Coaching - A Tool for Organizational Excellence

Excellence is achieved by great followers and can be started by great leaders.

It is a common misconception that excellence can only be achieved by great leaders. However, it takes both great leaders and great followers to achieve excellence. Leaders can set the strategy and select the players, but ultimately it is the followers who win or lose the game. Leaders who understand this can start the journey toward excellence, but it is the followers who will achieve it.

Coaching is the most effective way for leaders to help followers improve their performance.

Leaders can have a huge impact on the performance of their followers through coaching. Coaching is a way for leaders to help their followers identify areas for improvement and develop the skills and knowledge needed to reach their full potential. However, many leaders lack formal training in people skills and may struggle to coach their followers effectively.

Leaders often lack formal training in people skills and may have tried and failed at coaching in the past.

The biggest barrier to effective coaching is the lack of formal training in people skills. Many leaders are experts in managing money, machines, or technology but may not have the necessary skills to coach their followers effectively. Additionally, some leaders may have tried coaching in the past and failed, which can make them reluctant to try again.

Effective coaching starts with agreement on improvement targets and should focus on addressing one issue at a time.

To be effective, coaching should start with an agreement on improvement targets. It is also important not to try to correct too much at once. Starting with one issue allows for focused feedback and coaching conversations, which can lead to better results. The goal is to work together to improve performance, not to engage in a battle of opinions.

It is important to understand why sub-standard behavior occurs and to proactively discover and align organizational factors to positively reinforce excellence.

Understanding why sub-standard behavior occurs is critical to making coaching effective. Sub-standard behavior can often be influenced by organizational factors that leaders may not discover until after poor performance or accidents occur. Good coaching can help discover these influences and align the factors that shape and impact human behavior to reinforce excellence positively.

Great leaders become coaches by realizing their greatness lies in the performance of their team.

Great leaders understand that their true greatness is not in their own performance but in the performance of their team. To achieve this, they shift their focus from trying to be a great leader to leading great people. This means becoming a coach who helps their followers reach their full potential, resulting in a high-performing team and a successful organization.