I frequently get asked questions about what it takes to be a great leader. My answer’s always been the same, be a great coach. But do you really know the distinction between both? Let me tell you, being a great leader doesn’t automatically make you a great coach. Grab your coach’s hat and let’s take it to the field this week!
Great Leaders versus Great Coaches
The differences between great leaders and great leaders who are coaches lie in their activities and actions.
The above quote is a pretty important leadership lesson. To be a great leader you need to be proactive and to do so requires actively coaching your team. Sitting in your office and only acting on issues when they arise, doesn’t make you a leader. Why? You didn’t get ahead of the situation. Leaders lead their people; they get ahead of things and they definitely do not sit in the big chair and only step up for their team when everything starts to crumble. Nope, that’s call being a dud. Erm…I mean, that’s called being a reactive manager. Interestingly, it is nowhere in the same league as being a leader who coaches.
Leaders who coach think and plan head in a strategic and logical manner. We can’t always know everything, and we won’t always get it right but as a great leader who coaches, we always give our best.
So, which one are you? Let’s take a quick test, shall we?
The Leader Who Coaches Checklist
Alrighty, get your pencils and paper ready – kidding! All jokes aside, take a reflective look on the questions below and select the option that best describes you. We’ll talk about what the results mean at the end.
- Do you see your team as individuals who are there solely to get their job done or do you believe in a team culture where everyone plays their role for better performance?
- Do you try to avoid conflict situations amongst team members, or do you get involved by moving team members up or out of the organization?
- Are you reactive and only get involved to problem-solve issues – should they arise, or are you proactive and thus heavily involved in your team’s operations so you can preemptively take action?
- Do you have a soft spot for poor performers and spend more time focusing on their development or do you focus on top performers as a means of setting a benchmark for other team members?
- Do you believe a strong team is built by assembling individuals with great resumes or do you consistently practice team building activities in an effort make the team better?
What does it all mean?
Are you ready to see how you scored? Don’t forget to double-check those answers first! If you said yes to the first part of each question then your leadership style is management focused. If you said yes to the second part of the question, then your leadership style is coach oriented.
Ideally, the best leaders fall in the latter category. Remember,
Great leaders aren’t necessarily great coaches, but great coaches are great leaders.
If you found that you had more management focused leadership styles than preferred, you can take some time to reflect on how you can improve your leadership style. I even know a great executive coach who can help you bottom it out, I’ve been told he’s quite handsome, too (lol).
How to be a Great Leader Through Coaching
Leaders today need to get involved and coach their teams to success, rather than manage them to mediocrity.
This is an entire topic in itself, in fact I’ve written entire books just about achieving this goal. Without a doubt, it’s important for us to translate our actions into guiding principles. So, here’s a quick reference list from one of my books:
- Make the team more important than any individual
- Don’t avoid conflict- use it!
- Act before a response is needed
- Pay attention to top performers and focus on making more of them
- Mandate EVERYBODY (even you) to practice
A leader who coaches requires their team to constantly push themselves to improve, just like all game winning sports team do. If you want to be a great leader you need to be down on the field with your team. On the other hand, it’s a bad (and lazy) manager who just sits and observes individuals from the comfort of their office. What you are doing in this instance is acting like an investor sitting comfortably in the owners’ box on game day; that is not your job. Your job is to build a great team who wins at which activity they’ve committed to performing.
Indeed, you must constantly think ahead, move the benchmark, work with your team all the while demanding the best from everyone, including yourself.
