Coaching for Peak Performance

Coaching for peak performance. This is what we're going to be talking about today on How to Lead, the podcast for CEOs founders and leaders who want the perfect balance of authority and empathy. I'm Kate Waterfall Hill, and I'll be sharing some ideas from over 30 years of working in business and leadership development.

Before we start the show, though, here's a reminder that if you want to learn how to be a better leader, you can head to my website, waterfallhill.co.uk. There you can download my free intentional leadership guide, grab a copy of my book, How to Lead. of my coaching programs and get my personal support with your leadership challenges.

Just in case you're driving or walking right now and you haven't got anywhere to write that down, I'm going to say it again, waterfallhill.co.uk. Picture a waterfall cascading down a gentle hill. and you'll remember. So let's kick off with my alter ego, Linda the bad manager, and how she tries to get the best out of her team in her own way telling them exactly what the issue is and what she thinks the solution is too.

Right team. Okay. So here's the issue. And, um, I've already worked out what the solution is. So this is what we're going to do now. What, what, what do you mean? I've got the issue wrong. So that solution won't work. Well, what do you, what do you mean? I don't know because I don't deal with this customers directly.

So how am I supposed to know what the issue is? Let alone the solution. Well, that's my job. I'm the leader. I'm supposed to come in with the issue and the solution. No. Oh, you just want me to set out the vision, the expectations. You define the issue, you come up with the solution, and you just come to me to validate that, get you the resources, advocate for you at a higher level.

Oh, right. That doesn't sound very interesting. No, no, I think I'll just keep doing what I've always done, yeah. I always come to you, I tell you what the issue is, and I tell you what the solution is, yeah. That's how I feel most comfortable controlling everything. Yeah. Anyway, as we were

If you've ever had a boss like this who thinks they need to solve every problem and then tells you what to do about it, you'll know how annoying it can be. It often leaves you feeling disempowered, micromanaged, disengaged, particularly when the boss hasn't actually identified the right issue or the right solution.

Being a great leader isn't about being the fountain of all the solutions. It's about creating an environment where your team can find their own answers. And today I'm going to show you how to do exactly that through coaching leadership.

Now I can hear some of you already thinking, but Kate, I don't have time to coach, or my people don't know what to do, I need to tell them. Trust me, this isn't about adding hours and hours of one to ones to your calendar. It's about transforming your everyday interactions and enabling your people to rise up so you can rise up too.

Let me give you a real example from someone I'm coaching right now. She's a senior manager in an agency and she's been getting increasingly frustrated because her team just doesn't work. You know, keeps coming to her with every little problem, might sound familiar to some of you. She was spending her entire day putting out fires and just didn't have any time for her own work, for thinking quietly, for strategic work, for planning.

I'm sure you get the drill. But the solution wasn't for her to get better at firefighting. It was to change how she responded to those fires in the first place. Instead of jumping straight to solutions. She started asking questions.

But I wouldn't recommend you just move to coaching straight from having been the sort of manager that gives everybody the answer every time they knock on the door. they might wonder what's happened to you. So I would actually announce that you're trying something different. Tell them, I'm trying a different way of managing. Rather than just giving you all the solutions all the time and maybe spoon feeding you and treading on your toes, I want to give you the opportunity to find your own solutions and maybe the solutions you find will be better than the ones I'd suggest anyway.

if you introduce it because you trust them rather than your shirking work, then it'll go down better. So you could ask questions like, what have you tried so far? What do you think's the best approach? what's holding you back from making your own choice? And one of my favourite questions is, what were you hoping I might say?

Quite often people have an idea of what they want the answer to be, they just maybe haven't got the courage to say it out loud. If you invite them to, they most likely will. So with this particular person, within a couple of weeks, her team was solving 80 percent of the issues independently, and the solutions were often better than what she would have suggested.

And also, her team were more invested in the outcome because they'd come up with the solution themselves. they were more determined to actually make it work. So here's a practical takeaway for you. Next time someone comes to you with a problem, really try and resist the urge to solve it yourself.

Instead, ask them some questions. Here are some more. Tell me more about what's happening. What options have you already considered? And what support do you need from me? What about when somebody's really stuck and just doesn't have the answers?

This is where you might try the pause technique. So, problem clarity. Help them articulate the real issue. The one key thing. Then, assumptions check. Challenge their current thinking. Understanding the options. You might want to explore different approaches together.

Solution ownership. Let them choose the path forward.

And then execution support. Offer the right level of backing.

That's pause. Problem clarity. Assumptions check. Understanding options. Solution ownership. And execution support.

Here's another quick example. A creative lead I coached was struggling with a junior creative in their team who just kept making the same mistakes. So frustrating, isn't it? The instinct was just to take over the work himself, but instead I encouraged him to use the pause approach. And he discovered the creative had a completely different understanding of the project requirements.

He hadn't fully understood how to interpret or respond to the brief. And after some training on how to take, critique and develop a brief with the internal client, the problems disappeared. I know what some of you are thinking now, but what if they make the wrong decision? Well, that's where the art of coaching leadership comes in.

Your role isn't to prevent all mistakes. It's to create a safe space for learning from them.

Try this simple approach in your next team meeting. Count how many times you give direct solutions versus asking coaching questions. You know, maybe have a little notebook and write it down. You might be surprised. And if you're thinking this all sounds great, Kate, but I need more support with this, then you're in luck.

I'm currently taking on new leadership coaching clients and I'd love to help you master this approach. But remember, great leadership isn't about having all the answers. It's about helping others find their own.

Now let's talk about something that can really accelerate your career and business success, working with an external coach. Now this isn't a shameless plug for my own services, although of course I'd be happy to hear from you as I've already said. It's more about promoting the concept of external coaching in all sectors.

So there are life coaches, financial coaches, business coaches, career coaches. I mean frankly, there's a coach that can help you fast track improvements and change your mindset about challenges that have been on your mind forever. Particularly those you just can't seem to shift on your own.

So whether you're already using coaching techniques with your team, or just starting out, having your own coach for yourself can be really transformative.

Think about it, you know, who do you talk to about your real challenges? Your boss? That can be a bit tricky. Your team? Not really appropriate. And your peers? Well, they might be competing with you for the next promotion. And sometimes when it comes to wider things, outside of leadership and career, talking to your family or friends, sometimes you just get well meaning but ill advised suggestions and it can be a bit annoying. This is when an external coach really becomes invaluable.

Using one of my recent clients to illustrate the point, a brilliant agency director who'd been asked to step up into the role of managing director. He was struggling with the experience gap between where he was and where he wants to be. And in his own words, he said, I can't tell anyone at work that I sometimes feel completely out of my depth, certainly couldn't tell the founder who'd appointed him and he didn't want to tell his peers.

But in our confidential coaching sessions, we could explore these feelings safely. Six months later, he wasn't just managing his team. He was thriving and innovating in ways that gave the founder confidence to step back and admire from afar, rather than stepping in and course correcting every decision.

External coaching works in two powerful ways. First, there's one to one coaching where you get personalised support tailored to your specific challenges, whether that's leadership, career, marriage, parenting, returning to work after a break, coping with redundancy or grief.

Whatever the issue, there's a coach for it. So it's like having a skilled thinking partner who's completely on your side but isn't afraid to challenge your assumptions. And then there's group coaching, which I absolutely love facilitating because you're in a room or virtual space with other people facing similar challenges and the insights and the aha moments that come from these sessions is incredible. One of my leadership accelerator group participants recently said, I learned as much from hearing others experiences as I did from sharing my own.

And here's what makes external coaching particularly powerful. You get complete confidentiality. You can be totally candid about your challenges. You get an unbiased perspective because there's no organizational politics, no well meaning advice or hidden agendas. You get accelerated learning, targeted support when and where you really need it.

And there's a safe space for vulnerability, you know, which is really essential for real growth. And access to proven frameworks and tools, because coaches are experts in their field. They've got tried and tested techniques that they've used and executed across multiple organizations or different scenarios.

Whether you're dealing with a challenging team dynamic, planning your next career move, or simply want to step up your leadership game, having an external coach in your corner can make all the difference if you're an HR or people person or you're at the top of the organisation thinking about how you can best support your team.

I really recommend that you look into coaching for them. I'd love to tell you more about how I work with leaders like you, both on one to one and in groups.

You can find more at my website waterfallhill.co.uk.. You can also book a discovery call to explore how we might work together. If you're looking for a different type of coach, there are lots on LinkedIn and I recommend you do some research.

Look at their social media posts and website, listen to their podcast if they have one, and book a call to see if there's a good fit.

So to wrap up this episode of How to Lead on Coaching, remember that you don't need to have all the answers to your team's challenges, or your own. You can coach your team to find the solutions, and you can lean on the skills of a good coach to guide you too. You don't have to do this alone. Don't forget, great leadership isn't about having all the answers.

It's about asking the right questions. that's all for this week. If you've enjoyed this episode of How to Lead, do follow for more leadership insights. And remember, if you want a guide by your side, go to my website, waterfallhill.co.uk. Get your hands on the copy of my book, which accompanies this podcast, and is also called How to Lead.

But if you'd like my personal support, you can find more details. On my one to one coaching and my group mentorship programs. There's never been a better time to take your professional development seriously than right now. I'd be delighted if you would like, leave a review and share with your fellow leaders to help spread the word about the How to Lead podcast.

Team management doesn't have to be frustrating. You too can enjoy being an authoritative yet empathetic leader. It just takes a decision to be more intentional about your interactions with others. Some great tips for how to influence positive change and of course, a good guide by your side. Listen more, advise less, lead well.

Until next time, thanks very much for listening.