Five Coaching Skills Leaders Can Use To Empower Their Teams

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In any work environment, the systems, behaviors and interpersonal dynamics that leaders establish will determine how their employees thrive—or don’t. 

Most managers want a self-directed workforce, meaning once they have given an employee the scope and parameters for a project, that employee will be equipped to take the project from start to finish without need for close monitoring or support. For this to be a reality, a manager must first foster a culture of learning, trust, and communication.  
 

As a professional coach, I have observed the power of coaching skills to tap into the potential of both individuals and teams alike. A coaching culture can transform an office from gridlocked and overwhelmed, to a place where every team member shows up as their full self and wholeheartedly supports their peers. While a coach can be transformative, every leader within an organization has the ability to instigate this shift and empower their teams by adapting coaching skills. 

Here are five foundational methods to get you started:

1. Acknowledge and Validate 

Often, an employee approaches with requests, challenges that are difficult or impossible for the leader to fulfill. Often, first instinct of a leader is to explain away the concerns, or to simply say “no.” This is disempowering and can cause the employee to disengage. While a leader certainly cannot meet every need, the way that they respond is key. By using the coaching technique of “acknowledge and validate” the employee will feel seen, heard, and understood, even if they don’t get what they want. Some managers dismiss validation because they equate it to passively agreeing with or flattering someone, even if they disagree—but there is an important difference. Validation lets the other person know that you hear and understand them.

Here is an example of this technique in action: Mike was passed over for promotion and was upset. He felt that the decision was unfair. He approached Barbara, his manager, about the situation. Rather than telling Mike that there was nothing she could do about the situation and better luck next time, she used the technique of acknowledging and validating. She acknowledged Mike’s feelings by telling him she could see that he was upset and that she understood he thought the situation was unfair. She then validated his feelings by telling him that it was very understandable that he would feel that way and that in his situation it would be common for anyone to feel that way. She then offered resources to help Mike to be more successful next time. 

Notice that she did not agree with Mike or offer reasons, explanations or denials. She acknowledged his feelings and validated them, which left Mike feeling seen, and more receptive to the offer of resources for next time. Though he did not get the promotion, he left feeling understood and supported. 

This coaching practice is also a great tool to use when conflicts arise within the team. As the manager, you are the mediator when tensions emerge. By acknowledging feelings and validating your team members, you have the power to make your employees feel heard and cared for. Often, this is an essential step in moving past tensions and toward solutions. 

2. Lead with Curiosity

Avoid judgment, and lead with curiosity instead. When a team member is not performing the way you would like, or a conflict arises, it can be easy to make assumptions about the cause—Sarah has become complacent; Mark simply can’t handle a project this complicated. 

Instead of making judgments about the reasons behind a behavior, try leading with curiosity and ask the involved employees open-ended questions about what’s going on. You may be amazed to find your perception of the situation transforms completely. 

For the last 6 months, Zach was consistently returning substandard work, and his attention to detail was lacking. This was unusual for him, but despite repeated discussions about work quality, the situation persisted. His manager, Kelly, felt frustrated and began to wonder if Zach even cared about his work anymore. Maybe she should think about letting him go, if he didn’t even care or couldn’t handle the work. 

But Kelly’s manager, Jeff, encouraged her to ask Zach what accounted for the behavior change, rather than just focusing on the mistakes. Rather than being punitive or task focused, Kelly began the next meeting by asking Zach what had changed in his life in the last six months, and how that has affected his day-to-day life. She learned that Zach was going through some personal issues related to a parent’s illness, which was distracting him and causing upset. He still cared very much for his work and was feeling torn and unfocused. With this new perspective based in curiosity, Kelly was able to help Zach with tools, resources and coaching to manage the situation. Soon, Zach was equipped to create the quality of work they both wanted again.

This approach of curiosity, openness and focus on the behavior rather than the task can help to open the lines of communication and foster more trust.

3. Be Your Team’s Champion

To be a champion, one does not need to constantly cheerlead with blind, forced optimism. Rather, this strength-based approach focuses on celebrating your team member’s greatest gifts and finding ways for employees to apply those skills to further the team’s and organization’s goals. 

The first step toward this is focusing on the individual, their unique strength and giving them opportunities to use that strength. Beyond the common job skills the team possesses, pay attention to the “extras”—the things people do because they like it and are good at it, the things others go to them for. 

Is someone on the team the “PowerPoint guru,” “tech wizard” or “people person”? Does someone have a great ability to make the complex seem simple or is extraordinarily organized and detail oriented? 

Acknowledging their specific talents and championing them adds value to the team and engages the employee, making them feel like they are a significant contributor to the team. 

4. Nurture an Appreciative Mindset

In business, we often focus on solving problems—what isn’t working, and what needs to be done to address it. Instead, what would happen if you paused to appreciate what is working? 

A director of a medium-sized consumer goods company began one of our sessions with concerns about a sales drop in a majority of territories. He was trying to figure out why, and asked for some coaching strategies to help examine the problem and fix it. He said that he had looked at everything he could think of—competitors, market conditions, product mix—and he was starting to think his salespeople in these areas just weren’t working hard enough. His complete focus was to “fix the problem,” so he was very surprised when I asked him what was working well in the sales area. 

We talked about the few territories that were doing well and dismissed the idea because they were different markets and couldn’t be compared. Through our session, he came to understand that “comparing” the regions was not the point; by looking at what was going well and using it as a reference point, he understood that an approach that he hadn’t tried was to leverage the strengths that existed. 

Applying this perspective requires a shift in mindset and a new way of asking questions. Rather than “How do we solve the problem?” the question becomes, “How can what is working pave the way for opportunities, now and in the future?”

5. Value Differences

Sometimes, differences between members of a team—generational, cultural, or otherwise—can lead to communication challenges. But when you take the time to understand each other, you can lead your team in appreciating the ways different perspectives can make the team stronger. 

For the first time, there are four generations in the workforce with very different lenses on the world. This polarity and lack of understanding can cause teams to be ineffective. This was an issue for a client I was working with and they asked for a program that would help with people’s tolerance for diversity of all kinds, though their focus at that moment was on generational issues. 

When I asked them why they thought tolerance was valuable, they said that there were a lot of stereotypes around the generations and the lack of tolerance was creating a breakdown in productivity. The questions I asked were, what if the goal was to value people’s differences rather than to merely tolerate them? What would teams that value differences rather than tolerate them accomplish? What would it feel like to be a part of a team that valued each individual? 

These ideas created a shift in focus. We developed a multidirectional mentorship program that allowed those (often younger) workers with high digital literacy to partner with more mature workers that possessed a lot of experience and wisdom. All involved gave and received value and were at different times the Mentor or Mentee. This equity created an experience of empathy and an understanding of value and values that allowed participants to celebrate each others’ strengths. 

Valuing the differences within your team starts with a foundation for improved understanding and collaboration. 

Leadership Sets a Foundation 

By implementing these five coaching skills into how you lead your team, you can set the foundation for a team that is empowered and thriving. Even better, as new challenges arise, these same coaching skills can equip you to lead your team in tackling them. 

As the dynamics of your team shift and employees build better trust and communication, they will find they are more empowered to tackle projects with less monitoring and more independence. 

While impactful, these coaching skills are only the beginning. You can go even further by working with a coach yourself, completing a coaching skills training program, or accrediting your organization’s coaching culture. 

Rachel Bellack is a teacher, an actor and award-winning director as well as an International Coaching Federation Credentialed Leadership Coach and Organizational Development Consultant. She uses Applied Improvisation and Positive Organization Development approaches to assist individuals, teams and organizations in areas such as innovation, communication, team building, leadership development, culture and change management. Connect Rachel Bellack