Coaching is a transformative, developmental partnership that empowers the person being coached to grow, navigate complexity, and achieve excellence. Anchored in trust, and the belief that everyone has the answers within them, it provides a reflective space to explore internal narratives, mindsets, behaviours, and goals. Coaching emphasizes heightened self-awareness, authenticity and sustained behavioural change.
Executed well, coaching inspires bold thinking, ignites intrinsic motivation and mindful action, enabling others to improve decision-making and elevate performance. It fosters transformation and drives success by creating a space for thoughtful contemplation and deliberate action in an increasingly fast-paced world.
Coaching is future focused, addressing professional challenges, while supporting holistic individual growth.
Checklist for Leaders: Thriving Through Coaching
1. Self-Awareness and Reflective Practices
o Allocate time to pause and reflect choices, challenges and opportunities
o Ensure radical presence
o Observe personal strengths, blind spots, and triggers.
o Engage in deep reflective practices to recognize narratives, biases, beliefs and habitual actions and their impact on decisions.
o Foster a growth mindset.
o Recognize impact on others.
o Meta-cognition practice.
2. Build Trust and Vulnerability
o Create safe spaces for open dialogue, transparency, vulnerability and feedback.
o Approach coaching with authenticity and a willingness to share challenges.
o Use coaching to explore and stretch beyond comfort zones.
o Develop the coaching relationship
3. Challenge Habitual thinking
o Use coaching to explore and stretch beyond comfort zones.
o Challenge and refine thinking.
o Observe and act on thinking that is limiting personal growth
o Consider the immediate and longer-term.
o Explore options to transform leadership styles.
o Make more informed thoughtful and intentional choices.
4. Adopt a Systemic Perspective
o Observe systems, including dynamics and culture.
5. Embrace Continuous Learning and Behaviour Change
o Use adult learning principles: attention, reflect, apply + reflect for sustained change.
o Practice learned behaviours within your environment to reinforce change.
6. Legacy and decision making
o Align leadership choices with personal and organizational values.
o Balance goals with self-care
o Identify a leadership legacy that inspires and influences others.
o Improve decision making and improve outcomes
7. Recognize Boundaries
o Distinguish between coaching and therapy; focus on professional growth and future goals.
o Decide when personal challenges are relevant to bring into the coaching dialogue.
8. Champion a Coaching Culture
o Embed coaching practices within the organization.
o Encourage team members to adopt reflective practices for improved performance.
9. Address Rapid Change Effectively
o Create space for processing disruptions and adapting strategies.
o Embrace coaching as a tool to navigate complex, volatile environments.
Adopting these principles can maximize the value of coaching to support others in being at their best and cultivate a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
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