One of my colleagues often reminds our clients that the word lead is a verb and, as we learned in grade school, verbs are action words. So what actions are most important today? Coaching rises to the top.
To Lead Is to Coach
Effective leadership takes action, and today’s most essential actions are unlike those that were most effective in the past. In their book, It’s the Manager – Moving from Boss to Coach,[i] authors Jim Clifton and Jim Harter stress how coaching is the foundation for successfully leading the new generation. Drawing on the largest global study on the future of work by Gallup, the authors demonstrate that today’s great leaders are great coaches.
Clifton and Harter tell us, “The need for disruption in how employees are managed couldn’t be more urgent. Gallup estimates that the cost of poor management and lost productivity from not-engaged or actively disengaged employees in the U.S., is between $960 billion and $1.2 trillion per year. Globally that cost approaches $7 trillion – or 9% of the GDP.”
Leading the Next Generation
For years, we’ve heard boomer leaders make snide remarks about millennials being “snowflakes.” They state millennials are unable to take feedback, melt under pressure, and lack resiliency. But, what if we use a different definition of snowflake as unique, or one of a kind? That would help us embrace the unique gifts and talents each individual brings to the workplace requiring us (leaders) to spot and further develop their strengths.
Millennials comprise the largest segment of the workforce today. Rather than sneering and labeling them as lazy, let’s identify their strengths. Like great coaches, let’s focus on developing them and helping them play to their strengths.
The Learning Process
Great leaders are not born coaches, they learn coaching skills and continue to develop coaching skills throughout their careers. Despite this, many healthcare workers with great technical skills are promoted into leadership positions without essential leadership skills. This is a sure prescription for frustration, turnover, and ultimately poor outcomes.
Be the Leader Nobody Wants to Leave is designed to build coaching skills needed to improve engagement and retention. The eight modules follow a blended learning approach that includes group and private coaching. The next course begins in March. Reserve your spot today. Class size is limited.
[i] It’s the Manager – Moving from Boss to Coach
Tags: coaching, Employee Engagement, generations, Leadership
