“The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.”
— Harvey Firestone
I Recently I facilitated a small group coaching session for new leaders in our Leading People, Managing Work training program at Tandem Solutions. Near the end of the course, several participants mentioned that one of the topics we covered–“Delegation to Develop”–was particularly helpful for them. It also happens to be one of my favorite topics!
According to the International Coach Federation, most managers coach only at the time of the annual review. And if the employee is lucky, the manager may have some discussions with the employee to check in as the year progresses. This is a lost opportunity to adopt an effective leadership coaching partnership with employees. As a coach, your goal is to help your employees achieve results or overcome obstacles to get from where they are now to where they want to be in the future.
When I was a child, my father would often give me advice and coaching. Sometimes I would take his advice and it would yield great results. More often I didn’t take his advice because as much as he was well intended, I didn’t think he really knew the answer for my specific situation. I also didn’t want to be told what to do and how to do it. Rather I wanted to figure it out for myself. This would frustrate my dad. He would often tell me he wanted me to learn from his mistakes so that I didn’t make the same ones. He would argue, ‘Isn’t that just easier for you?”
