The purpose of coaching is to provide self-awareness, especially about one’s blind spots so that they are not in denial about their weaknesses. Strengths can serve as a foundation for future career opportunities; individuals need to listen to feedback, accept it and act on it in order to grow into future jobs.
When implementing a coaching program at your organization, remember that the person with the best technical expertise does not necessarily make a great coach. Instead, a coach needs empathy, patience, good listening, and good teaching. In addition, if a coach has bad behaviors….those skills transfer as easily as good behaviors.
However, most companies’ coaching programs are not effective because even though they say they want a manager to coach, they are not willing to prioritize this for the manager’s time. It must be treated like project-based work – with a mutually agreed upon objective, accepted plan of action, and observable and measurable results.
Questions to ask:
- How do my strengths and weaknesses impact the people around me – my team, my colleagues, and my boss?
- What skills do I need to develop in order to be more effective?
- How am I being perceived by others?
- What behaviors do I need to change in order to be more effective?
- What am I already doing that I can leverage to be more effective?
Do you coach others to develop the competencies required that your business will need in the future?
