Learning the Language of Change through Coaching

Everyone can benefit from having a coach. Ask the most successful person or the most decorated athlete. They’ll tell you that, as hard as it is to reach the top, it’s even harder to stay there. Coaches share the learnings they’ve gained from their own experiences to help you avoid the pitfalls you’ll encounter on your journey to success. 

“A good coach can change the game; a great coach can change a life.” (John Wooden)

Successful leaders recognize the need to improve their weaknesses and build upon their strengths — on a continuous basis. To succeed and to maintain success, they don’t rest on their laurels, and they don’t want the people who work with them to do so either. 

Great leaders are also great learners. Leading by example, they acknowledge that they don’t have all the answers and that they can learn something valuable from their team members as well. Coaching and mentoring add tremendous value to any team by helping each member step up to the next level.

“Each person holds so much power within themselves that needs to be let out. Sometimes they just need a little nudge, a little direction, a little support, a little coaching, and the greatest things can happen.” (Pete Carroll)

Raising the Stakes with Stakeholder-Centered Coaching

Stakeholder-centered coaching, started by Dr. Marshall Goldsmith, differs from all the usual executive coaching methods in one major aspect: Involvement of the key stakeholders. 

Most executives hire a coach to provide all the answers and to show them the key to success. The stakeholder-centered coaching and mentoring approach takes power from one person and hands it to the team. Each member has a stake in the success of the organization they’re part of, so who better to share the reins and help lead it to success? The leader may set the goal, but each stakeholder is informed and asked to participate in providing input and feedback. This gives everyone a sense of ownership of the success they’re working toward. The journey becomes a team effort, and the stakeholders become active participants instead of a passive audience.  They also, share in the ownership of the result.

The coach is an advisor and confidant, providing a listening ear, a different perspective and the benefit of experience. Stakeholder-centered coaches use a feedback method called feedforward, which focuses not on the mistakes of the past, but on how to improve and succeed in the future.

Stakeholder-centered coaching is also pragmatic and time-efficient. You get feedback on your performance from the people who are with you all day, every day. This coaching method acknowledges that to build a strong team, each member should be valued and listened to, fully involving them in the decision-making process. No longer are team members decided for, they decide with. 

Measuring Results

Change is integral to success. Coaches shake things up – pulling leaders out of doing the same old things that haven’t worked. But everyone knows that changing habits is difficult. It requires a conscious effort to do things differently. Cognitive dissonance results if there’s a conflict between the behavioral change the leader is making and the team members’ perception of it. To avoid this, the mini-surveys in stakeholder-centered coaching ask team members if they observe change taking place. In this way, you can actually measure the effects and help ensure that the change is positive and sustainable long term.

“If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” (Tony Robbins)

For coaching and mentoring training to be effective, leaders need to be courageous, humble and disciplined:

• Courageous in accepting that they may not know all the answers and that they need help from a coach and their teams,
• Humble in being open to feedback and suggestions from others, and
• Disciplined in ensuring that there is constant communication and that agreed-upon plans are implemented.  

Effective coaching transcends differences. By keeping the flow of communication open among team members, you’ll gain a great opportunity to embark on a journey of personal growth and to develop stronger team relationships.

“A coach is someone who tells you what you don’t want to hear, and has you see what you don’t want to see, so you can be who you have always known you can be.” (Tom Landry)