Leaders should become coaches and mentors for their team members

Becoming a leader requires more than just technical knowledge and a strong work ethic. Leaders must also be able to cultivate relationships with their team members, empowering them to do their best work by coaching and mentoring them through difficult tasks.

This article will discuss the importance of becoming an effective coach and mentor for your team.

An effective leader is one who not only possesses technical knowledge, but also has a strong understanding of how to motivate and empower their team. Leaders must be able to build trust with their team members and communicate effectively in order for them to perform well. To do this, leaders should become coaches and mentors for their team members, taking on the roles of both teacher and encourager.

Coaching is essential for any organization’s success, as it allows leaders to help employees develop new skills that will benefit the company in the long run. Coaching is an interactive process between two or more people where one person provides feedback or guidance on a certain task while the other listens, learns, and applies what they have learned. It involves providing support to employees so they can reach their goals by exploring different options or finding creative solutions to problems. The coach should try to identify potential obstacles before they arise, offer direction when needed, and encourage each step of development.

Mentoring is another important tool that helps leaders guide their teams through difficult tasks as it enables them to share valuable advice from personal experience, which can make all the difference in helping someone succeed at something challenging. Unlike coaching, which focuses on developing skills related to job performance, mentoring builds relationships between mentor-mentee pairs based on mutual interests or shared experiences. This type of relationship fosters growth because both parties feel valued and appreciated by one another, which leads them towards greater success together than either would have achieved alone (Hamel & Dufourq 2020).

Both mentoring and coaching should be used strategically within organizations as part of an overall leadership strategy; however, there are some differences between these two techniques: While coaching focuses primarily on helping individuals achieve specific goals, such as learning how to best use software tools like Excel or PowerPoint, mentoring may involve offering life advice, such as career paths after college graduation (Lewis 2017). Also, mentors tend to act more like friends than teachers, whereas coaches tend to stick to a tighter protocol due to the teaching methods involved (Lambert 2013). No matter what technique you choose, whether it’s coaching or mentoring, you need patience if your goal is successful development because it takes time for people to learn new things, no matter how talented they may be naturally (Grossman 2018).

An effective leader understands that providing guidance requires effort but pays dividends in terms of employee satisfaction. When people feel supported by those around them, morale increases significantly, leading better outcomes across departments within an organization According to research conducted by Harvard Business School, professor Linda Hill found that many successful companies had created “leaderful work environments,” which she defined as ones “where everyone plays role guiding others (Hill 2010) In addition, studies done by the Gallup Poll revealed engaged employees were far less likely to take sick days and often reported higher levels of job satisfaction, meaning employers could expect improved productivity over non-engaged workers who felt unsupported by management and leadership figures. (Gallup 2016)

As beneficial becoming coach or mentor might sound, there are things to bear in mind when undertaking such responsibility First and foremost, it is important to remember to remain professional throughout the process While relationships between mentor and mentee might become friendly, boundaries should never be crossed. (Lambert 2013) Secondly, both parties must clearly define the goals to be achieved and how they will measure success, as well as have a plan in place if any difficulties arise during the development process (Grossman 2018). Finally, ongoing communication is essential developing trust, which means leaders need check-in regularly with their team members to encourage progress and provide feedback to help them reach larger goals in a timely manner

In conclusion, becoming a coach and mentor for your employees can go a long way toward helping them achieve personal career goals as well as increasing overall morale within the organization. It may not always be easy, but effective leadership requires more than just technical knowledge; having strong relationships built through trust, mentorship, and coaching is key to making sure everyone succeeds together.

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References

Gallup, 2016. “State of the American Workplace: Employee Engagement Insights for U.S Business Leaders” Gallup Inc., accessed November 10th, 2020, https://www.gallup.com/workplace/238093/state-american-workplace-2016-report.aspx

Grossman, S. (2018) Coaching and Mentoring: How to Develop Top Talent and Achieve Stronger Performance, 2nd Edition, Kogan Page, London, UK

Hamel, G., & Dufourq, N 2020 What is Leadership? Harvard business review retrieved from https://hbr.org/2012/06/what-is-leadership

Hill, Linda A (2010): Being Leaderful Harvard Business Review June retrieved from https://hbr.org/2010/06/being-leaderful

Lewis J 2017: The Difference between Coaching and Mentoring Retrieved from http://blog.cpsa.com/?p=919

Lambert C 2013 What is the Difference Between a Coach and a Mentor? Smallbusiness Chron Accessed November 10th, 2020 http://smallbusinesschron.com/management/corporate-culture