The "Sweet Spot" of Leadership
Posted on November 20, 2013 by Shannon Rios Paulsen, One of Thousands of Executive Coaches on Noomii.
Shannon discusses how being an excellent problem solver with a "get it done" attitude can hinder leaders effectiveness.
I call it the leadership “sweet spot”. This past week many of the leaders I have coached are leading from this place. Let’s talk a bit about how leaders finally end up leading in the “sweet spot”.
Leaders are usually successful because at one point in their career (usually early on) they were excellent problem solvers. They could “get it done”. This ability allowed them to be notice and promoted. Once they move into management, they still want to be the hero or the “problem solver”. Leaders have even admitted to me that this gives them a type of high or adrenaline rush. However, continuing to lead from this perspective is not the most productive or effective form of leadership.
Thus leaders must develop the skill of coaching their employees for high performance. When employees have a leader that coaches them vs does things for them or tells them how to do it, employees become more empowered, engaged, satisfied and productive.
The leader I coached with today indicated that coaching from this place (the leadership sweet spot) extremely satisfying and rewarding for the leader as well. They see their employees engaged and productive due to their coaching. He said that the employee he has recently been coaching, in his estimation went from about 15% performance to 80% performance due to them having coaching conversations. He indicated he really took time to “listen” to the employee vs. giving them his agenda. This increase he has seen in attitude, productivity, and willingness to make things happen.
Once leaders have made this transition to the coaching and empowering leadership, and are coaching from the leadership “sweet spot”, they report they are able to take a more strategic approach to their business. They have more time to create strategy and take care of the customer. Thus creating excellent value to the organization.
The coaching empowerment approach to leadership is very different than the “pushing and driving” approach. This approach works for leaders and employees thus increasing satisfaction and productivity within organizations.
Shannon R Rios MS LMFT is an Executive and Leadership Coach that focuses on high performance coaching in organizations and 360 degree feedback with leaders.
