Een beknopte handleiding voor coachend leiderschap-1

A concise manual to coaching leadership

Geschreven door Kars van Weeren | July 26, 2018

Coaching leadership is a popular leadership style. The term ‘coaching’ might suggest that a lot of guidance is given to employees. However, the very opposite is true! Discover in what way coaching leadership can be implemented in your organization.

The implementation of a coaching leadership style is not without implications. The ultimate goal of coaching leadership is to create ‘task maturity’ among employees. This means that some tasks that before were dealt with by the manager, can now completely be executed by employees.

A basis of trust

Een beknopte handleiding voor coachend leiderschap-1One of the most important characteristics in coaching leadership is trust. Trust in the employees, to be more precise. In the first place, having trust in the employees will be comforting for the manager. If there is trust in the fact that employees can properly execute their tasks, the manager can engage in other relevant activities. Beside that, trust will have a positive effect on the employees themselves, because both the manager and the other employees want this trust to result in something. Put yourself in the shoes of an employee, you’d rather want to accomplish tasks in your own way instead of everything getting read out to you. It is also good for the development of the employee if they learn to execute tasks in their own way. However, a requirement for providing this trust is that employees are proven to be motivated and capable to accomplish the tasks. 

A common goal

Some people are born with certain competences, but competences can also be trained. However, motivation among employees can be more difficult to realize. It helps to create a common goal for managers and employees and by doing so employees will see their activities as more than only tasks. If employees see their activities as pillars of the bigger picture, their motivation will increase. When employees are constantly aware of this bigger picture, they will be more motivated and engaged in their activities. Increase the enthusiasm of employees by letting them work towards a certain measurable result, for instance the turnover in a certain period. A consideration when creating a common goal is that employees  will want to provide input in the process to reach the eventual goal. Obviously, this doesn’t have to be a bad thing, on the contrary, in this way you make use of the collective intelligence of your organization! 

Coaching communication

Communication will also be influenced by a coaching leadership style. Needless to say, giving more room to employees doesn’t mean that there won’t be any contact at all between the manager and employee. However, contact with the employee will become more purposeful. If once in a while the manager has a meeting with the employee, it is important that the manager really listens to potential problems the employee might experience. In this way the manager can provide purposeful guidance to the employee. Providing and receiving feedback should be also be part of this contact. This kind of ‘coaching communication’ will not be easy for everyone. So make sure that first the managers’ communication skills are on the desired level by training and measuring them. Then introduce coaching leadership and you will see that happier employees take more initiative!      

Download the case study and discover how managers at Deloitte are trained in coaching!