Starts with a Great Question

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Coaching is about asking great questions.

Coaching is a critical competency as a leader. It’s really essential in developing your team and nurturing their potential.

It’s also not just about them, if you want to be more effective yourself and be a better coach then you need to develop a deeper level of self-awareness yourself.

Quick reminder, what is coaching and why is it important?

The best way to describe coaching I find is with this old proverb:

This means rather than providing solutions or answers to your team for an immediate problem, ask them questions and focus on leading them towards solutions which they discover themselves.

It may be quicker and easier to give them solutions yourself but you’re not developing their self-awareness or critical thinking which are the tools required to solve problems when you’re not around.

Coaching is about asking great questions and challenging existing beliefs which may be slowing the team member down or preventing them from taking action.

Avoiding Why questions is really important, and instead, remaining curious by asking more open-ended questions that start with What, Who, When, or How.

GROW model is a good framework you could leverage for working through a goal or challenge with a team member.

An important reminder for us all is to focus on Coaching the individual and NOT the problem.

What does GROW look like in a Coaching Session?

Goal - Identify a specific Goal. Must be SMART so it’s measurable.

• What do you want to use our session for today?

• What does that look like?

• How will you know when you have achieved this?

Reality - Identity what the current reality is, and where are they in relation to the Goal.

• What is happening right now?

• What is standing in the way of you and preventing you from moving forward?

• How do you feel about your current situation?

Options - What are some of the options available to help them achieve the Goal?

• What ideas for things you could take action on do you have?

• What things could you do that you’re not currently doing?

• Who could help you?

Way Forward - Which Options will they be taking to achieve the Goal?

• Which 2-3 Options will you move ahead with?

• When specifically will you take those actions?

• How committed are you to taking action?

Hopefully, this model will provide some value to your sessions and help you to remain disciplined when you coach.

Coaching is not easy and the urge to jump in and provide solutions is sometimes very strong.

Consider being the co-pilot where you’re providing support, removing blockers, unlocking potential, and asking questions, rather than trying to jump in and fly the plane by providing solutions.

What’s your favourite coaching question?

All the best

David

Resources Of The Week

• YouTube - How to ask great questions - this video is gold. This 8min video gives you the best summary of how to improve as a coach and leader. 5 solid and easily actionable disciplines hosted by Michal Bungay Stanier.

• App - uDemy - this is an online training platform where you can take courses in almost any subject. You can usually find solid Leadership courses on a promo for £10-£20. Excellent value for a course to sharpen your skills.

• App - Blinkist. Do you ever read books and think there was a lot of fluff in there? This app saves you hours with its premium book summary app which condenses hours of reading down into a 10-15 minute summary for you to read or listen to. Try this app to save you time.

Quote of the Week

Last week’s issue: 6 Tips to Leading through Adversity