How does the coach-approach conversation work? It works in the prefrontal cortex (the executive brain that amplifies our success rate). When using the coach-approach we remove ourselves from “me”, and we start building “we”. A leader must tell staff not just the “what” but also the “how” and the “why”, and in this way, they will be encouraged to grow their strengths, learn new things, and become invested in a product that they are responsible for. The coach-approach communication promotes autonomy, develops mastery, and integrates the purpose of the project. When coach-approach conversations happen there are discussions about potential obstacles, there is an anticipation of the performance under the current conditions and in this manner, trust is built as a safety net for failure.

Fieldwork this week: Transparency: Being direct with your intentions to ensure your conversations are having the right impact.

Shout Out to the Pennsylvania Chick-fil-A for the company’s overall mission of taking care of the people who work in this restaurant!

Have a question for me? Email me: [email protected]

My mission is to make work fun again by building better leaders. Find out more on my website: shawnacorden.com

The role of a leader can be difficult, filled with the great responsibility of being the first among equals, having all the answers, and always knowing what to do next, but this approach leaves the leader lacking the opportunity of being curious, vulnerable, and leaving space for others to take the initiative. As a result, the levels of burnout in leadership are increasingly high. The Coach Approach encourages leaders to be in charge of the vision and what the team is going to do, but without telling them how to do the work, they are responsible for leveraging their skills and their daily network, coming up with innovation. The number one benefit from the Coach Approach is more team engagement! Listen to this episode to hear more about how the Coach Approach can ease a leader’s life.

Fieldwork this week: Messaging is a form of truth-telling and may hold people accountable to their values, and it can also be about the anticipated future state, holding the vision for the outcome that all the hard work the client is doing may produce. First, consider the current business plan and how are things progressing, and ask yourself: What is the message that your team could hear that would redirect to success?

Have a question for me? Email me: [email protected]

My mission is to make work fun again by building better leaders. Find out more on my website: shawnacorden.com

Coaching is defined as “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential, the process of coaching often unlocks previously untapped sources of imagination, productivity, and leadership”. Listen to this episode to learn more about the extent and characteristics of the role of a coach, what coaches don’t do, and what the aspects are that define a successful coaching experience.

Fieldwork this week: The GROW model is the easiest way to understand the coaching conversation. We start with the Goal (What is it? Why do we want it?), then, Reality (What is today’s reality? Where are we starting from?), after, come the Options (What are the ways that we can reach that goal? Explore the variations), and lastly, what is the Way forward you have chosen?

Have a question for me? Email me: [email protected]

My mission is to make work fun again by building better leaders. Find out more on my website: shawnacorden.com

Even for self-aware leaders, there are unknown areas, blind spots, and sometimes leaders don’t have a team to warn them about those risks. One of the primary roles of a coach is to act as a “blindspot alert” partnering with leaders, planning towards the achievement of goals, and looking for potential obstacles. Exploring and naming our biases (and therefore our blindspots) brings awareness to the potential dangers we are exposed to and that we are not addressing, but when we name them, we claim them and we can address them.

Fieldwork this week: Openly discuss biases to determine blindspots. Create an agenda item in your next staff call, talk about your favorite things to do at work, and about the team’s best features, does your organization have a bias of positivity, consensus, and harmony? A company with this bias can miss on competition, critical thinking, and risk management. Action Tips: Inventory your own and your team’s biases, think about how you can bring that alternative perspective into play, create a safe space where you can honor the team’s culture while introducing some of the missing elements.

Have a question for me? Email me: [email protected]

My mission is to make work fun again by building better leaders. Find out more on my website: shawnacorden.com

A self-aware leader faces many challenges, especially executive leadership. One of the benefits of working with an executive coach is a partner, one that does not judge and is aligned with the leader’s goals. A coach is a safe place for a leader, even though coaches keep leaders accountable to their goals, can challenge them, and even be provocative if found necessary. We all need someone to help us be the person we can be! 

Fieldwork this week: The Accountability Question List is made by a group of questions that when answered affirmatively reflect that daily life is lived in alignment in the short and long term, embodying the values of the responder. Write your own 10 to 20 question list, that when answered affirmatively show that you are on track.

Have a question for me? Email me: [email protected]

My mission is to make work fun again by building better leaders. Find out more on my website: shawnacorden.com

Tweetables

“Coaches don’t have their own agendas, they sign up to help their clients achieve theirs.”

“We all need someone to help us be the person we can be.”

The analogy of “seeing a hole or going into it” is a great way of assessing the difference between compassion and empathy. Being compassionate is about observing, acknowledging, and sharing someone’s feelings without “getting in the hole with them” since one of you needs to be outside in order to be of actual help. Susan explains in this episode how to achieve compassionate relationships fostering curiosity and learning to avoid judgment.

Fieldwork this week: Evaluate which sharing feelings you are engaging in when others present challenges. First: Are you staying “out of the hole”? Make sure you are not standing in a place of pity but rather in a compassionate one. Second: Are you judging them for getting “in the hole”? If so, you are in a place of pity, it is time to start getting curious. Third: Are you finding yourself worrying? You might be practicing empathy or sympathy then: try to share feelings but be the one who will help them exit “from the hole”. Seek to be an assistant, be curious, listen, and make them safe.

Have a question for me? Email me: [email protected]

My mission is to make work fun again by building better leaders. Find out more on my website: shawnacorden.com

Mentioned in today’s episode:

Conversational Intelligence: How Great Leaders Build Trust and Get Extraordinary Results, Judith E. Glassier

Tweetables

“Curiosity is the opposite of judgment.”

“Letting people think out loud creates clarity.”

“A Self Aware leader knows the impact of his/her  actions on others and seeks to understand what his/her staff is going through.”

“Burnout: When demands are exceeding capacity.”

Etiquette is about creating a safe space, by illustrating the norms that people can expect. Not knowing is what causes people to be uncomfortable, and COVID had changed all the rules we knew about what was and wasn’t appropriate at the workplace. How can we create a safe space under the COVID climate? Shawna shares in this episode strategies to put in action in these new circumstances and foster a safe environment back in the office.

Fieldwork this week: The “straw dog” or the “straw man” is a framework for people to generate ideas, where all ideas are heard, and they build upon one another; this technique is a great starting place! The purpose of this practice is to generate a rich dialogue with the best possible result.

Have a question for me? Email me: [email protected]

My mission is to make work fun again by building better leaders. Find out more on my website: shawnacorden.com

Tweetable:

“COVID Etiquette is intended to make people comfortable and know what to expect.”

Whether you are at home or at work awareness is the key aspect of connection. There are two common scenarios in the HR field. First, the “nice” HR manager who overly cares for the employee, neglecting the goals and outcomes, delivering poor and weak results as a consequence of favoring the employee too much. In the end, this parenting style is not effective, the manager’s leaders will have to intervene and all employees will suffer the repercussions as a result of not meeting their numbers. The second scenario is about the HR manager that does not build a foundational relationship, micromanages, and employees tend to avoid working for him/her because the results delivered in the project came as a personal cost. How can we turn these two managers into self-aware leaders? Seek for a third unbiased partner who has an industry perspective and is able to really embrace the client by helping him identify their intentions and work on how they display them every day.

Fieldwork this week: Mirroring consists of reflecting back what was heard or said, processing those words into actions, checking if the intent matches the impact, and sharing that back to the speaker. The mirroring technique also invites the participants to share how they feel about the message and how that will influence their results.

Have a question for me? Email me: [email protected]

My mission is to make work fun again by building better leaders. Find out more on my website: shawnacorden.com

Tweetables:

“A Leader must know  how to be supportive of performance and the person.” - Shawna Corden

“It is so much more than just the words we say.” - Shawna Corden

Halloween is around the corner and, in preparation, I decided to share with you ten things that scary managers can do such as: — Not communicating the vision, — Treating people just as resources, — Failing to demonstrate trust, — Criticizing in public, — Overly fostering independence, — Not helping their staff prioritize, — Taking credit for your work, — Alienating their staff, — Neglecting to build connections with their subordinates, and lastly — Surprising people while evaluating them. 

Fieldwork this week: Keep in mind the three pillars of successful teams which deliver great results are: Leadership, communication, and employee resilience. Here are some suggestions for you to improve in each of these areas: List three things that will improve your leadership, like emphasizing transparency, and promoting creativity and collaboration. Enhance communication among your team by highlighting the gifts, talents, and experiences of the humans around you! And lastly, build your foundation for resilience. What are you doing to take good care of yourself? (pray, meditate, proper nutrition, get enough sleep).

Have a question for me? Email me: [email protected]

My mission is to make work fun again by building better leaders. Find out more on my website: shawnacorden.com

Tweetables

“Psychological safety is built by people sharing their challenges and is the number one factor in creating high-performance teams.”

“A manager's job is to catch and distribute the work.”

Today I sleuth it up, Nancy Drew style, to uncover the top factors that make a workplace enjoyable. Turns out, it’s more about environment and relationship than the work itself. Pinging off the Gallup Q12, I walk through four key questions that every employee asks. The way you answer those questions makes the difference between celebrating your job or loathing it.

Some say curiosity kills cats, but actually, it’s paramount when promoting excitement and growth. Want to move the tone of your team from stale to stimulated? Introduce a few open-ended, forward-thinking questions that validate their ideas and facilitate innovation.

Link to Best 100 Places to Work

Link to Gallup’s Q12 Employment Engagement Strategy

Fieldwork this week: Spend five minutes discussing the best thing about your workplace. What do you want more of, less of, etc? What would make it more fun?

Have a question for me? Email me: [email protected]

My mission is to make work fun again by building better leaders. Find out more on my website: shawnacorden.com