By: Allison McCarthy, MBA | amccarthy@barlowmccarthy.com
After more than 30 years of leading and consulting health systems, I saw an opportunity to help those in leadership roles develop further to become more successful. The path to enable that support led me to embark on the coaching profession.
Health care requires leaders that can learn and adapt quickly. The rapid pace of change with inadequate staff and thin margins leaves little time for professional development. At the same time, we are advancing clinical experts (physicians, nurses, therapists, etc.) into leadership roles… expecting clinical success to beget leadership success.
I have repeatedly seen clinical and nonclinical leaders struggle to fill the shoes expected of them. As a consultant, I provided the expertise my clients needed to launch a program or improve processes. And yet, I always left the engagement feeling that more could be done to help strengthen their developing leaders’ ability to influence staff, peers and achieve required results.
But I was limited on how I could help and the ways I could further empower those in leadership roles. Through my training to become an executive leadership coach, it was demonstrated that professional growth and development can be achieved with the adoption of some simple coaching habits.
The essence of coaching is helping others to achieve their full potential through exploration, reflection, and action. By providing fewer answers and asking more questions, we offer those we lead to stretch their thinking, improve self-confidence, and advance their leadership capabilities.
Michael Bungay Stanier provides an easy-to-read guide to developing the coaching habit. In his book titled the same, The Coaching Habit – Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever, he offers seven powerful questions that if used regularly will change not only discussions with direct reports but other key stakeholder interactions. They include:
- What’s on your mind? By starting a discussion with this question, it quickly gets to the most critical topic that needs to be covered while keeping the focus on what is important to the individual.
- And what else? This question prompts the individual to delve deeper and further uncover the individual’s thinking about an issue, their concerns, ideas, or proposal without offering your thoughts and reactions. Allow them to get everything out on the table themselves first.
- What’s the real challenge here for you? This gets to the heart of what is blocking their progress on the topic at hand. It’s the “stretch” question that uncovers any triggers preventing them from moving forward.
- How can I help? For leaders who tend to jump in, grab control, and take action, this question enables the other individual to consider where they believe they could be best supported. It may just be permission to implement their own idea, voice insights and perspectives, or simply a boost of confidence. It reinforces delegation and letting go allowing for more growth and development.
- If you’re saying Yes to this, what are you saying No to? Great question for those that tend to be agreeable to more. And it also helps to identify priorities. Bungay Stanier describes two kinds of work – Good Work and Great Work. This question helps to bring clarity to commitments and expectations.
- What was most useful for you? Adults learn best when they slow down to take time to reflect on a situation. By identifying what was useful from the conversation, the individual has the space to reflect on what happened, why, what would they do differently, etc.…and use that reflection to create action and forward movement.
This doesn’t mean that advice is never offered – but if we are advising less and coaching more, we can provide professional development in our day-to-day work while strengthening our organizations.
I would love to share more about what coaching would look like for you or your team. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions. Learn more about coaching here: https://barlowmccarthy.com/leadership-coaching/, or simply reach out by email at: amccarthy@barlowmccarthy.com.