Performance Coaching
Performance coaching, whether one-on-one or in small group sessions, can propel one's career and enhance overall quality of life.
Benefits include:
- Identifying greater clarity and purpose
- Establishing and achieving essential goals
- Gaining a deeper life satisfaction
- Elevating self-confidence
- Developing valuable leadership skills
- Contributing to team performance
Our coaching strategy provides you with a plan of action to optimize your performance. Rather than simply giving you advice, we’ll partner with you to achieve success through the following steps:
- Establish a clear vision and a sense of purpose
- Identify your greatest passions, strengths, and personal challenges
- Raise self-awareness and identify blind spots
- Set specific, measurable goals to maximize performance
- Practice greater self-control in high-pressure environments
- Develop collaborative relationships and optimize team performance
- Build trust, resolve conflict, and cultivate commitment from others
- Become a well-balanced effective leader
Article: The Artful Leader
The artful leader possesses a clear vision of what they want to accomplish and why it is essential—along with unshakable confidence in leading others toward their objective.
The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality, in other words, to help the team understand where they are and where they need to be.
The leader must help team members connect the dots between their tasks and how those contribute to an all-embracing mission.
When people feel they are a part of something bigger than themselves, they will rise with courage, commitment, and a willingness to make personal sacrifices to fulfill the mission.
When people have a compelling why they can accomplish any what—despite formidable opposition.
Leaders must also have a clear vision of who they are. The artful leader is acutely aware of their strengths and weaknesses by actively seeking feedback from others.
The three most effective methods for raising a leader’s self-awareness are through the utilization of the following:
- a multi-dimensional personality assessment, such as the Birkman Method®, to understand their strengths, weaknesses, and potentially destructive stress behaviors;
- a formal 360-degree feedback assessment to understand their impact on others and to reveal any blind spots they may harbor concerning unproductive behaviors; and
- a coach or mentor to provide guidance and feedback about their progress in becoming an effective leader. Great leaders are always found in the company of great coaches or mentors!
In addition to heightened self-awareness, the artful leader maintains self-control and personal persistence, especially during times of adversity and high stress.
If you have ever worked with a leader who becomes emotionally volatile or explosive under stress, you know the chaos that can ensue when team members witness those kinds of outbursts.
On the other hand, when a leader responds to personal challenges with controlled patience and equanimity, others begin to mirror that behavior. Calm is contagious!
The artful leader understands how to vary their leadership style according to individual capabilities and personalities.
Remember the adage: “Different strokes for different folks.” If you are leading someone with a minimal skill set, your style should differ from leading someone highly competent.
The first person needs direction, supervision, and personal attention, while the second would prefer the task be delegated to them and to be left alone.
Telling a highly competent person what and how to do something is perceived as “micro-managing.” No one likes to be micro-managed, except for someone who has no skill for performing a task.
In addition to different skill levels, each person possesses unique personality traits with varying interests, strengths, and needs.
The artful leader leverages individual strengths to allow team members to “do what they are made for, and not simply what they are paid for.”
That is the difference between performing a purposeful and captivating job rather than mundane or meaningless.
The final responsibility of a leader is to thank their team members. Remember that languages of appreciation, like individual skill levels or personality styles, will vary from person to person.
Some feel validated by affirming words, while others prefer receiving gifts, acts of service, or quality face time with their leader.
When you thank others meaningfully, it makes them feel good about having you as their leader. And people never forget how we make them feel!
Tom is an empathetic leader who challenges teams to think outside of the construct of business to inspire people to lead with courage and compassion. He has pushed me to greater heights with the understanding that it is not the big achievements that take precedence but the day-to-day small challenges that truly propel an individual or organization. Through Tom’s direction, we have built a culture designed to cultivate people into leaders and a place where people want to come to work.
