As a leader, it’s important to understand the difference between leading and coaching. Both involve guiding and supporting others. But there are distinct differences in their approach and purpose.
Also, there is a risk of confusing the meaning of the word “coaching”. This is something I want to explore a bit in this blog post.
Also I want to talk about how you can incorporate coaching into your leadership style to better support your team.
The distinction between leading and coaching is essential for any leader. Especially if you seek to create a supportive and productive work environment.
Leading involves setting direction and goals. You also provide resources, and make decisions that guide the team towards achieving its objectives.
Coaching is about developing individual team members’ skills. It improves their performance, and helps them reach their full potential. And it encourages your team to find own solutions and approaches.
Effective leaders understand how to balance these approaches and when to apply them to support their team’s success. You should also know about potential pitfalls of coaching your team. As it’s not always advisable to coach.
Understanding the term coaching in this context
When you read the intro you likely thought “but I do coach my team”. And yes, that may be true. In this context you think of coaching as helping your employees, making sure they can reach their goals, you advice them etc.
There is nobody in a leadership position who hasn’t told me, that they coach their team members.
But when I talk about coaching, I see it from the side of a leadership coach. Basically from my own perspective. Asking open questions, getting the other person to find solutions and answers themselves.
And this requires a lot of openness and vulnerability from the other person. This is also where the biggest pitfall of coaching an employee lies. It only works if the other person is able to speak their mind.
And if you’re their boss, this can be very difficult. As their manager, you are not a neutral person, neither are you in a position to be completely un-biased. As you’ve worked with that person before and you have an idea of what they do well and where they can improve.
It will be very difficult to try to keep the conversation flowing with open question, instead of giving advice or telling them what to do next.
But you can still have a coach like attitude towards your team. By keeping conversations open and not offering advice all the time, you can empower your team to come up with solutions themselves.
I’ve talked about this in one of my previous blog posts, check it out here: Book tip: The advice trap.
Conclusion
Understanding the difference between leading and coaching is important for you. And it will help you create a work environment that allows for your team members to excel.
It’s important to know when to apply each approach to best support your team’s success. And it’s also important to understand when not to be a coach. Sometimes as a leader you have to take decisions and set the direction. And this will also be expected by your team.
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