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Coaching: the under-utilised leadership tool? [Blog]

I believe it was the late Zig Ziglar who once stated that “You don’t build a business – you build people – and then people build the business”.

It is a statement that very few leaders would disagree with, but in today’s world where we are expected to have everything done yesterday with fewer resources than ever before, it is far too easy for leaders to get caught up in the flurry of “busy-ness”, rather than focusing on building the very resource that builds your business – your people.

There is a common myth out there that if you are going to “coach” someone it is somehow going to zap hours out of your life – but if you do it right, coaching can take just minutes to do and will yield much better results (including increased motivation, self-esteem, productivity, work/life balance) [1] for both you, and the person that you are coaching.

When we embrace the true spirit of coaching, it’s about communicating effectively with others – we are listening with the intent to understand versus the intent to respond. Allowing others to come up with their own insight encourages ownership of the issue at hand, as well as a spirit of teamwork and collaboration.

Coaching is also about letting go of our own ego – as leaders we have more often than not gotten to where we are in the workplace because of our expertise, our ability to solve problems, and ultimately it is still our responsibility to solve the issue at hand, but when we slow down just a little and let others in to help us solve problems, we can indeed go faster.

[1] 2009 ICF Global Coaching Client Study, International Coaching Federation Association Resource Centre, Inc., and PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP

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Download the Manager as Coach Brochure - http://www.tmsconsulting.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/TMS-Consulting-Manager-as-Coach-Brochure-v1.pdf

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