Coaching as a Leadership Strategy

Whenever the term coaching is mentioned, it reminds me about one of my high school friends who used to coach me in Mathematics. My first two years in high school were my years of comfort as I thought that grade-C was good for me. I just realized that I was wrong when this friend, who was also a colleague, expressed his concern. His approach was quite tactful as he began by telling me that I did not fit in the category of grade-C students, particularly in mathematics. He also referred to other subjects in which I was performing quite well, particularly the Sciences. It is in this light that I accepted to commence training with him as my coach.

In alignment with Baldoni’s depiction of an effective coach, my friend met the criterion of effectiveness, particularly in motivating me as a learner. Baldoni (2003) states the establishment of trust as the foundation for effective coaching. The way my friend used communication depicted him as a trustworthy person whose intention was to bring out the best in me. As my coach, he was also tactful in setting expectations as illustrated by his ability to benchmark my performance in Mathematics against the accomplishments in sciences. In alignment with the third strategy of being a teacher, my friend always wanted to know my areas of weakness. He guided me through various formulas and committed himself to ensuring that I understood every concept that was critical to solving a specific problem. His main motivational strategy was the appreciation of my efforts, particularly when I confronted him with a challenging problem that could require the intervention of our class teacher. The notion of him accepting that I could also be a resource in enhancing his knowledge motivated me the most. I knew he was not perfect despite being my coach. That enabled me to embrace my weaknesses as areas of further improvement. What motivated me even more is that my improvement in any class assessment, particularly in Mathematics, depicted more joy for him than me. This way I knew he was appreciative of my achievements. As part of his recognition of my achievement, he suggested me as a contestant to the Mathematics’ senior teacher of our school. It is through the attendance of such contests that I concurred with him that grade-C was not for me. His performance was always better than mine in Mathematics but through him I managed to be at par with the best performers in our class. I will never forget his mentorship and eventual effectiveness in making me realize my potential in Mathematics.

In the business world, I can use coaching to improve the performance of the employees and enabling them to discover their potential in various endeavors. The notion of motivation is particularly critical in the business context as most employees perform poorly due to lack of morale. As a coach, I would ensure politeness and appreciation of employees’ efforts as a way of establishing trust. With trust, I would then be in a position to communicate the expectations of the business to every employee in alignment with his or her duties to the organization. In the process of utilizing coaching as a strategy, I would encourage employees to freely share the problems that could be a hindrance to the accomplishment of various goals while also offering suggestions on the appropriate interventions that could work for them. In addition, I would survey the employees to know the best incentives that could improve their performance. I would then suggest, to the organization’s management, the utilization of the incentives that get a higher ranking in rewarding those employees who depict an improvement in performance. For low performers, I would follow through to know the reasons behind their lack of morale and the ways through which they can be assisted. My desire would be to emerge as effective and efficient as was my coach in Mathematics.

Reference

Baldoni, J. (2003). Great communication secrets of great leaders. U.S: McGraw Hill Education.