Don't Solve Problems. Develop Problem Solvers

Premise

The real job of a leader is not decision-making. It is decision capability-building and this can be done by creating better leaders from those that they lead.

Bad leaders manage how work is being done, good leaders manage whether the work is being done and great leaders create capacity so that the work gets done.

This is possible only when we are able to find ways to train them, to coach them and to get them ready for their journey as a leader.

This requires us to give them additional responsibilities and create opportunities to lead as part of the day-to-day work. We can prepare them for these additional responsibilities via coaching conversations which we can have by creating coachable moments.

Before we even get to coaching conversations and talk about creating coachable moments, lets first understand what is a coaching conversation.

Three Types of Conversations

Any conversation that a leader has with their teams can be classified as one of the three kinds of conversations. Each of these three kinds of conversations are required tools for leaders – they fall on a spectrum and needs to be used in the appropriate situations.

Remember – Most leaders don't over-direct or under-coach. They misdiagnose the moment.

Directive Conversation

This is when a leader says, do this or dont do that. This type of conversation or direction, is an important tool

• When you are dealing with someone who is very new and has not yet developed the skills required to do the job by themselves or
• When you are trying to deal with a crisis and need urgent responses or
• When you have a high stakes situation that needs a carefully calibrated response from you as a leader.

Mentoring Conversation

This is when a leader says, when I faced a similar situation, here is what I did and this is why I did it. This type of conversation is an important tool

• When you are dealing with someone who has enough experience and the ability to figure out the right approach when directed towards the right way forward. You don't have to spell it out.

Coaching Conversation

This is when a leader uses questions to enable the colleague to arrive at the best way forward themselves. This type of conversation is the right way forward

• When you are dealing with someone who hasn't yet developed the expertise required to arrive at the best way forward but has the potential to do so, when guided well
• When you want to teach them the ability to think through something
• When you want to help them develop experitise, instinct and become a leader worth following.

There are many frameworks that are available for how to conduct a coaching conversations. All of them require a few fundamental things in order to be effective:

• There is trust between the two people involved in the coaching conversation
• You as a leader are open and empathetic towards the person being coached
• The person who is being coached is open and wants to be coached
• The coaching conversation is beneficial for everyone involved, including the team overall.

The only way that coaching as a leader is different from all the above coaching models is that in this case, we are moving the person we coach towards an outcome (sometimes the outcome we already know and at other time allow the outcome emerge – however with the attributes we alrea