- December 3, 2024
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Sarah walked into her office one morning and noticed the newest team member, Alex, was visibly distressed at his desk, head buried in his hands. Concerned, she asked, “Is everything OK?” Alex, with a trembling voice and on the verge of tears admitted, “I messed up the presentation for our big client pitch. I didn’t double-check my data, and now I feel like I’ve let everyone down."
This presented Sarah with a long list of choices: should she comfort, punish, jump in with a solution, brush it off, motivate, lay down the hammer, change Alex’s work scope? All potentially viable. And all problematic.
Short-answer: Sarah must adapt a coaching mindset. Leaders cannot avoid challenging emotions for fear of inefficiencies or distractions, nor shame team members. Leaders, instead, must address those emotions and use them as a springboard for development conversations.
When we’ve shared this approach with leaders, a common question is, “Won’t I just become everyone’s therapist who just excuses-away everyone’s mistakes?“
Well, a coaching mindset aims to explain behaviors (versus excuse them) to identify the real root of the challenge, and create a culture of accountability to high performance. Ann Russo, a professor at DePaul University, asks, “What if [accountability] became synonymous with taking responsibility…making things right, being willing to understand, change and transform the behavior and its underlying motivations?” This shift drives self-agency to meet high expectations.
Three key steps to take in that moment when challenging emotions surface among a team member include:
Our own subconscious emotions can often muddy the waters and escalate conflict. When we react with fear, stress, anger, insecurity or frustration it has a direct impact on how we communicate and the effectiveness of solutions.
Your action plan:
Situations like these prove that a leader’s role extends far beyond day-to-day operations and strategic planning — we are partnering with other human beings who come to work as whole people. Addressing emotions, without centralizing them, bolsters belonging and trust, ultimately fueling high performance.
Your action plan:
Leaders often spend significant time jumping to solutions, and doing so puts the ownership of the problem in the leader’s hands. Therefore, leaders must first identify and communicate what the expected outcome is, thereby empowering the team member to develop a plan himself to achieve it.
Your action plan:
Kristen Lessig-Schenerlein is an executive coach, keynote speaker and founder of Koi Coaching and Consulting. Hannah McGowan is a professional trainer, coach and founder of Hannah McGowan Coaching. Together they founded CORE Leadership, a transformational leadership development program designed to unlock hidden potential in the next generation of leaders in the Sarasota community.