The Ten Best Ways to Lead through coaching

1. Ask lots of questions. It worked for Socrates and it can work for you.

2. Have more empathy. Putting yourself in the shoes of a subordinate will change your perspective.

3. Walk around a lot and be more visible. This produces more brief coaching moments which are unplanned and more informal.

4. Show others you care about them. Show interest in people and their entire lives and in return they will become more vested in your goals.

5. Encourage creativity, innovation, new perspectives. Discard the outdated and ineffective approach to motivation through the promise of rewards or the threat of punishment.

6. Ask people what they want out of their work and be prepared to help them to achieve their goals. Long term productivity only occurs when people find joy in their work.

7. Be fair. Treat people with respect and be nice!

8. Learn to be a great facilitator of ideas and actions. People appreciate good leadership when they have opportunities to thrive at work.

9. Always look for what is working well, then aim to make it better. Focusing on what is broken will just uncover more problems and negativity.

10. Always seek to match the right teams together. Like a great basketball coach, seek to match each person’s abilities and interests together in ways which each person and the team benefits.

Coaching isn’t just an alternative to leading. It is the way to lead to get the most out of people. Coaching is good for business and it leads to organizational success!

Craig Nathanson