Coaching

Webster’s new world dictionary defines excellence as superiority, excellent as an adjective is first in class, highest grade, best, obtainable, or distinctive. Frankly, it doesn’t matter if you are a bus boy, bank teller, flight attendant, school teacher, administrative assistant, or a busy executive; excellence is a choice. However, when you wear the hat of a leader (a person who can influence another), you have no choice. Meaningful, sustainable impact and change can only come from a leader committed to excellence. I believe in the above context; excellence is when you intentionally use all the available resources to create a positive change in whatever you are engaged in. After all, who wants to be average? To make a sustainable impact, average [...]

As a leader, I have discovered powerful questions are the key to effective coaching and the development of people. So here is my question, "How powerful and impactful are your questions?" Great questions are like gold, very valuable, and also rare. We need to take care and intend not to ask closed-end questions. Answers from a team member that are Yes, No, Ok, Fine fail in providing accurate information required in addressing potential issues/opportunities. Also, these types of questions often lack what is needed to bring out the best solution to the team member’s growth. Like many skills required as a leader, learning to ask powerful questions requires time, practice, and training. However, when learned these questions not only add value [...]

Here is what I know to be true: great leaders are not leaders of followers, they are leaders of leaders. The very essence of leading is to get more leaders not more followers. That is how we get the multiplier effect.  So, the question for you today is, "Who on your team are you coaching into a great leader?" The bottom line is if you are in a position of leadership, you are a coach. Your mentoring, instructing, leading by example, encouraging, challenging, and praising are all part of being a leader and a coach. We all have an opportunity to make an impact on another on the team. So today, I’m reminding us to constantly be looking for opportunities to coach [...]