From Leader to Coach: Nurturing Growth Through Curiosity
The expectations of workplace leaders has been steadily expanding and shifting in recent years – resulting from events like the pandemic and other stressors that Gen X, Millennial, and Gen Z generations are especially affected by.
Studies show that mental health, job satisfaction, and productivity have declined, while burnout, exhaustion, and turnover have risen.
So, how can today’s leaders adapt to the changing stresses and needs of employees, while both driving results and drawing out the best in each individual?
We have entered an age where it’s not enough to just lead. The way to truly propel a company forward is by also becoming a great coach to the people within the organization – offering support, empathy, and active listening to inspire growth.
What does it mean to be a leader and a coach?
Being a great leader involves wearing many hats – you take on roles as a manager, delegator, spokesperson, decision-maker, role-model, and more. The one role that can be tricky for some to understand is how to be an effective coach, as well.
Coaching doesn't require you to be a licensed therapist or an athlete, but it does involve nurturing abilities that some leaders overlook in their quest to grow their company.
Being a coach means mentoring employees to grow their skills, solve problems, build confidence, and advance in their careers.
As Sir John Whitmore, a leading figure in the field, defined it, skilled coaching involves “unlocking people’s potential to maximize their own performance.”
Not to oversimplify this concept, because it does take practice and focus to achieve, but becoming an effective coach starts with one behavioral shift that can lead to huge results.
It’s all about being a curious leader.
Curiosity is the one thing that can significantly change the way you lead, because it means being slower to act and quicker to listen, observe, and learn. Let’s explore this concept a bit further, and learn some practical tips for embracing curiosity as a leader and coach.
How to become the coach your team deserves
Start by listening, not telling
Collaboration is key when it comes to guiding your team towards growth and success. As a coach, you learn to not just instruct, but to actively listen and work to understand each employee’s needs, struggles, and goals.
The best solutions occur when people can find their way through tasks or problems on their own, and a coach allows them to explore the process with support and guidance. A leader who steps in and fixes every issue themselves, or tells employees exactly what to do is not empowering employees to reach their full potential and develop problem-solving skills.
Learn to ask open, curious questions
If you focus your efforts on curiosity, then asking questions will naturally be a tool you use frequently. Questions don’t have to be overly complicated to be effective. In fact, you may not even need many words to get the best results.
Sometimes it’s just about asking “And what else?” again and again, until you get to the depth of the matter at hand.
Keep in mind that people rarely give the real answer the first time, and often need to be coaxed to go deeper. Don’t rush or force them, but start to incorporate “And what else?” into your vocabulary to help coach employees to their deeper thoughts and feelings.
Normalize check-ins and ongoing communication
If you think about a sports coach, you probably know that progress is the ultimate goal. They focus on helping athletes become better and better through practice and repetition.
So, as a coach yourself, it’s important to continuously check in on the progress of your employees – not to just get to the end result, but to also keep communication open and offer support along the way.
Be mindful of how you check in on project progress, because tone and intent could change how your inquisitions are taken by the individual. To inspire growth, your check-ins should focus on where they might be getting stuck, what adjustments need to be made, and what you can do to help move the project forward.
Overall, being a great coach comes down to being more curious. Ask questions, listen attentively, and lead with empathy while guiding your team towards goals and objectives.
“An effective manager-as-coach asks questions instead of providing answers, supports employees instead of judging them, and facilitates their development instead of dictating what has to be done.” (HBR Nov 2019)
Encourage open dialogue, during meetings and one-on-one conversations. Whether you integrate this naturally throughout discussions or set aside dedicated time for deeper exploration, one principle must remain at the forefront: the art of listening.
Listen attentively and be receptive to feedback, even when it’s uncomfortable. Building meaningful connections with your team, beyond surface-level engagement leads to a depth of perspectives, opportunities and mutual growth.
Asking questions like, “What’s working?” or “Where are we stuck?”, “What are your noticing about xyz?”, or “What else?” can yield valuable insights and foster stronger relationships. But this only happens if you truly listen and approach it as a genuine conversation to further your team’s growth and objectives.
Dawn Garibaldi is the CEO and Founder of Amplify Strategy Group. As an experienced corporate leader and certified executive coach, she’s on a mission to serve leaders who find themselves in high stress, high stakes, new or changed situations to create significant impact, confident performance and powerful relationships -- with stakeholders, teams and peers. She shares powerful strategies and tactics to quickly amplify confidence, success and achievements far beyond what they thought possible.