The encounter between two personalities is like the mixing of two chemical elements; if any reaction occurs, both are transformed.  (Carl Jung)

Effective leaders coach others – and through facilitating the development of others, they grow in their own capacity to lead in today’s changing world.  Through day-to-day coaching conversations, leaders guide the development of performance goals, provide acknowledging and developmental feedback, resolve problems, and generally raise the bar for individual and organizational success.  Effective leaders recognize that knowing how to facilitate the development of others is no longer an option…it is a pre-requisite for achieving results and sustaining forward momentum.  What is less clear for many leaders is how to structure winning coaching conversations during regular day-to-day operations.

Coaching conversations are those discussions between manager and employee or peer to peer, in which there is a positive intention to:

1)      Help someone explore a different, and potentially improved, way of thinking, reacting, or performing; and,

2)      Spark positive behavior change.

Coaching conversations may be impromptu “just-in-time” discussions, or regularly scheduled strategic dialogues.  In either case, if we learn to “coach from all four corners” we will be in the best position to achieve positive results from our coaching intervention.

The Insights Transformational Leadership model gives leaders an easy to use, practical method for coaching from all four corners.  It builds on best practice research to reinforce the creative tension that great leaders are able to hold.  Great leaders must be both centered (i.e. knowing themselves) and visionary (i.e. seeing the big picture); at the same time, great leaders hold the tension between focusing on results (i.e. making the right things happen) and relationships (i.e. connecting team and values).  Notice, this model is not promoting “either/or” on these two continuums.  Great leaders must be able to move from situation to situation…being both centered and visionary, both results focused and relationship focused.   

This four quadrant model can guide leaders in structuring effective coaching questions or comments.  While the situation, or personal preferences, might tempt the leader to focus on one or two of the quadrants, the most powerful coaching conversation will address all four quadrants.  Typically the coaching conversation follows in a logical order from steps1 through 4.  The model also allows effective leaders to coach by skillfully adapting the order of the quadrants to fit the situation.  The key to full success is to ensure that every (yes, I said “every”) coaching intervention addresses all four quadrants.  (See the graphic for some sample coaching language)

Effective coaches build awareness and responsibility.  Use these four quadrants to guide your next coaching conversation – knowing that your chance of success is increased when you “coach from all four corners”.

Joyce Gwilliam

March, 2007

* If you have not experienced an Insights Discovery personal profile, participated in an Insights for Personal Effectiveness workshop or used your profile in a personal coaching program, contact info@insightsvancouver.com and find out how the Insights Discovery system can improve your individual, team and organizational effectiveness.

Seven Steps for Success in '07

How Business Leaders Can Prepare for Positive Changes in 2007 

With recent storms blowing through western Canada like the Big Bad Wolf hungry for destruction, we have all been challenged with the reality that in fact we are not in total control of our environment!  Rather than delude ourselves that we are “in control”, let’s celebrate that one of our greatest strengths as a species is our capacity to adapt within a changing environment

So as we step into a new year, what wisdom do we want to pack for the trip?  While none of the following recommendations are new, following through might be!  Try applying them consistently in 2007; I am confident that your application will create an environment that will weather any storms that 2007 has to offer.

1. Know Your Strengths

What are your strengths – as an individual, as part of a leadership team, or as an organization?  According to author Marcus Buckingham, fewer than one in five people get to apply their main professional strengths for the majority of their work day.  Imagine how you would be different if you were using your greatest gifts for even half of your work day.  How would other people and your organization be different, if the majority of people were fully acknowledging and applying their strengths for even half of their day? 

Start this year by acknowledging your strengths.  How will you bring these gifts forward to optimize results and your satisfaction?

Today’s leader acknowledges that the most influential style is the one that grows from a place of natural strengths – gradually integrating other lessons along the way. 

Actions:  List three of your strengths that need to be at work with you every day.  Identify one of your strengths that has been under utilized during the last year.  What three actions will you take to put this under utilized strength into practice?  Remember, you are the master of your life.

And if you don’t know your strengths, start by making an investment in yourself.  Re-read your *Insights Discovery profile from cover to cover, or, if your profile is over two years old, take the time to re-do the evaluator.  When was the last time you participated in an *Insights for Personal Effectiveness workshop or follow-on workshop that reinforced and extended the learning?  And what about considering the benefit of using your Insights Discovery profile as part of a *personal coaching program? 
 

2. Focus on What You Want

What is your North Star – the goal that can guide you toward your destination?  Imagine the best of what is possible and hold this focus.  Hold it while you are preparing detailed plan.  Hold it when you communicate.  Hold it when the doubters see more barriers than bridges.  Hold it when your own shadow emerges to pull you off course.  Focusing on the desired state keeps you moving…focusing on what you fear keeps you stuck.

Actions:  Create a collage.  Use pictures, words, or diagrams to create a graphic image of “what you want”.  Be as specific as you can.  Put this graphic image somewhere you will see it often – taped inside the top of your computer bag, inside a cupboard that you open daily, or, if you share your home with people who also believe in what you want, put your collage in a public place like on the fridge.
 

3. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

It is one thing to know what you want…it is another to be able to articulate that dream or goal to others.   Often, looking into the future means change, and change can be scary!  In every interaction consider whether you have addressed a balanced perspective by responding to four different types of questions: 1) Why is the goal being set – and what is the evidence that preceded this decision?   2) How will other people be involved - and supported if there is an expectation for their involvement? 3) What is the longer term vision of the future?  4) What are the next steps?  Let these questions be your guide and revisit them often – in preparing for informal and formal discussions, in written communications, and in monitoring whether you are “walking your own talk”.

Actions:  Write a paragraph about one change you are making or leading for 2007.  Check to see that all four questions from above have been answered.  Copy this paragraph 12 times and put each copy in a place that will be reviewed at least once a month…in your day timer, with your check book, or in some electronic calendar.
 

4. Embrace Resistance

Resistance is a natural part of the change process– and the human dynamic.  Until you greet your own resistance it is hard to move past it.  In the same way, creating an environment in which resistance can be openly discussed, gives you the opportunity to see fact as other so.  Difficult as it may be to determine what to “do” with active resistance, it is better to know it is there rather than being blind-sided by it.

Actions:  Go for a walk with someone whose opinion you respect.  His or her job is to listen…only remarking when you invite their comment.  Talk to this person about something in your life that you are resisting.  Why are you resisting?  What is the impact of your resistance on you – or others?  What would it be like if you didn’t resist?  What amount of energy goes into your resistance?  What would be the result of putting that energy into promoting something rather than resisting something?  Do you choose to continue resisting during 2007?
      

5. Know that Everything is not Logical

Have you ever flipped on a light switch when you knew the power was out?  Knowing one thing from an intellectual perspective doesn’t account for the fact that behaviors or emotions continue in a different direction.  While it may not seem logical to hold onto the past, escalate self doubts, or obsess over long-standing fears, what is – is.  The human dynamic is complex.  Sometimes we hold onto beliefs, behaviors, values and assumptions even though they no longer serve us.  “Letting go” takes patience, time and intentional effort – both in honoring the past, and in moving forward.  

Actions:  Identify 5 things that on the surface are not logical (e.g. airplanes made of heavy metal can fly through the air).  Identify one belief, behavior, value or assumption that no longer serves you.  Write it on a paper.  Now burn the paper.  Continue to take actions that move you forward.
 

6. Reinforce Desired Behavior

Behavior is changed and sustained more from positive reinforcement than through self admonishment or corrective feedback.  While both might be required, let’s be sure that we have a balance; few people in my experience complain that they’ve been given too much positive reinforcement.  From the outset, establish how you are going to reinforce your own movement in the direction of your destination.  For others, model the desired behavior and offer applause for specific actions that move toward the goal – rather than investing a disproportionate amount of time on corrective feedback.

Actions:  Over the next week, catch 3 people doing something “right” – something that moves them closer to the achievement of their goals or the goals of their family or organization.  Provide them with acknowledging feedback including: 1) specific data about what you observed, 2) a word or phrase to describe how you felt when you saw or heard their behavior, 3) your interpretation of their behavior in a larger context, and, 4) an acknowledgement or action.
 

7. Enjoy the Journey

Life is not meant to be a struggle.  Take time to recognize and enjoy the parts of the road that inspire you…balancing your energy for those parts that tire you.  Bring the best of who you are on this journey…and it will be a lot more enjoyable for you…and your fellow travelers.

Action:  Start a gratitude journal and document the things for which you are grateful – the big things or the small.  Now look forward and schedule one celebration a month for the next year.
 

Imagine that you stopped on a path…looking at a trail marker.  It says, “You are here.”  You look forward, and imagine your greatest intentions for 2007.  There is no certainty…but there is a greater chance of success when you set your course, and step forward knowing that learning and course corrections are part of the process.  We will deal with the detours and storms tomorrow…today, take that next positive step forward. 

Joyce Gwilliam

January, 2007

* If you have not experienced an Insights Discovery personal profile, participated in an Insights for Personal Effectiveness workshop or used your profile in a personal coaching program, contact info@insightsvancouver.com and find out how the Insights Discovery system can improve your individual, team and organizational effectiveness.