Is My Leader Ready for Coaching?
Here at Trevero, we are on a mission to cultivate growth and development. Our driving purpose is to catalyze positive change in every coachee we partner with. With the 2500+ clients we have coached over the years, we’ve identified the key characteristics essential for a constructive coaching dynamic. Coaching will move the needle and yield growth for your leader when these characteristics are in place. Without them, coaching may stagnate.
If we were to summarize, the top two signs of coachability are:
- A desire to grow.
- A willingness to be honest.
It’s as simple as that, truly. We can coach leaders at every level, from a freshly promoted first-time manager to a 20-million-dollar business owner. Let’s start by further fleshing out these growth mindset attributes and assessing your leader’s readiness to maximize a coaching opportunity.
- Are they committed to growth and doing the work required to grow?
- Will your leader be committed to attending their sessions and completing any action items they have after the session?
- Will they be willing to lean into the insights that arise in a session and take some type of action?
Part of our job as coaches is to help people move into action, so it’s ok if this person isn’t currently a full-steam-ahead go-getter; however, can you see a track record of movement and growth, even if it’s slow and steady?
- Are they open to learning and development?
- Are you able to challenge them with a new perspective?
- Do they want to develop themselves and continue growing in their leadership?
A coachee should want to grow and develop themselves. Growth is a necessary characteristic for effective coaching, and equally important to the coaching relationship is an honest exchange.
- Will your leader embrace transparency and express how they feel?
- Can they honestly express strengths and weaknesses (especially weaknesses)?
- Are they sometimes willing to go deep and move beyond just the surface level?
Honesty is such a fundamental part of coaching success. We cannot coach “fake.” Coachees who feel uncomfortable sharing their struggles or challenges will not fit well with coaching. Honesty hinges on trust. Some ways to encourage honesty are to give your leader a choice re: coaching versus making it mandatory. In addition, a coachee should clearly understand why they were given a coach and trust the coach and their boss’s motives for investing in coaching.
Coaching is a powerful relationship of trust and accountability that can propel your leader to the next level. If you believe your leader (or yourself) is ready, schedule a discovery call today, and let’s get started!