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Abby
Vega, a fellow business coach and Area Developer for FocalPoint Coaching, invited me to lunch the other
day to talk about my upcoming talk on leadership that I'll be presenting
to her coaches. I have to confess, leadership is becoming a tough topic
to spin, as marketers would say.
There's
no doubt about it. The image of
leadership has
been badly
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Abby Vega and
GinaMaria
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damaged these days. Americans are
distrustful and suspicious, not to mention upset and outraged by what
some corporate CEOs have done. Each day new stories are filled with
the fallout of corporate greed, financial risks gone awry, and another
collapse resulting from poor business strategies. Many Americans believe
leaders have been completely self-serving - and hard-working people feel
they're the ones having to pay the price for that selfish overindulgence.
The everyday worker has had their livelihood sacrificed to save a
sinking organization, while their life savings has practically
evaporated. Needless to say, it hasn't been a pretty picture.
If leaders are
going to regain our trust and our loyalty, they're going to need coaching
more than ever. Coaching skills can empower leaders with the necessary
assets to lead us out of this downturn and back on the road to success.
But it's not going to be easy and changes will be expected.
Gone are the
days when CEOs sat in their offices and issued a directive for
subordinates to simply carry out. More than ever, leaders need to employ
coaching to create collaborative
environments, foster relationship building, renew creativity, and
develop a new level of standards. To succeed, this new generation of
leaders will be more “coach” than “commander.”
Here are three
steps leaders can take today to build these coaching constructs.
·
Build Environments That Ensure Honesty. When it comes
to honesty and trust, leaders need to walk their talk. They need to
create transparency by allowing employees to peer into their daily
activities. This can be done through websites, interactive blogs, and
even Facebook pages. Town Halls need to have
fewer formal speeches and more Q&A to allow people to ask tough
questions and get the answers they need.
·
Engage the Troops.
This is one of the Leadership Lessons from The American Dream: A
Tale of Leadership from the Founding Fathers. Leaders are surrounded
by intelligent, innovative people and they can readily tap that
ingenuity. The leader as coach will solicit input from willing
individuals and enthusiastic teams within the organization. They will
openly demonstrate respect for each individual's integrity, embrace those
who constructively challenge the organization's existing paradigms, and
ask those around them what skills and behaviors are needed to reach new
levels of performance and standards.
·
Be Accountable and Take Responsibility. Nothing is
harder than admitting a mistake. Yet if leaders are going to rebuild
trust, they'll need to be open about their fallibility. Great leaders
accept full responsibility for what occurs in their environment. They are
also able to make themselves a part of solutions, and they actively
engage others to seek solutions to problems rather than assign blame.
These are just
three ideas from my Top Ten Leadership List I'll be sharing with Abby's
team. There's still a lot to be done, but we need to start somewhere.
Engaging coaches is great way to start.
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© 2009. All Rights Reserved.
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