Coaching Conversation: Teaching People to Think - Executive Edge - Volume 12, Issue 9

Coaching Conversation: Teaching People to Think - Executive Edge - Volume 12, Issue 9

Volume 12, Issue 8

Intelligence for the consumer goods, life science and retail industries

The Executive Edge  “A” player human capital leadership by Hunt Executive Search

For more nearly a decade, the Executive Edge has been a value added service to encourage    our employer and candidate clients in their Personal & Professional Development

Featured Article

Coaching Conversations: Teaching People to Think  

A century ago, most people were paid for physical labor. The dominant management model was master/apprentice, with the master showing his employees how to perform their jobs.
The Industrial Age introduced systems. Process management became the dominant paradigm, with scientific analysis of linear systems for greater efficiency. Employees were trained to follow, unquestioningly, their bosses’ best-laid plans.

Over the last two decades, the most routine business tasks have been computerized or outsourced. As a result, today’s employees are increasingly hired to think. In 2005, 40 percent of employees were considered knowledge workers; for mid-level management and higher, the number is closer to 100 percent.

Modern leaders must increasingly shift management styles to reflect the needs of a more educated labor force. “Yet we have not significantly reinvented our management models since the time Henry Ford hired a pair of hands and wished they’d left their brains behind,” writes NeuroLeadership CEO David Rock, author of  Quiet Leadership: Six Steps to Transforming Performance at Work.

Generations X and Y have been making major organizational contributions, albeit with different expectations. They embrace personal development, while valuing freedom and independence. They want to work for leaders who will help them fulfill their career potential—mentors who can help them improve their thinking.

The Iceberg Model
Some leadership experts have adopted the “iceberg” model to describe human performance. This metaphor suggests that some of our behaviors are visible, while most other behaviors, thoughts and feelings lurk below water.
 
Our work achievements are driven by how we think. Why, then, do leaders focus on what’s superficially visible when addressing employee performance? Evaluations rarely consider the factors that drive habits, nor do managers reflect on employees’ feelings or thoughts.

Many employees are highly capable individuals who want to work—and be—smarter. They’re crying out for help. It’s up to their leaders to learn how to ask the right questions and conduct truly engaging coaching conversations.

Start a Coaching Conversation
If we want people to think better, we must essentially let them do all the thinking. Dr. Rock suggests the following five-step process for establishing a coaching conversation that enables self-directed learning:

1. Let the employee think through his specific issue. Avoid telling him what to do or giving advice. Ask questions about his thought process.
2. Keep him focused on solutions, not problems.
3. Challenge him to expand his thinking and stretch himself, instead of clinging to his comfort zone.
4. Focus on what he’s doing well so you can play to his strengths.
5. Make sure there are clear processes behind every conversation. To be truly helpful, a coaching conversation requires permission to ask questions and explore possibilities.

• Helps them find connections in their minds
• Makes them more self-aware
• Encourages them to take greater responsibility for solutions

• How long have you been thinking about this?
• How often do you think about it?
• On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is this?
• How clear are you about the issue?
• How high a priority does this issue have?
• How committed are you to resolving this?
• Can you see any gaps in your thinking?
• What impact is thinking about this issue having on you?
• How do you react when you think of this?
• How do you feel about the resources you’ve invested thus far?
• Do you have a plan for shifting this issue?
• How can you deepen your insight on this?
• How clear are you on what to do next?
• How can I best help you further?

1. Permission: “Is this a good time to talk and explore your thinking?”
2. Placement: “Let’s see if you can come up with some ideas in the next few minutes.”
3. Questioning: “Is it OK if I ask you to share your thoughts with me?”
4. Clarifying: “Tell me more about this. What do you mean?”

1. I get the sense you have more to say about this. Could I probe a little further?
2. I’d like to have a more open conversation than we’ve had before. Would it be OK to ask you some more specific questions right now?
3. Can we spend a few minutes brainstorming ideas around this?
4. I’d like to understand more about your thinking. Would you be OK with talking more about this?
5. I’d like to discuss some more personal matters. Would this be OK with you?