The Value of Coaching in Every Aspect of Life
Author: Angela CraigWhat is your biggest need in life or in leadership?
In my welcome letter to new subscribers I ask them to tell me their biggest need. I want to know what keeps you up at night. What goals you want to achieve. I want to hear about your outrageous dreams and help you achieve them!
In my welcome letter I wrote: My goal is to find out what you need help with right now and post resources through my blogs to help you achieve your goals. If you find yourself stuck in the area of goal setting, lacking vision, find your calendar taking over your life, or are in need of other leadership resources, don’t hesitate to use this site as a resource to help. It is an honor and a pleasure to help you find the resources you need to live the life you have always dreamed of. Cliché I know. But if we are all honest, isn’t this what we really want – to live the dream? I guarantee you the questions you want to ask, and the resources you need, are ones others are needing too.
Stan Drew, missionary (alongside his wife, Sue) to Swaziland, Southern Africa asked a question that everyone can learn from:
“What book, CD, or DVD would be the best introduction to coaching? I do a lot mentoring and some coaching but I need to improve my coaching skills.”
I have two observations about Stan’s question. Number one, Stan is already an excellent coach, but he is a life long learner always looking for ways to improve his skills. This is truly good leadership and something I admire deeply in Stan as a coach and a mentor. Second, the skills of coaching are valuable in every aspect of life and leadership. The practice of coaching should be a skill everyone explores. When you do, you will find it an amazing tool in your communication belt for both your personal and your professional life.
What is coaching?
Angela’s Coaching Definition for Life and Leadership: Coaching in life and leadership is about asking powerful questions that will unlock hidden potential, purpose, and a person’s confidence in their ability to find the answer for themselves.
In Parenting:
Asking empowering questions teaching problem solving skills and builds confidence in a child or a teens ability to process information. Here is an example: Instead of telling a child what to do, ask: “What do you think the next right answer is?”
In Personal Relationships:
I have said it before: It is more important to be interested than interesting. Asking questions tells another person they matter. When someone is talking, express interest in the form of a question. For example: Tell me more about that? or, WOW, that sounds exciting, what happened next?
At Work:
In the book, The Weekly Coaching Conversation: A business Fable, author Brian Souza “shows that the best leaders in business (and presumably in education, ministry, and sports) focus as much on developing people as they focus on refining their skills. He stresses that ‘coaching is not something that you, as a manager, must do. A coach is someone that you, as a leader, must become’” (Collins, 2015).
In a personal conversation with Jim Kouzes (Leadership Challenge) Jim told me that the greatest job of a leader in the next two decades will be teaching people how to lead in the workplace. Asking questions that empower, will tell your employee that you trust them to come up with the answer. This creates innovation, better communication, and higher productivity!