While preparing a
coaching program for a client organization, I came across a blog by Peri Shawn,
of Salesforce.com titled, Are Your Coaching Questions as Effective As They
Could Be?
One of the keen insights she shares is the idea that, as
leaders, we often spend too much time coaching to our ideal or to our
theoretical vision of good rather than “Coaching to our team’s reality”. I
found this to be particularly profound. I think we do this all the
time in all aspects of our life.
As we set our goals and
aspirations for this New Year, it seems appropriate that we remember to focus
on our current circumstances without the rose-colored glasses.
Go To Where They Are
We can benefit from Peri
Shawn’s wisdom, when we are coaching others, whether in a business context or
as a parent or even as a friend. Spending time selling a desired state or
vision of improvement will do little to produce results if the other person’s current
state is too distant from your vision. Taking time to understand the current
circumstances and charting a methodical course of improvement in incremental steps
is far more likely to produce results.
A coach named Jason
Jordan says: “Coaching should not be an exercise of re-iterating the
destination – to win the game or to achieve a quota. And it shouldn’t be an
exercise of ramping up the urgency – to run faster on a soccer field or to
panic more in a sales territory. Coaching should be about improving a person’s
ability to do their job. Increasing their skills... Improving their
decision-making… Changing their behaviors. In other words, making them more
capable. Most people understand what they need to accomplish, and most people
are motivated to do it. What they need is help getting there.”
Keep it Real
Jack Welsh, renowned CEO of GE was once
quoted as saying, “Face reality as it is, not as it was or as you wish it to
be.”
Even in our assessment
of our own personal circumstances we need to be realistic. Whether
you are embarking on improved health goals, addressing financial challenges, or
advancing your career, taking a good honest look your current situation will
prepare you to develop achievable steps toward reaching your improvement
objectives. Small, consistent steps starting with accurate self-awareness can
bring a lot more progress than you might imagine.
Darren Hardy is a
motivational speaker and writer who says: “You are only one or two habits away
from a massive transformation in any area of your life.”
Keep Moving
My son, who has always
been an enterprising young man, is now taking an entrepreneurial-thinking class in his final semester of college. It is exciting to see the enthusiasm and
energy this class is inspiring. Each day he seems to have a wealth
of new schemes and dreams. Having seen his resourcefulness, I know he will
accomplish some of these great things. My best advice to him is... "keep your head in the clouds, but keep your feet on the ground-- always
marching forward". It is the same advice I have for myself, more often than I
would like to admit. So be where you ARE! Take off the
rose-colored glasses! And keep marching forward!
Famed English businessman Harold Geneen once said “Words are words, explanations are
explanations, promises are promises but only performance is reality.”
image credit: saltlightandwitness.com
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