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The secret to becoming a Next- Generation Leader

The pursuit of becoming an extraordinary leader is an ongoing journey that requires a diverse set of skills and attributes.

In this pursuit, one of the often-overlooked yet transformative aspects is adding coaching into your skillset.

The Evolution of Leadership

Leadership has come a long way from the traditional top-down approach, where one might have primarily directed and controlled teams. Leadership today is marked by collaboration, adaptability, and a focus on nurturing people’s potential as individuals and as a team. The transition from mere management to true leadership involves understanding the nuances of human behavior, communication, and motivation.

At Lifeskills Institute, our philosophy centres around three essential principles — Character, Competence, and Connection. We believe an extraordinary leader should embody these principles as well, and extend them to the realm of coaching. Let’s look at how adding coaching skills can enhance each of these aspects.

Character: Authentic leadership

Character is the foundation of effective leadership. Authentic leaders understand their strengths, weaknesses, values, and motivations. You lead with integrity and transparency.

Integrating coaching into leadership allows you to not only be self-aware but also empower others in their own journey of self-discovery. A coaching leader encourages open conversations that lead to a deeper understanding of their team members’ aspirations and challenges. This fosters an environment of trust and authenticity, where everyone feels valued and supported.

Competence: Developing potential

Competence in leadership involves a deep understanding of the skills required to drive success. As leaders embrace coaching, you tap into your ability to develop the potential of your team members.

Coaching helps you identify strengths and areas for growth in individuals and tailor development plans accordingly. This approach nurtures a growth mindset and a culture of continuous learning. By becoming adept at coaching, you enable your teams to reach new heights too.

“Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximize their own performance.
It’s helping them to learn rather than teaching them.”
– Timothy Gallwey, author and coach

Connection: Connecting with your team

Connection forms the heart of meaningful leadership. Leaders who coach understand that strong relationships are built on effective communication, emotional intelligence, and active listening.

When leaders add coaching to their skillset, they create an avenue for genuine conversations that go beyond work-related tasks. These conversations touch on personal aspirations, challenges, and growth opportunities. Through coaching, leaders connect on a deeper level with their team members, fostering a sense of belonging and shared purpose.

The Power of Coaching in Leadership

Coaching is not a one-size-fits-all approach but rather a dynamic tool that adapts to various leadership scenarios. Here’s how you can harness the power of coaching in your journey toward becoming an extraordinary leader:

  • Empowering through questions: Coaching involves asking powerful questions that prompt reflection and insight. By mastering the art of questioning, you can inspire your team members to think critically, solve problems, and make informed decisions. This approach encourages greater autonomy and ownership.
  • Active listening: Effective coaching relies on active listening. By listening empathetically, you can create an environment where your team feels valued and heard, fostering a culture of openness and collaboration.
  • Goal setting and accountability: Coaching encourages setting clear goals and holding individuals accountable for their progress. As a coaching leader, you can help your team members define their objectives, create actionable plans, and provide guidance along the way. This leads to measurable growth and achievement.
  • Feedback and growth: Constructive feedback is a cornerstone of coaching. You need to provide feedback in a supportive and constructive manner to empower your team members to learn from their experiences and continuously improve their performance.

In your pursuit of becoming an extraordinary leader, integrating coaching skills sets the stage for unparalleled growth, collaboration, and impact.

Our emphasis on Character, Competence, and Connection perfectly aligns with the principles that underlie effective coaching.

By embracing coaching, you not only enhance your own leadership abilities, but also empower your team members to reach their full potential.

Want to add coaching to your leadership journey? Call us at 6346 1455 or find out more about our Certified Career Coach workshop here.

©Published by Lifeskills Institute Pte Ltd

 

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5 Must-dos for Leaders to Foster a Culture of Feedback

Leaders play a critical role in fostering a culture of feedback that enables their teams to excel in today’s workplace. Constructive criticism not only improves individual and group performance, but it also generates a pleasant and collaborative environment conducive to growth and development.

Here are 5 must-dos for existing and aspiring leaders to transform feedback into a powerful tool for organisational success.

1. Lead by example

Setting a good example lays the groundwork for a culture of feedback. Leaders that openly welcome and actively seek feedback create a safe space for their people to do the same. Generating trust and open communication throughout the organisation can be achieved through genuinely valuing and considering the viewpoints of your team members.

As a leader, it is important to develop a collaborative style in which everyone’s viewpoint is heard and appreciated, rather than taking an authoritative style. This openness generates a sense of psychological safety, allowing team members to express themselves without fear of repercussions.

By actively collecting feedback yourself, you can foster a culture that values multiple perspectives, fostering a sense of ownership and accountability within your team.

2. Establish transparent communication

Developing clear and accessible communication channels is critical for fostering a feedback culture in your team. Creating opportunities for both formal and informal feedback allows your team members to express their thoughts, ideas, and concerns. Transparent and open communication helps leaders and their teams break down barriers, promoting greater trust and understanding.

You can use technology solutions that provide anonymous feedback or suggestion boxes, in addition to the more conventional face-to-face encounters. This serves to demonstrate your commitment to fostering such a culture of feedback, as such platforms cater to those who might prefer to share their opinions privately and even anonymously.

“Feedback is a gift. Ideas are the currency of our next success.
Let people see you value both feedback and ideas.”
– Jim Trinka and Les Wallace

3. Give constructive feedback

Constructive feedback promotes growth and development. Leaders must emphasise the value of delivering specific, practical, and actionable feedback in a supportive manner. We should offer feedback that identifies areas for improvement while also recognising achievements, instead of focusing on criticisms.

When providing feedback, leaders should have a coaching mindset. Rather than looking to correct wrongs, we are to prioritise empowering and encouraging our team. It is imperative to foster an environment where feedback is viewed as an opportunity for professional, and even personal, growth. We should accompany our constructive feedback with guidance and support, thus allowing our people to develop themselves and reach their fullest potential.

“(After attending The Extraordinary Leader with Lifeskills Institute) I have a better understanding of what kind of leader I am and where I should improve. The 360 feedback is the most valuable part which really helped me to better understand strengths and weaknesses. 

The FUEL module helped me to frame and give feedback (especially redirecting feedback) to others, and I have gained insights from this workshop. Zenger Folkman (offers) one of best organisations to build your further success.”
— Monica Ai, Operations VP, Antolin (China) Investment Co., Ltd

4. Foster a growth mindset

A culture of feedback thrives in an environment that promotes a growth mindset. By encouraging team members to view feedback as a way to grow themselves professionally, leaders can help their team to not take any feedback personally.

Promoting continuous learning and development initiatives, such as workshops, training sessions, or knowledge-sharing platforms, lets team members know that their professional development is a top priority. Lead by example by sharing your own experiences, whether failures or critical feedback, and the lessons you gained from such situations.

With a growth mindset, we can instil the belief that skills and expertise can be developed through hard work and a growth mindset. Such a mindset encourages resilience and a willingness to embrace feedback as a means of personal and professional growth.

5. Recognize and acknowledge feedback 

This is one of the most effective ways to promote the importance of feedback within our organisations. We should openly recognise and praise those who offer good ideas and suggestions. This allows us to foster a culture in which everyone is willing to actively participate in the feedback process.

How to recognise and celebrate feedback? This can be as simple as a saying thanks to more notable gestures like written commendations or even team celebrations. By emphasising the importance of their opinions, and that their contributions make a difference to the organisation, it will generate a sense of pride and ownership in your team . Such recognition can also serve as a powerful motivator, encouraging others to provide feedback as well, ultimately fostering a culture of feedback.

Leaders are key to fostering a feedback culture that promotes growth and success within their teams and wider organisation. As you gradually foster a culture of feedback, your team then becomes more engaged, empowered, and motivated to succeed.

“I attended a 2-day Elevating Feedback Workshop with Lifeskills Institute. The presenters Bryan & Ian made it interactive, practical & I came away with tools that I know I will be able to use with my organisation in an effective way. They provided a safe, trusting learning environment where we could ask questions, learn from each other & have fun at the same time.”
— Averyl Aeria, Life & Leadership Coach

Want to foster a culture of feedback? Join us at the Elevating Feedback Workshop. Contact us at 6346 1455 for more information today.

©Published by Lifeskills Institute Pte Ltd

 

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How coaching can empower leaders to create a positive workplace culture

As an aspiring leader or existing manager, you play a crucial role in shaping your organisation’s workplace culture. A positive culture can increase employee engagement and productivity, as well as provide better outcomes for your organisation.

Nurturing a positive workplace culture should be a high priority for you, yet it is easier said than done. It requires strong leadership skills, effective communication, and a commitment to continuous improvement. Fortunately, coaching can be a valuable tool to empower you to achieve this goal of developing a positive workplace culture.

But first, what is coaching?

Coaching is a process that involves working with a trained professional to achieve your personal or professional goals. In the workplace, coaching can help you develop the leadership skills you need to be effective and empowered.

From one-on-one sessions to group coaching and workshops, coaching can take many forms and easily fit to your individual needs.

How can aspiring leaders benefit from coaching?

Coaching can provide a range of benefits for current managers and aspiring leaders like yourself. Here are 4 key benefits to take note of:

1.    Develop your emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence (EI) is defined as “the ability to understand, assess and manage our own emotions, as well as the emotions of others”. Leaders with high EI tend to build more positive relationships with their team and create a supportive workplace culture.

“Coaching helps to reveal the best version of yourself
and let you see things from different perspectives.”
– Ai Chin Chiew, Founder & CEO, BestOfMe

Coaching can help you develop your EI by equipping you with the right tools and strategies to manage your emotions and communicate effectively with your team.

2.    Improve your communication skills

The key to nurturing a positive workplace culture is to have effective communication between everyone, such as leaders and their teams. If you can communicate clearly and consistently with your team, you’ll be able to build trust and create a sense of community with them.

When you undergo coaching, you’ll be provided with feedback on your communication style and learn how to communicate more effectively with your team.

3.    Build trust and collaboration within your team

Two arguably more important components of a positive workplace culture are trust and collaboration. You need to prioritise building trust and collaboration to create a sense of teamwork and shared purpose within your team.

Leadership coaches will provide you with different strategies for building relationships with your team, fostering open communication, and promoting teamwork.

4.    Encourage feedback and continuous improvement

A positive workplace culture allows employees to feel comfortable providing feedback, with leaders demonstrating their openness to receiving it.

Coaching can equip you with the right skills to solicit feedback from your team, effectively respond to feedback, and properly use the feedback to continuously improve yourself, your team and your organisation.

Such benefits from coaching can be illustrated by an industrial executive’s journey with our coach Diana, where he learned to leverage his strengths and achieved visible positive changes in his leadership abilities.

“My coaching journey with Diana (from BestOfMe) is fantastic. She’s a coach I can share in confidence, and I know that she goes all the way out to help me be a successful and effective leader. I learnt from her about leveraging my strengths and driving positive changes during organisation transformations. Diana is able to clearly translate feedback on my leadership and help shape it further into my organisational contexts.

I learnt to stop/start/continue doing what is meaningful for my team and achieve several (small) wins in my organisation transformation process. Even though we are half way through my coaching journey, I already received positive feedback from stakeholders on the visibility of my leadership changes.”
– Senior VP, Industrial Company

Empower your leaders today – with coaching

Coaching will be valuable for aspiring leaders like yourself to nurture a positive workplace culture in your organisation.

By developing your EI and communication skills, by building trust and collaboration within your team, and by encouraging feedback and continuous improvement, you can create a workplace culture that increases employee engagement, productivity, and the likelihood of organisational success.

Invest in coaching for yourself, or your future leaders, and help nurture a more positive workplace culture in your organisation, happier teams, and ultimately better outcomes for all.

If you would like to empower yourself or aspiring leaders today, a 1-on-1 Executive Coaching is what you’re looking for.

©Published by Lifeskills Institute Pte Ltd

Photo by SIphotography on istock

 

 

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The role of emotional intelligence in extraordinary leadership

Extraordinary leaders inspire and motivate their people. Extraordinary leaders build trust, engage employees, create a positive culture and foster collaboration.

But what is it that makes some leaders extraordinary? Their authority? Or maybe their charisma?

What about both, as well as something arguably more important in today’s workplace: emotional intelligence (EI).

What is emotional intelligence (EI)?

Emotional intelligence is defined as “the ability to understand, assess and manage our own emotions, as well as the emotions of others.”

Not only is emotional intelligence about how you feel, but it’s about how you perceive emotions in yourself and others, and use this awareness to guide your thinking and actions.

Why does emotional intelligence matter for aspiring leaders?

An increasingly critical part of leadership, emotional intelligence is how you use your emotions to motivate yourself and your team, make crucial decisions based on the right level of emotions and understand how others feel.

As a future leader, you’ll be dealing with many different situations where you need to use your emotional intelligence to lead your team effectively.

How to develop my emotional intelligence as a leader?

Fortunately, you can develop your emotional intelligence. You can read books on the subject, take courses, and go to seminars. 

What’s even better is working with a leadership coach or mentor, and practicing what you’ve learned in your job, in real life.

Be aware of your feelings. Observe your own behavior. Work on building valuable relationships with others. 

For example, if you’ve just been through a stressful situation and feel like you’re losing control of your emotions, take a step back and analyze the situation. Try to understand why things went wrong and how you might be able to prevent the same thing from happening in the future.

How can a leadership coach help develop my emotional intelligence?

While there are many coaches who specialise in helping people develop their emotional intelligence, you should always start with some research, so as to find one that you feel comfortable with. 

A good coach will first ask you about your goals and then develop a working plan for you. A leadership coach will help you understand what emotional intelligence is, how it is relevant to you, and how it can be used in the workplace.

Then you will need to identify the areas where you feel like your emotional intelligence is lacking. The coach will guide you through exercises and coaching sessions that will allow you to understand how to use your emotional intelligence more effectively when leading others. They will also provide mentorship even after the end of your coaching sessions.

Is there a correlation between emotional intelligence and leadership effectiveness?

Emotional intelligence is a better predictor of leadership effectiveness than IQ, with a study conducted by the Center for Creative Leadership finding that emotional intelligence is the most important factor in determining leadership success.

Leaders who are highly emotionally intelligent have more success in developing their people, delivering results and driving change.

Emotional intelligence is key to becoming an extraordinary leader

To lead people, you need to be good at your job and core responsibilities. 

To lead people well, you need to treat your teams with respect, honesty and fairness.

Emotional intelligence helps you better understand what motivates people so that they will be more productive in their work environment or feel valued by you.

If you want to be an extraordinary leader who inspire others, developing your emotional intelligence should be your top priority this year.

Let us support you in your leadership journey. Reach out now for a quick discussion.

©Published by Lifeskills Institute Pte Ltd

Photo by SIphotography on istock

 

 

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