I was often surprised and taken aback by a response I would often receive from people when seeking feedback about their leaders' coaching…. "My leader doesn’t coach and support me. They don’t give me the answers I need to do my job, or tell me what to do".
On one hand, I was glad that our leaders appear to have been practicing the principles of coaching, however, deeply concerned that a critical component of a coaching culture was missing - a common and consistent understanding of what coaching is across all members of the organisation. Somewhere along the journey, our leaders were provided with everything they needed to adopt a coach approach their team. They had the knowledge, skills, resources and support, what they didn't have however, were informed and willing participants in the coaching relationship. They had adopted a new leadership approach without informing and educating their team about the change. They were in effect, playing the same game, with different rules and had forgotten to share the new rules with the other players.
It was such a valuable learning that I have built into STEP 3 CAPABILITY.
When we think about playing a game, whether it is a board game or sport, for each person to be able to participate and contribute fully, they need to have an agreed understanding of the purpose and objective, along with a clear understanding about the role of each player and the rules by which to play. For coaching, the leader/coach needs to ensure their coachee has a clear understanding of the purpose and objective of coaching, what to expect, and their role and responsibilities. Providing this clarity is also critical for supporting a toward response required to engage the part of the brain responsible for effective thinking.
STEP 3 of the Coachable Approach - CAPABILITY combines theory, discussion, storytelling, practical exercises, self-awareness exercises and post session actions as part of our 2 programs:
The Coach Approach for leaders, and
Coaching comprehension for teams.
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