. Also powerful is sharing clearly defined outcomes, ideally co-created by the manager and employee. This can inspire by planting a tangible vision of outcomes.
Coaching can be a powerful leadership tool. Take the time to introduce coaching to each candidate, even if you feel it’s an accepted practice at your company, and listen for any concerns. It’s the surest way to guarantee success for both your employee and your company.
Questions for your team:
Have our top C-suite leaders visibly embraced coaching?
How do we get the message out that coaching is a Positive Leadership tool and not just one used for course correction?
How do we help managers address any doubts coachees might have?
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
Monday, October 04, 2010
Lessons from the Dugout
In football, coaches are judged solely on performance. Nobody watches the process, only the results. If business adopted the same appraisal system, imagine the difference.
Insert into an organisation's appraisal system the concept of judging departmental managers solely on the performance of their staff -- there would be no meetings between appraiser and appraisee, only observation of the performance of staff.
That is what happens on a daily basis with football teams. The entire management team is judged, each week, on what happens during each 90 minutes of competitive play. It is the immediacy of such judgment, and the visibility of the managerial process that makes football the all-embracing model it is.
Where else are failures in personnel selection and man-management so totally visible? That visibility provides an access to the process denied in business at least until long after the event. As a consequence, the lessons from the dugout are profound, not trivial.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Positive Leadership™ Coaching
Central to the creation of positive, sustainable, high performance organisations is good leadership.
Positive Leadership Limited supports leaders to become the ambassadors within the organisation, coaching others and perpetuating a positive performance culture. Positive Leadership™ coaching can take place in a number of different settings, or as is more common a combination of settings; individual coaching, in a group setting with other leaders, or with their own team as both participant and coach.
Positive Leadership™ coaching enables leaders to apply the principles of Positive Leadership™ to create environments where individuals become their best, people work well together in teams and with other stakeholders, and where teams and organisations build momentum in good times and demonstrate resilience in the face of challenge.
For more information, please contact: graham.watson@positiveleadership.co.uk
Friday, July 16, 2010
Sustaining Success
Sustaining success is a challenge. Usain Bolt, the fastest man in the world, fully understands this. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Bolt completed three exhilarating sprint performances, not only winning gold medals in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay, but also setting world records in each discipline. His feat solidified his designation as the fastest man on earth. How does Bolt maintain this level of success? What can leaders learn from him?
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