LM327 - Lead Like a Coach

Traditional leadership often adopts a "do it my way or not at all" approach, offering benefits but also inherent limitations. This style often hinders team members' ability to independently solve problems. Conversely, leading like a coach embraces critical thinking and autonomy. Rather than dictating solutions, it utilizes questions to stimulate independent thinking and develop innovative ideas. It cultivates self-motivation which drives action. Leading like a coach empowers individuals, ultimately steering themselves and their team toward their goals. This presentation will provide practical tips on incorporating coaching techniques into your daily practice and will explore the 7 levels of Team Engagement.  

 

Summary:

In the dynamic landscape of leadership, the traditional "command and control" approach, often akin to "do it my way or not at all," has long been the norm (Ibarra & Scoular, 2019). While this style of leadership does have its time and place, it's becoming increasingly evident that a more people-centric approach is essential for fostering an engaged and empowered workforce. This is where the concept of "lead like a coach" emerges as a novel and beneficial approach to leading teams. This presentation will explore the use of coaching techniques that can support individuals to develop and motivate those around them. Having a coaching mindset as a leader has been proven to decrease stress and prevent burnout especially in healthcare (Hicks & McCracken, 2009). The underlying premise is simple yet profound: leadership should not be solely about giving directives and expecting compliance, but rather allow individuals to come up with solutions themselves. Rather than dictating solutions, leading like a coach utilizes questions to stimulate independent thinking, develop innovative ideas, and remove blocks that may be impacting someone from taking action (Tan, 2022). However, this approach can be very hard, especially for healthcare professionals like audiologists, as we are accustomed to identifying and diagnosing audiologic problems and then immediately providing solutions to our patients (Hicks & McCracken, 2009). Unlike our job responsibility in healthcare, when you lead like a coach it is not always your role to diagnose and solve all the problems that come your way. During this presentation, we will explore practical tools and techniques for integrating coaching into your current role. These tools discussed can equip you with the skills necessary to foster self-reliant and empowered teams. We will delve into the core principles of coaching and how understanding these principles can support your team and your own professional growth. This “lead like a coach” approach extends well beyond just those in leadership, but also to anyone that is looking to improve their relationships and/or lighten the load an individual might be carrying. Additionally, we will introduce the 7 Levels of Team Engagement, shedding a light on the different dimensions of leadership and how this knowledge can be applied to reduce stress and prevent burnout in audiology (Schneider, et. al, 2014)

Join us in this journey to ignite your personal development, get real-world experience of what leading like a coach looks like, and inspire lasting change within your organization.