How Can You Be a Better Coach for Your Growing Team?

A Good Coach Can Help You Balance Your Priorities

Albert Einstein once said, “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift, and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” How do you tap into your sacred gifts? When people tell me they want to grow and expand their business I share this quote with them. Too many leaders I know are great at analyzing information, but struggle knowing what it means to their life and business. Yesterday, we talked about how to begin to engage others. Today, I share a tool to help you, coaching.

What should you expect from your coach?

Here are several ideas that I learned from Thomas Leonard many years ago when I was learning how to develop new coaches. I have taught in several top MBA programs. We didn’t learn this information on coaching there. Shame on them! Many of our best masters programs do little to help leaders develop their intuitive side. We have created many leaders who have superior analytical skills, but lack the vision and the ideas to create breakthroughs in their markets. This is because for many years analysis skills were what set leaders apart from others in our markets. People who learn how to tap into their creative side are establishing many great customer experiences exactly because they are moving against business school thinking. This doesn’t mean business school is a bad investment. It just needs to be blended with other styles of learning and development.

Thomas Leonard created fifteen coaching proficiencies that should have changed the way we coach in the business world. Thomas unexpectedly passed away and much of this information got lost on his passing. That and because they may have seemed too radical when he first shared them. I think he was fifteen years early with these coaching proficiencies, but I have been using them and seeing incredible results for my clients for the last 10 years. I share several today and tomorrow. You can try them out to see the results you get with the people you work with. Even if you only use one or two of his proficiencies, it will make you want more.

Thomas’s first proficiency is engaging in a provocative conversation. How do you engage with people? When people walk away, do they feel great? Are they searching for good answers to their questions, or are they really searching for a great solution? Learning to engage others helps them and you develop your intuitive powers. If you can get others to examine life more closely, they begin to see the synchronicity around them.

How do you provide you clients with a deeper listening? I think it is critical to get your clients to think more deeply about what actions they choose to take. A good coach should be willing to ask questions that keep your mind moving and looking at the many different options available before choosing a solution. Better questions bring out a better you. A better you is more confident in decision making. A better you doesn’t settle for surface answers. When I worked with Dr. Deming, he was known for asking several great questions to help others tap into their deeper knowledge. Make sure that your coach is able to do this.

Do you enjoy working with the people you work with? Thomas taught that it was critical to enjoy your clients. When I first heard this I assumed everyone loves their clients. Sad to say, I would bet less than 5% of the coaches and advisors I know they love their clients. They love the money, they might even enjoy their industries, but if you want to help others tap into their more intuitive self, you must love your clients.

It’s funny, I’ve had many great coaches over my career, starting way back when I was in high school, but the coaches who made me better were the ones who cared for me. This doesn’t mean we always agreed on everything, but I knew they were challenging me to be better and expand my opportunities. If your coach is in it just for the money, you will fail over 90% of the time. Intuitive powers come from being in a place where you feel you can take risks. Good coaches and advisors can help create that environment for you.

On the selfish side, I only work with people I enjoy immensely. When Thomas Leonard first shared this concept on a call with me, I thought it was new age BS. However, I was wrong. If you want to be a transformational coach, you need clients who challenge you and make you expand your vision of the world. A great coach collaborates with their clients to expand the way they see the world. This trusting relationship can only occur between partners who really enjoy each other. My father taught me at a very young age that if you can get people to laugh and cry with you, you will find joy in your work. Without joy, work isn’t worth the money they pay you. With joy, money just naturally flows to you. Are you enjoying your clients immensely?

Tomorrow, we have Kaylene share her ideas on how to connect better with your clients by better understanding who they are and how they see the world. She will share some of the weaknesses that may come with different personalities. See you here tomorrow.

Then back on to Developing Serving Leaders on Friday, we share several ideas to help you develop your own intuition. How would you like to have more engaging conversations? We discuss several great tips to help you become a more engaging leader at Developing Serving Leaders.