3 Ways to Make a Positive Impact Through Coaching as a Leader

Often, coaching is seen separately from leadership, but the truth is it’s simply one component of leadership. You cannot be an effective leader that makes a lasting impact without coaching those you serve. As coaching has become a more popular term, it’s definition has become muddled. Too often it defaults to the idea of a sports coach leading a team. There is so much more to coaching than that narrowly defined version implies. We tend to only see sports coaches during game time or post-game interviews. Rarely do we see what happens in the locker room during the week or at the practice sessions between games. That is where they are dedicated to helping the players get better for when they are on the field during game time.

The other misunderstanding that can come from the term and idea of coaching is that it is somehow related to performance management. Using the term ‘coaching’ as a substitute for providing counseling can create an environment where people are afraid of being coached. Effective leaders will ensure that coaching is seen as a positive experience that everyone can benefit from.

Here are three things you can do to make a positive impact with your coaching.

Assess Current Needs

Get to know your team members individually, not only as a collective group. Individualization is critical to supporting your 'players'. If you generalize what you coach and work on with your team, many will miss out on what they really need. Each of your team members will be at different places in their skills and learning. You need to help them with what they need right now in this situation. When generalization is applied it tends to fall somewhere in the middle. Your top performers will feel as though you are speaking down to them, frustrating and reducing what they can contribute. Your new team members might feel as though you are talking over their heads. This may discourage them from asking questions, feeling as though they should already know some of the things you are talking about. Ensure that you tailor your coaching to the needs of each individual.

Be In The Now

The coaching you provide needs to not only be established for the individual, but it also needs to apply to what is currently happening. Understanding where your team member is at in this specific situation will ensure you are providing them the feedback and information they need right now. Talking about something that happened weeks before or isn't relevant to the current project will have less value and likely is not what your associate needs to be successful.

Look Forward

Helping your team know where they stand at any given point is an important part of coaching. You can (and should) provide the 'team update' and let everyone know where the collective group is in achieving the goal or goals. But each player will need to know what they are contributing and what else they need to do. Be specific in the feedback you provide, tying it back to what you have previously coached on. Find examples of success that you can build on. If for some reason there are no successes (maybe they are new), then ensure you have clearly established the goals and provided the tools needed for them to be successful. Define the next steps based on their progress and the role the individual can play moving forward. This is a tremendous opportunity to celebrate early successes and show the contribution they are making in supporting the team goals.

In many ways, leadership is knowing where you want to go long-term and what steps it will take to get there. Coaching is the individualization of the message for each member of the team you are working with. Build their confidence so that they can succeed in whatever is next to continually improve morale, productivity, and long-term loyalty. This is the intersection of leadership and coaching.

How will you apply these steps to your coaching today?

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