When I was a little girl and had trouble finding an answer at school, I would go to my dad thinking he would give me a solution. Imagine my surprise when he would say, "Go to the encyclopedia on the bookshelf and look up the volume corresponding to the topic. You'll surely find it there." At the time, I thought I could have done that on my own without asking him. Today, I am grateful because he empowered me to find solutions and prevented me from wasting valuable time waiting for someone to solve my problems.
What is Empowerment?
You might be wondering what empowerment means. This term is very popular lately and, in my opinion, sometimes misused because I don’t think it’s simply about giving people power. As I see it, empowerment is recognizing that someone has what it takes to achieve their goals with their own resources or by relying on others but with the independence and confidence that they can do it.
The Impact of Control in Leadership
Many bosses want to have control over the expected outcome. Let me give you an example: Imagine you are the leader of a team. Over time, you have learned to solve problems and gained some experience. You hire a new person who needs to execute a project. When they come to ask you a question, you lose patience because you start to doubt that they can do it correctly. You decide to take control, thinking it’s better to resolve it in less time than to waste time explaining how to do it.
I remember in the financial sector, I had a colleague who, when delivering reports to his boss, would say, "It doesn't matter if I do it quickly without analyzing deeply, my boss will correct it anyway and put his own content." When bosses take control of procedures or possible solutions, all they achieve is making others lazy.
Benefits of Coaching in Leadership
One suggestion for achieving exponential leadership is coaching. This happens when you truly believe your team can have high productivity. What does it provoke? Your team reaches the level of confidence that you genuinely believe they can do it. This confidence generates mutual respect and rapport between you and them.
Coaching for leadership is achieved through asking intelligent questions and depends on the scenario. In situational leadership, you choose what type of management you should apply with your teams. Perhaps when you hire someone, you should be an instructor of procedures and processes so they know how it works. However, over time, when you see they are stuck with something, you can influence them to overcome those challenges through coaching.
Practical Coaching Strategies
Coaching is complicated when you don't master the technique because there is always the temptation that when you already know the solution, you want to give it before the person figures it out. That’s why it's necessary to master the basic techniques or seek support from a certified coach, especially when it's a topic that needs more time to overcome or work on.
Some of the different types of coaching or scenarios that can trigger this accompaniment are:
Related to their goals
Clarify situations
Understand if they are ready to move forward
Discover the challenges or obstacles holding them back
Have action strategies
Empower them when they start to doubt their ability
Make them accountable or responsible for their actions
Set action dates and commitments
Find perspectives
Do inner work on their strengths
Try to put on the coach's hat occasionally with your teams and avoid giving them instructions or solutions. Let them stretch their potential by coming up with the answers themselves. Being a leader who coaches brings many satisfactions when you can see how your teams are empowered and find solutions faster. Tell me how it goes in the comments or on social media. What has been your experience with coaching at work? How do you empower your team?
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