Leadership

Leadership has been coming up a lot for me recently. I recently filled an acting position, looking after Collection Services while my manager was away on leave for 6 weeks. Not a simple caretaking stint, there was a lot going on with budget estimates, recruitment, projects, etc. and I have had a bit of time to reflect since my manager has returned. In the past couple of weeks I have also attended a couple of professional development workshops through work - the first was about 'Effective Leadership' and the other was on the topic of 'problem solving and decision making'
The first workshop (Effective Leadership) was a whole day session with a fantastic facilitator. The workshop covered some of the characteristics of high-performing teams, how the role and the subsequent expectations of a leader/manager has changed drastically in the past few years (COVID, working from home, cost of living pressures) and how leaders can build build effective teams.

The overall objectives of the session were:

• Communicating a shared vision and passion
• Demonstrating self-awareness
• Building effective teams
• Coaching and developing others

While this all sounds pretty standard fare for PD these days, what I really loved was the practical tools that were provided in the workshop such as:

• Using personal stories to tie work goals to my passions in order to enlist/engage others
• Identifying trust 'wobbles' and working to improve either 'empathy, Logic or authenticity' (or all three!) in interpersonal interactions
• Tips/techniques on how to better facilitate meetings
• Coaching methodology - the GROW model

The GROW coaching method is something that I have been through before (it always help to refresh the memory!) but for me personally, moving out of 'solutions' mode has always been difficult. If someone comes to me with a problem, I will want to solve it but I can absolutely see how a coaching model can lead to better outcomes for everyone. I am working on the ability to determine whether a problem is a simple operational issue that can be easily resolved or if its an oportunity to dig deeper and turn it into a coaching session. Often we are so busy that you just automatically go to solution mode but knowing when I should be taking a step back, moving to the balcony view and seeing if there would be a benefit to shifting to a coaching approach is what I really want to develop.
I think being a parent really helps with this - I want my children to become self-sufficient so I often end up asking "How would you fix it?" (usually to the unhappy groans of my kids). As part of another leadership course I participated in a couple of years ago, I read the book "The Coaching Habit" by Michael Bungay Stanier. A fantastic book which I really enjoyed reading and would recommend to anyone interested. It outlines a number of different questions (7 from memory) that can be used in a coaching conversation, but I think my favourite 'go-to' (that I need to start using more when people come to me with a problem) is "That’s a great question, I have some ideas, but before I answer, what are your thoughts?".