Thursday, April 12, 2012
Chapter 4: Leadership Coaching
Leadership coaching is a practice in which the coach and the person being coached, (the coachee), collaborate to assess and understand the coachee and his or her development needs. They also challenge current constraints while exploring new possibilities, and ensure accountability and support for reaching goals and sustaining development. The goal of coaching is to improve the leader as well as the team or organization in effectiveness.
Can you think of a time where you served as a coach or a coachee? How did you or your coach improve the effectiveness of the organization?
Personally, I can think of multiple times I have been a coachee, however, I have also served as a coach while training the new marketing associate at DuBois. I coached and trained Emily and helped her learn the job as well as let her perform the task on her own to stretch her. I have given her goals and tasks and she has performed them incredibly, improving the overall effectiveness of our marketing team.
The coaching framework is based on three key aspects: the relationship; the assessment, challenge, and support; and the results. In the relationship, it is important that the coach understands and takes the coachee's challenges seriously, and develops a mutual trust. Assessment, challenge, and support offer important development within the coachee as well as the coach. And in results, objectives and goals are defined and measured.
Which key aspect do you think is most important? Obviously all three are essential to proper coaching, however, which aspect might allow for the most support and effectiveness?
Personally, I think it is important to build and maintain a trusting relationship. With a relationship, it is simple to assess, challenge, and support, and then give results. But without the coachee able to trust and communicate it is difficult to do those two other aspects.
In the text, there are the principles of coaching. The principles include: create a learning environment, ensure the coachee's ownership, facilitate and collaborate, advocate self-awareness, promote sustainable learning from experience, and model what you coach. The two principles that hit home with me were to ensure the coachee's ownership and model what you coach. I will surely be applying these two principles as well as the others when I lead and coach. I think it is important to always recognize and give credit where it is due. Also, it is important to live by your own standards and be true to your own word.
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I can think of a handful of times that I have been a coach and a coachee. When I think of being coached I think of my old job at DirecTV. I worked as a Customer Service Representative and each week we had to meet with our Team Leader so they can coach us on our performance and see if we can make improvements during the week. This helped the company because it improved the performance of each Customer Service employee and kept the stats at an achievable, accomplish-able goals.
ReplyDeleteI think that the relationship between the Coach and Coachee is the most important. Not saying that the others are not important but the relationship between the two are what I think is most important. I think that the Coachee is a lot more motivated and positive when the relationship is meaningful between the coach and the coachee.
The best experience that I can think of having been coached is similar to what Vanessa talks about with her old job at DirecTV. I worked directly with a team leader in my department last summer at my internship. This was necassary because I was very new to the technology and they ways they did things at the company. This was the best possible way to help me train effectively and learn the in the fastest way possible.
DeleteI also agree that there is no doubt that the relationship between the Coachee and Coach is very important. You simply can't become great or motivated at anything without it. Even if you are highly motivated on what you doing, to become the best you can be you need that leader relationship.
When I returned from Ireland last April and began my work in Career Services again over the summer, I was put with a new supervisor, Kelly Johnson. She took particular interest in how I struggled with attention to detail and how to help me make sure that I am always putting forth my best effort. As somebody who tends to dwell on unresolved issues and stress in my life, Kelly helped me develop strategies that helped me leave my school-life and personal-life stress behind when I got to work so that I could do better work and make fewer mistakes.
ReplyDeleteBased on my experience with Kelly, relationships are the most important aspect in the coach-coachee relationship, because they are they foundation for assessment, support, and results to truly be effective.
I have most defiantly have been a coach and a coachee. Most recent time i have been a coachee within the cheerleading program at SNC. Since I had never cheered before college she coached me how to become a cheerleader and pushed me to be better. She defiantly improved the effectiveness of the team by not only coaching the team but teaching us to be strong confident women. Therefore improving the cheer program.
ReplyDeleteI think that the relationship is the most important. I feel that this is sometimes over looked as unimportant. I feel you can not be successful or as sucessful if you dont build a relationships with the people in the organiation.
I think that being a coach as well as being able to be coached are important qualities to have. Coaching others to be better leaders and people is a strong positive trait to apply to the people around us. I also think it takes a strong person to be "coached" by another person, for some it is hard to take constructive criticism from others especially from people who may be friends or family.
DeleteI also think that when coaching, the most important part of the framework is the relationship building. Having a positive relationship between coach and coachee is extremely important for both parties. If either of the parties do not want to be part of the framework it can be detrimental to the final outcome.
I can think of numerous times where I have been both coach and the coachee. Throughout my entire life I have been coached in school, sports, and my parents. I have coached others when I worked at the Boys &Girls Club as a Big sister to a 9th grade girl who was struggling and needed guidance. Both being a coach and a coachee are very important parts to being a leader.
The time that stands out most of being a coachee is when I began selling Mary Kay. My director (coach) helped me in every way she could to get me started. I believe that assessment, challenge, and support best fits in this scenario. Together, we assessed my time and goals, she challenged me to sell and place a high order for my first order and by challenging me to attend Career Conference in Milwaukee a few weeks ago. She supports me by helping me when I need it and by asking me if there's anything she can help with. We talk atleast once every two weeks. Terri and I have developed mutual trust, developed goals and achieved them.
ReplyDeleteIn the fall, I used what I learned and recruited Stephanie. This time I was the coach. I used my skills to create a learning environment which worked best for her.
Although in this situation I believe that assessment, challenge, and support is most important, I think overall that the relationship comes first. If you do not trust your coach, everything will most likely fail.
Since I can remember I have been playing a sport. Obviously in any sport there is a coach and a coachee. Throughout my life playing sports I have encountered many different coaches all who are trying to develop their coaches’ and players. In basketball especially I have seen coaching at its best. My high school basketball coach was the best coach I have ever had. He is someone how developed me from a young immature freshman to a molded polished senior. He has challenged me throughout my 4 years in high school to always strive for my best. I believe he has made me into the leader and coach I am today. My coach improved the team by never settling for less than the teams best. He set out goals and did everything he could to make us achieve those goals
ReplyDeleteI believe the relationship is the most important part in the coaching framework. If you do not have mutual trust in a relationship it will dissolve and ultimately fail. If a team or a coachee does not have trust in to coach there will be insubordination and the team will lose sight of the goal or task at hand. If the coach does not believe in his/her team they will lose hope or interest and the team will suffer
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ReplyDeleteI have been a coach of an little league baseball team. The aspects of coaching that increase effectiveness includes stressing a "we" approach for all members of the team instead of an individualistic approach, dont focus on the negatives instead focus on the positives, creating an atmosphere where each ball player feels comfortable, and stressing good communication between coach and coachee.
ReplyDeleteOut of all of these qualities, I believe having people buy into the idea of a "we" team instead of an "I"/"me" team is the most important. This idea would foster teamwork and collectiveness throughout the team. With the ball players I coached being in only 6th grade, another important thing for them to understand is communication. Communication is key for any team, but it is especially important to young kids, because their cognitive and social ability is not as sophisticated as older people.
Like Logan I have had a lot of coaches in my life and my favorite one is one of my high school football coaches. My coach and I had several interactions where we talked about how I can become better and how the team could become better. My coach made it a point to challenge me over my 4 years in high school. He knew me well enough to know that I could handle a challenge and that I would benefit from it. I feel challenges are important because people who get through a challenge is going to be better as a result of it. I also feel that if one is going to put another through a challenge then their needs to be trust. If the coach does not trust the coachee then the coach will not be able to challenge him or her. A relationship based on trust is vital in any coach/ coachee relationship.
ReplyDeleteLike most of us I can also think of a handful of times I was both the coach and coachee. When I was a camp counselor I was in both of those positions at the same time. I was teaching the younger leaders in training as well as being guided and taught by those older staff members with more experience. And like others have stated I think that the relationship between the coach and coachee are important. I feel it is easy to see when two people don't see eye to eye because it effect both persons performance. I have worked under people where I got the feeling that I wasn't welcome or able to ask questions and it reflected poorly on my ability to do the work, as well as my coaches ability to work well with others.
ReplyDeleteI have also been both the coach and coachee. In high school we had a program called Link Leaders where Seniors mentor incoming Freshman. As a Senior I was a link leader and had to coach incoming freshman the ropes around school for example,who to go for if they have questions, and inform them about the school, plus a ton more. I was also the coachee in the situation because I was following the rules of the teacher who ran link leaders and she told us what to coach the freshman. I think it is extremely important for the coach and coachee to have a good, trusting relationship. They should both feel like they can go to one another for support or help.
ReplyDeleteI was a dancing coach for young girls who were just beginning their career in dance. The other coaches and I improved the effectiveness of the organization by using communication skills and by creating a positive environment so the girls felt comfortable approaching us if they needed anything. All the couches and I worked as a team in order to get our kids to be the best that they could. I also agree that gaining trust is the most important asset. If you gain your followers trust, they are more likely to approach you and share their sincere concerns. If they can do this you will be able to fix the problem and have the best outcomes you can have. A relationhsip is usually based on trust.
ReplyDelete