Lydia on Leadership

Leadership Workout, Part 2

I have long admired the work of executive coach Marshall Goldsmith, and his approach to coaching leaders. By way of helping you continue your “Leadership Workout”, I want to share with you some of Goldsmith’s wisdom on leadership and coaching. 

In Leading for Innovation (Jossey-Bass), Goldsmith states: 

Can executives really change their behavior? Yes! And at the top, even a small positive change in behavior can have a big impact. The fact that the executive is trying to change anything (and is being a role model for personal development) may be even more important than what the executive is trying to change. I tell every CEO that I coach: “To help others develop, start with yourself!”  

I couldn’t agree more. As a leader, you want to help those around you develop and evolve, but this also requires your willingness to do the same. And yes, you can change, and the changes don’t have to be monumental in scope. 

In organizations, most requests for coaching are to resolve behavioral issues, but behavioral coaching is only truly effective when leaders want to be coached, when they are open and willing to shift a behavior in order to become better leaders. 

In his coaching process*, Goldsmith provides us with some tips for successful behavioral change:

Involve the leaders being coached in determining the desired behavior in their leadership roles. Leaders can’t be expected to change behavior if they don’t have a clear understanding of what desired behavior looks like.

 

Involve the leaders being coached in determining key stakeholders. People being coached also need to be clear (and in agreement with their managers) on key stakeholders. By having the leaders being coached and their managers agree on the desired behaviors and key stakeholders in advance, we help ensure their “buy in” to the process.

 

Determine key behaviors for change. Keep it simple and focused. Pick only one or two key areas for behavioral change. This helps ensure maximum attention on the most important behavior.

 

Review what has been learned and develop an action plan.

 

Develop an ongoing follow-up process. Ongoing follow-up should be efficient and focused. Questions like, “Based upon my behavior last month, what ideas do you have for me next month?” can keep a focus on the future. After six months, conduct a two-to-six item mini-survey with key stakeholders. They should be asked whether the person has become more or less effective in areas targeted for improvement.

 

Review results and start again. If the person being coached has taken the process seriously, stakeholders report improvement. Build on that success by repeating the process for the next 12 months. This follow-up will assure continued progress on initial goals and uncover additional areas for improvement.

 

*Adapted from Leading for Innovation by Marshall Goldsmith (Jossey-Bass)

Leadership Workout

Developing your leadership ability is like exercising any other “muscle” – you’ve got to work it out regularly in order to strengthen it. Here are eight steps you can take, starting today, to help you buff up your Leadership Muscle!

1. Start by describing what it will look like and feel like, in your physical reality and in your relationships to be a (stronger and more effective) leader.
2. What do you believe you need to move through (i.e., obstacles, problems, lack of skills, situations) in order to fully embody being a leader in the way you have just envisioned in Step 1?
3. Spend some time with your deep inner knowing, and ask for guidance about how to move through those challenges from Step 2, so that you can move to the next level for you.
4. Describe the “new leadership look” you are creating, from the inside out. Start with how you feel on the inside when you are being this new leader, and how that shows up on the outside.
5. Describe how you feel leadership, and in particular YOUR brand of leadership, is deeply needed in today’s world. Connect your desire to be a leader with the “bigger picture”. How will you make a difference as a leader?
6. Write a description of You, the Leader, from the perspective of someone you lead.
7. Describe how you would feel if your leadership expanded into other areas of your life. How will you stay balanced as you make these changes?
8. What, ultimately, is it that you want to achieve and experience, whether as a leader or elsewhere in your life? How will you know that you have achieved and experienced this? What does it look like? Be specific.

Don’t just think about these things in your head. Make the commitment to making them happen by committing your ideas to paper. Then, look at what specific actions steps you need to do next to take your leadership workout from that piece of paper to your reality.