Welcome back folks! Things at Retreat Ranch have been wonderfully intense, but I’ve been excited despite my tiredness. Sometimes I walk around the ranch and reflect on how it looked before we built it with our own two hands. It was an epically beautiful spot in the wilderness, that spoke to my wife, Shannon, and I when we found it. Whenever it gets crazy like this, we both can’t help but be grateful for how far we’ve come and thrilled about what we have up our sleeves next.
Getting back on topic, this week’s blog post is also about fighting for your dreams in a sense. Today, we’re talking about how to ask your boss to be a better coach. You’ve got to advocate for yourself in life, let’s talk about doing it correctly in the corporate context.
How to Ask Your Boss for Coaching
If your boss is worth their salt, they should be open and willing to coach you even if you’re already a leader in the middle. Sometimes, that never ending to-do list may get in their way and so by oversight, coaching sessions can slip through the cracks. Don’t let that happen. It’s your career and it’s your life; when you find yourself in this position, advocate to be coached.
To borrow from my book, Serve Up, Coach Down:
How do you demand to be coached? With genuine intent. Tell your boss that you intend to coach your employees, but to serve up, you need to be the best leader in the middle you can be, and that requires coaching from the people you serve.
I’m not saying that if this doesn’t prompt some action you need to find a new job, but I am saying, know your worth and that all good bosses must coach their staff. In fact, they must coach their leadership staff the most, as they lead the network of employees under their portfolio. Human capital is the highest investment for any business, so the strategic approach should be, “ALWAYS BE COACHING!”.
How to Know if You’re Being Coached by Your Boss
Once you’ve pretty much demanded to be coached in order to be a better employee, a few logical things should happen. Your boss should:
- Take you up on your offer and review their calendar to identify teaching opportunities.
- Respect the humility shown through your request to learn more about the job’s needs and organization’s demands.
- Accommodate and encourage your request for growth.
How to Help Your Boss Coach You
I want you to be mindful that your boss may need your help in designing your own coaching program and that’s ok. Also, if they show disinterest, before turning in the towel, try reapproaching them with an actual coaching plan.
As a leader who coaches their own team, you just need to use that same template to design a strategic leadership coaching program. Feel free to duplicate in areas that you’ve recognized needs further reinforcement. From there, you can then ask to schedule weekly one-on-ones for scrimmaging or add it to your agenda if such a meeting already exists.
Again, bosses are people and people aren’t perfect, so as advised in Serve Up, Coach Down:
Feeling particularly empowered after reading this week’s blog? Don’t wait! Make that call to schedule a meeting to ask your boss for coaching.
See ya next week! In the meantime, feel free to reach out to me on Facebook and Instagram to let me know how requesting executive leadership coaching from your boss worked for you.
