Sparked Vol. 003 – Ignite your Team with Effective Coaching

This edition of Sparked was published and delivered on February 3rd, 2023.

Sparked is Fired Up! Culture’s bi-weekly email newsletter focused on what drives culture and engagement in the workplace. This newsletter is for leaders who are ready to get intentional about bringing their team together, building engagement, and harnessing the power of culture to drive results.

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Ignite your Team with Effective Coaching

If you are a leader of people in your organization, you are a coach.

It’s time to embrace a coaching mindset and lean into what’s required to be an effective coach for your team members.

Effective coaches are effective leaders and effective leaders build engagement and buy-in from their team.

Effective coaches do four things very well:

1. They frequently communicate what success looks like
2. They inspire and instill belief
3. They praise when progress is made and success is achieved
4. They critique and train until expectations are met

Unfortunately, many leaders fall short to effectively coach and in doing so, miss opportunities to get the most from their team members.

For your Consideration

Have you considered where you need to improve your coaching ability and follow through?

Ask yourself the following questions and identify opportunities to improve how you coach:

• Do I frequently communicate the expectations I have with each of my team members?
• Do my team members know what success in their role looks like?
• Do my team members have the resources and training required to be successful? 
• Am I able to objectively evaluate if a team member is successful or not?
• Am I willing to communicate deficiencies and train every team member until the work is done well? 
• How am I praising a team member for a job well done?

Consider the gaps where you struggle to answer those questions. Those gaps present the largest opportunities for you to lean into your leadership and effectively coach a team member.

Take Action to Build Engagement

Ready to take action and deliver on being an effective coach? Start here:

1. Frequently share your vision and expectations for success
2. Provide the resources required to succeed
3. Accurately critique until the work is done right
4. Praise for a job well done
5. Watch your team members develop, succeed, and engage to deliver their best work

Further Exploration on Impactful Coaching

• Learn how to improve your delivery of feedback at work

• Consider the power of purpose for your team when building your vision

• Don’t forget! Most of your team members want feedback and coaching to help them develop

Reading Recommendation

Radical Candor by Kim Scott should be required reading for anyone who finds themself in a role leading other people. 

Radical Candor explores the intersection of caring and coaching, providing leaders with insight on how to build an environment of trust, while also getting comfortable with the idea that challenging team members and giving feedback is a required part of any leadership role.