Adonis Diaries

Managing is more than processes and procedures; it’s people.

Successful managers bring out the best in others.: Management and leadership are about coaching around performance.” John Baldoni

By Dan Rockwell?

My conversation with author, speaker, and executive coach, John Baldoni, covered everything from what’s wrong with leadership to the good side of office politics. John has an amazing breadth of experience and expertise.

Manager as coach:

Coaching rises to the top of leadership skills in organizations that value participation rather than command and control.

“Coaching is about long-term relationships.” John Baldoni

John suggests manager-coaches begin with three questions:

1. What does my employee want? Uncover motivation. Do they want development, promotion, opportunity? All employees strive for recognition.
2. What is stopping my employee from achieving her objectives? Everyone has blind spots and behaviors that hold them back.
3. What can I do to help my employee become more successful? Sometimes you’ll challenge. Other times, you’ll be a cheerleader.

Coaching Tips for managers:

1. Coaches don’t do the work for others.
2. Schedule regular sessions.
3. Stay performance focused.
4. Deal with one challenge at a time.
5. Keep the tone positive and conversational.
6. Assess the process. How are you doing as a coach? How is the person doing?
7. Demonstrate belief in employees.
8. Evaluate.

 “Leaders who coach are those who treat their employees as individuals and regard them as contributors” John Baldoni

What makes managers successful coaches?

 What is challenging about coaching?

This post is a combination of my conversation with John and his new book, The Leader’s Pocket Guide.s

Circumstances don’t determine the atmosphere and tone of organizations, leaders do.

Look around your office or leadership team. Is the tone positive or negative? Now, look at yourself. How are you perceived?

Organizations reflect leadership.

Thursday, I reconnected with Shirzad Chamine, author of, Positive Intelligence. He reminded me that our “Sage” is a joyful, curious, explorer. I started thinking about fearful versus confident leadership.

Fearful vs. Confident:

Fearful leaders withdraw, limit, control, manipulate, and pressure others. Fearful leaders respond to challenges, opportunities, and problems pessimistically.

Confidence fuels optimism; fear fuels pessimism.

Tough circumstances test everyone, especially leaders. Hand-wringers set negative tones. On the other hand, denying tough times never inspires.

Optimism:

Leadership-optimism isn’t pretending everything’s okay. Confident leaders connect, inspire, and unleash. They explore with curiosity.

Inspirational leaders face tough times
with curiosity, exploration, joy, and confidence.

Realistic:

Leadership-attitude won’t solve tough times. It is, however, the way leaders establish tone and atmosphere in collaborative environments during challenging situations. Positive environments are built on positive attitudes, speech, and behaviors.

(Check out Soren Kaplan’s book, Leapfrogging, for more on optimism.)

What’s the difference between foolish and realistic optimism?

How can leaders set positive tones in organizations?