Written by: Ellen Kocher, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
I have been coaching leaders for over 20 years. While coaching for resilience through my Walk the Talk program I realized that the resilience of leaders depends largely on firstly, their personal empowerment — that is, making a conscious decision to take charge of their destiny, and secondly, on the empowerment of the people they manage — that is, giving power, making stronger and more confident.
I believe that a Coach-Approach for Empowered Leadership is the key to both because:
Coaching breeds Accountability > Accountability breeds Responsibility > Responsibility breeds Empowerment
Let’s test my belief: You set a goal to cut back on evening screen time. You are accountable to yourself and to your coach. Consequently, you take responsibility to do it – even if there might be some hiccups along the way. When you achieve your goal successfully, you feel good about yourself, empowered, and in charge (and you likely feel other resilience-related benefits too).
“One of the things people want most from work is a manager who’s a lot like a coach — someone who can help them learn, grow, and develop." — Gallup 2021
The Resilience Dilemma
According to the 2022 Burnout Trends Report, workplace burnout is one of the biggest challenges leaders face today. Workplace burnout has been a major driver for employees seeking a break from workplace stress to improve their personal well-being and resilience.
The percentage of people managers feeling burned out “often or very often” averages nearly 35%. The top 4 issues contributing to this are lack of time for focused work, distraction fatigue, work-life balance, and too many meetings.
The Resilience Dilemma:
How can leaders be expected to improve the engagement and well-being of their workforce if they, themselves, are burned out?
Leaders need to convert the current burnout and anxiety into energy to:
Provide inspiration,
Evoke trust and transparency,
Nurture a strong sense of purpose,
Motivate and lead by example with determination and compassion.
Research further shows that 52% of exiting employees say their manager could have done something to prevent them from leaving and 70% of the variance in team engagement is determined solely by the manager. So, solving this dilemma is critical.
Solving the critical dilemma
According to Gallup research, one of the top burnout prevention action items is to:
“Up-skill managers to move from boss to coach.”
Research further shows that employees expect managers to give them:
Coaching
Ongoing development
Purpose and development
Addressing all elements of well-being (career, social, financial, physical, community, etc.)
Clear expectations
Up-skilling to move from boss to coach
If upskilling in coaching will help solve this critical resilience dilemma, let’s align our definition of coaching. According to the International Coaching Federation, Coaching is:
“Partnering with coachees in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.”
This is where I have noticed many leaders get confused. They understand and believe in the above definition, but question when and how to use this approach. I would encourage managers to practice blending elements of coaching and managing to tailor their approach to meet the needs of their employees and the situation.
This might help. If you can answer YES to the following questions, a Coach Approach will likely help you empower your people, build resilience, and maximize performance:
Does your team member have the knowledge, skills, and ability to navigate this situation successfully?
Are you trying to encourage independence, creativity, and collaboration or are efficiency, consistency, and execution the priorities?
Can you enter this conversation without an attachment to the specifics of your employee’s plan of action?
Practice makes progress
Everyone wants to have maximum impact in whatever they do — managing, parenting, working, playing. If we are anxious, stressed, or burning out, we cannot do this. Practicing a coach approach on yourself can be a great place to start building your own resilience and progressing. Nobody is looking for perfection, but progress can already help you use a Coach-Approach and walk the talk by setting an example.
Here’s how:
Stop to listen to how you really feel about your current situation (work-life balance, meetings, distractions, time management, etc.)
Partner with yourself by asking: whom do you want to Be?
Partner with yourself by asking: what can you Do to achieve that? Don’t forget, your solutions require a creative process that inspires you to maximize your potential.
As if you were coaching your best friend, come up with a plan to pivot, and realign.
Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
And if you already feel ready to practice on others, here are 7 Tips to get you started.
Your personal empowerment — and the empowerment of others — depends on it.
Need support?
Through understanding and applying a coach approach for empowered leadership, I coach and mentor leaders to apply coaching to themselves and to their teams. From creating a coaching mindset, and listening actively to re-establishing healthy boundaries, leaders walk away with the skill-power they need to bring the best out in themselves — and their people.
Ellen Kocher, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Ellen Kocher is an Economist and Certified Workplace Wellness Consultant who holds a master’s degree in Health & Wellness Coaching. Following 10 years as an Executive in Finance, Ellen made some major lifestyles change and has dedicated the past 20+ years to walking her talk through workplace wellbeing, promoting a holistic approach to eating, physical activity, health, resilience, and self-care. Ellen has coached hundreds of individuals and groups in dozens of organizations to make sustainable lifestyle changes empowering them to go from knowing what to do to actually doing it! Most recently Ellen’s work focuses on the 50+ demographic.
