Follow on TwitterSome organizations talk about wanting to grow and develop people, but at the end of the day, all of the decisions seem to be made relative to finances and shareholder value. If we go back to the trust issue that we talked about early on, if people do not trust you they are not going to allow you to coach them.
When a company puts too much emphasis on finances, the coaching never feels genuine or takes hold.
I hear this from a lot of leaders. I believe this is the wrong way of looking at it. Yes, it does take you a few more minutes to coach than it does to manage or to just do it yourself. Remember, coaching is about building capacity in others. The investment and time you make on coaching should pay major dividends down the road.
Coaching is not a quick fix. It is a mindset and general philosophy about leadership and business. If you do not have the patience or fundamentally do not believe in coaching, do something else.
This is the person who is so stubborn and hard headed that they just won’t be open to new ideas and new ways of doing things. I do not know why some people are so damn stuck in their ways. One of my first teachers said, “Why is a booby prize!” In other words, it is not worth looking for why people do certain things.
There are people I have come across over the years who just seem uncoachable. They are not open to new ways of doing things. For a while they will tell you that they are willing to change, and they will pretend like they are, but they never really commit to anything different. Do not waste your time coaching those people.
One test we use for this is “How hard am I working on the coaching?” If you are working a lot harder than the Coachee, something is wrong. The Coachee should be the one breaking a sweat!
One of the cultural contexts of our country is loyalty and fairness. Both of these are wonderful qualities, but as we get into the ultra competitive world we are in today, we may not have the luxury of keeping poor performers.
This person has been with the CEO from the very early stages of the company, they are now one of our most long-term and loyal employees, but for any number of reasons their skill set and ability has not kept up with the complexity of the company or the competitive market. The company has tried to coach the person. They may have even tried reassignment, but this person is not able to perform at a level that is required today. It is time to manage this person out of the business.
Shut off all of your electronics and take some time to REFLECT on what you have accomplished in 2011 and set some goals for 2012. Really reflect on what you did well and where you have room for improvement. Don’t take the easy way out and say that you did everything well in 2011 and there is nothing that you should work on in 2012. You and I both know that would be a LIE!!! Is that really how you want to start out the new year? If you really want to challenge yourself, go a step further and ask a co-worker, friend or mentor to hold you accountable on what you have committed to for 2012.
You can see someone who has a lot of commitment, but does not have the skill. In coaching this is one of our common diagnostic tools. Do I think this person really wants to do this or do they have the skill? Do not confuse the two. Furthermore, is the person able to develop the skill? So if you decide they do have commitment, they just do not have the skill, remember some people are not able to develop certain skills.
One of the most common problems I see is leaders who espouse certain values and beliefs, but they are not willing to be held accountable to their beliefs. The executive who says, “Everybody’s equally important in this company,” yet gives preferential privileges to themself and other members of the executive team. The CEO who says, “Integrity is a key component of the culture,” yet they talk behind people’s backs.
You can put any pretty words you want on the wall, but if you are not able to set the tone and be the example, it will never work, period, end of story! It is not realistic to expect that you are going to be perfect 100 percent of the time – that is not what I am talking about. What I am talking about is an extremely high level of integrity and ability to model the values and if at some point you miss the mark, be transparent with your team and apologize for your mistake and recommit to the values. People can actually respect you more when you can demonstrate your vulnerability and be accountable for it.
Joe Paterno’s situation amplifies pitfall #8 from Coach to Win the Leadership Game…Assistant coaches who betray the coach’s core values.
8. Misaligned Assistants
I have worked with organizations that have senior executives who are able to model the company’s values, yet allow a few of their mid-level managers to act in ways that are not in alignment with company stated values. The most common reason for this is that the mid-level managers are technically excellent or produce high levels of financial results, but are unable to model the company’s values.
You can see the slippery slope this creates for senior executives. This behavior sends the message, “We really believe in our core values and want everyone to follow them but when it comes down to it we are tolerating misalignment because certain people produce great (technical or financial) results and we are unwilling to draw a line in the sand.” That is a recipe for disaster from a leadership standpoint.
Stay tuned since we will discuss the other 7 pitfalls that will undermine coaching!
Work on one of the most important muscles you can build especially right now in the world we live in – that is GRATITUDE! Start every morning with 2 minutes of gratitude and think of all of the things you have to be grateful for in your life – health, family, friends, job, etc.
Keeping a mindset of gratitude will make such a difference throughout the day as you look at what’s possible and what’s going on in the world. I am convinced that the media is all about what not working – what’s going to keep us upset and frightened. You really have a choice to set your own mindset. Like all mind rituals and practices, the more you do it, the more it will become your fixed perspective on the world. Having a mindset of gratitude will make all the difference!
Reach out to someone you don’t normally connect with or haven’t connected with in a while. Express gratitude to everyone you interact with – flight attendant, mail person, tollbooth worker, etc. Make sure to express gratitude to everyone on your team! Get into the mindset of expressing gratitude to everyone you come in contact with throughout your day. That will make a big difference.
Practice this gratitude ritual the first 2 minutes of every day! Let me know what impact this new practice has on your life.
Like so many leaders, business people and other human beings, I was spending time in the last 24 hours reflecting upon the life and leadership lessons we could all learn from Steve Jobs. In this 2 minute video I share what I learned.
How can we use what we learned from him to be better leaders and human beings? He encouraged everyone to follow their heart and their intuition because they already know who you want to become. That is pretty powerful! He also tells us to love what you do and it will keep getting better everyday. Do you love what you do?
Take some time and be reflective on what you could learn from Steve Jobs and how you might use it as a coaching leader to keep getting better.
