Coaching & Leadership

T H E L I G H T
J U L Y 2 0 1 8 : C O A C H I N G
A N D L E A D E R S H I P
COACHING AND LEADERSHIP
The GSC management magazine is called the LIGHT. Each edition will assist you in
developing the skills to Lead—Inspire—Grow—Help—Train your team.
This month’s edition of the LIGHT is about Coaching and Leadership. The success
of your team is directly linked to your ability to coach and lead. Coaches develop and
Leaders inspire. How developed and inspired is your team to achieve the goals of
GSC? Regardless of your answer, this issue will help you.
Be The LIGHT!
I N T H I S I S S U E :
KNOW YOUR
COACHING STYLE
|
PROGRESSIVE
|
LAWS OF
|
DIALOGUE
LEADERSHIP
WIN TOGETHER

Know Your Coaching Style
As a manager, one of your daily tasks is to coach your team. Coaching is comprised of four parts or styles,
Direct (Take Charge), Spirited (Inspire), Considerate (Facilitate) and Systematic (Planning). Below is an
overview of the 4 coaching styles. Read each style, and then select the style(s) that best describes you.
Your goal is to learn how to transition to the style best suited for the individual and the situation. In today’s
business world a coach who is not good at transitioning between all four styles runs the risk of having
under-performing teams and not achieving business goals.
Source: HDRQ

Progressive Dialogue
Coaches instruct, train, develop, assist, and support ongoing performance. They use an effective feedback
process to direct and redirect work efforts and behaviors. When coaching your employees, you help them gain
self-awareness and insight into their demonstrated behavior. Successful coaching helps the employee
understand what behaviors they should continue and which do not support their development. Below are some
tips for progressive dialogues.
Coaching tips for reinforcing successful behavior:
• Focus on one successful behavior; recount its outcomes and impacts in detail to the employee.
• Point out the elements that contributed to the result being such a success.
• Brainstorm with the employee ways to replicate that behavior in other circumstances.
• Describe the benefits of this behavior and your confidence in the employee’s ability to continue demonstrating.
Coaching tips for addressing poor performance:
• Describe one thing the employee could do differently to achieve greater success.
• Listen carefully and be open to the employee’s perspective without judgement.
• Involve the employee in identifying how they can master and apply the new desired behavior.
• Watch for and acknowledge demonstration of the new desired behavior.
• Set dates for a follow up discussion.
Coaching tips for following up on poor performance:
• Review the initial discussion on poor performance and
commend their progress in demonstrating improved
behaviors and performance.
• Check in to ensure they have all the support and resources
they believe necessary to help them change their behavior;
allocate as required.
• Set dates for improvement milestones.
• Continuously communicate your confidence in the
employee and your support of their development.

Laws of Leadership
John Maxwell is an author, thoughtful leader, and strategist on the topic of leadership. In his book, “21 Irrefutable
Laws of Leadership,” he shares insight that leaders need to produce winning teams. Below are five of John’s laws
that will help you lead your team to victory.
1) The Law of the Lid: Leadership ability
determines a person’s level of
effectiveness. The ability to lead is the “lid”
that determines a person’s effectiveness.
The lower an individual’s ability to lead, the
lower the lid on his potential. The better a
person is at leading, the higher the lid on
his potential for achievement.
2) The Law of Influence: If you don’t have
influence, you will never be able to lead
others. True leadership cannot be assigned
and titles are often meaningless in this
sense. Leadership must be earned. The
only thing a title can buy is little time- either
to increase your level of influence with
others or to undermine it.
Trust + Unity =
winning
Myths: The management myth holds
that leading and managing is the
same thing. However, leadership is
about influencing people, while
management is about maintaining
systems and processes.
3) The Law of Process: Leadership develops daily, not in a day. Becoming a leader is like investing in the
stock market. If you try to make a fortune in a day, you won’t succeed. What matters most is what you do day
to day over the long haul. If you continually invest in your leadership development, letting your assets
compound, the inevitable result is growth over time.
4) The Law of Addition: Leaders add value by serving others. Leadership is about advancing others, not about
advancing yourself. Leaders who add value to others do intentionally. The critical question is this: Are you
making things better for the people who follow you?
5) The Law of Solid Ground: Trust is the foundation of leadership. Trust is the most important thing a leader
must engender. A leader builds trust by consistently exemplifying competence, connection and character.
People will tolerate honest mistakes. People will also give leaders a grace period for connection with others.
However, they won’t forgive lapses in character.

Coach's Corner:
Further Reading is available through the
GSC Training Department!
Request your copy of Joel Kurtzman's "Common Purpose: How Great Leaders Get
Organizations to Achieve the Extraordinary" to learn even more ways to develop
strengths within yourself and on your teams.

Win Together
Leaders are Part of the Group
An effective leader needs to create a
culture of leadership by making
leadership everyone’s responsibility,
and by helping people build networks of
support within the organization.
Sometimes a leader stands in front,
sometimes to the side, and sometimes
even behind the people he or she is
trying to help reach a goal.
Everyone on your team shares responsibility for reaching a goal. Individuals take their cues from the way other
people on the team behave. They look to the right and left, but they also look at the leader for ways to model
their behavior. Consciously or unconsciously, people copy behaviors that are rewarded and that they perceive
are necessary to get ahead. As a result, leaders responsible for their organization, not only by the actions they
take, but also because of the behaviors they exhibit.
Creating a Culture of Leadership
You cannot have a common purpose unless
everyone is on-board with the same goals. No
one operates on a team alone. Preventing people
from breaking down into a group of rivals
depends upon helping people connect to one
another. When people know who everyone is,
what everyone does, and where to go for help,
then they know how to enlist others to help them
succeed. You simply cannot lead if you do not
know the people you are leading.
How Leaders Stay Positive and Determined
Individuals on a team can cope and succeed in tough times if they understand the reality of their situation and
if they know they will be protected.The power of a group that is in tune with each other can be phenomenal.
When a group of people are positive, in harmony, and are doing and accomplishing goals, they set a tone for
others to follow. Overall the work improves, the group gains admiration, and people who pass through these
groups end up with a career boost. Resonant leaders set a positive emotional tone and a sense of hope that is
contagious. They set up an environment where people care about each other, and there is a high degree of
authenticity. Positive emotions are triggered by praise and people feel more open. They become more
receptive to advice, open to new ideas, and taking risks.

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In your experience, What is the most influential tool
you use to improve Employee Performance?
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