You’ve heard of the ABC’s of Selling – Always Be Closing. What about the ABC’s of Leadership – Always Be Coaching. Every conversation is truly a coaching conversation.
Get notified each time a new 60-Second Sales Coach video is released.
Complete transcript taken from a live Q & A session in Phoenix.
The consistency is key in coaching. I have a saying about the ABC’s of leadership. You’re probably all familiar with the ABC’s of selling, right? Always Be Closing?
The ABC’s of Leadership are Always Be Coaching. Always be coaching! Literally, in every conversation.
And coaching is not an event-based activity or something you do to people. To me, it’s more of a language—how you’ve uplanguaged yourself to come across in a different way. In a way that really empowers each person in every conversation so that they feel like, that they’ve been heard; that they’ve been acknowledged.
And that’s achieved in every conversation, as well as through the two types of coaching that I draw a line between; one-on-one scheduled coaching, which again, consistency is key; and the situational coaching. Situational coaching is what most managers find themselves engaged in the majority of the time, where you’re sitting in your office or you’re on the road and your phone rings or someone walks over to you, one of your directs, and they say, “Hey boss. I have a problem, a challenge, a situation. Can you help me through it?” And there’s your defining moment. Do you just give them the answer or do you do what you know is best and right and recognize this as an opportunity to continually develop your people and add value, by coaching them through the process instead.
While, this is more of a situational coaching opportunity versus a scheduled coaching session, there needs to be a marriage of both of them and done so consistently.
Remember, if you don’t have the appointment, you don’t have the commitment. Schedule those blocks of time in your calendar designated specifically for coaching your direct reports. You must be asking, “How much scheduled coaching for each person per month?” Start with a minimum of once a month and build from there. And the more you tap into the individuality of each person on your team, you’re people will be telling you how much coaching they want and need.
