Keith E. Webb's Blog, page 26

Supervising With Coaching Skills

Supervisors (and parents) have authority and responsibility for other people. These two factors set supervisors apart from the role of a professional coach where the coach has neither authority nor responsibility for the coachee.



Supervisors can always choose to be directive, and in fact, must at times. Supervisors also must take a coaching approach to empower and develop employees. Balancing these two functions is difficult. Extremes either way are not optimal.



A supervisor who is too dire...

Seven Insights from Executive Coaching

I'm preparing to speak to a group of Christian executives and want to communicate why coaching skills and mindsets are so powerful. Here are seven insights:



1. We behave our way into new thinking. Don't wait to be fully convinced, try it. Your thinking and emotions will follow your successful behaviors. Abraham's faith was made complete by his actions (James 2:22).



2. Defining the result we want up front focuses us on what's important. You know what you want and can go after it more easily....

How Are You Right?

How you are 'right' is more important than being 'right'.



Early in my marriage, my wife and I were arguing about something. We each thought we were right. I was right. Finally, after a bit of a verbal battle, I won. She reluctantly admitted that I was right. Victory!



But I still slept on the sofa that night. This is when I learned the difference between "being right" and "how I am right".



"Being right" is a matter of facts. It's the right answer, statistic, or information. It can be fact-c...

Scope Creep in Coaching

It started as a kitchen remodel. Since we are changing the kitchen we might as well do the dining room. And while we're at it, the living room. And since the construction guys are already here we should remove all the old intercom boxes from every room. Before we knew it our kitchen remodel became a house remodel!



This is called "scope creep". It's the expansion of the original plans to include more and more objectives. It's natural, since everything is connected to everything else. Drawing...

Using One Skill At A Time

The five steps of the COACH Model™ will guide you through empowering, holistic conversations. Each step of the COACH Model™ can also be used separately in daily conversations.



Coaching skills are useful with everyone we meet, no matter if we have three minutes or an hour.



Here are a few ideas:



Connect. Build rapport and trust.

Ask, "How are you?" and really listen. People love to talk and feel valued when you pay attention to them.



Outcome. Find the other person's agenda.

Ask your sp...

Balancing Instruction and Coaching

Instruction and coaching speed up the learning process. The balance between these two leadership activities will change as the other person becomes more competent.



Think of helping a teenager to learn to drive a car, something that is happening in my home right now. As my 15 year-old son began driving not only did he take a driver's education class, but I also instructed him step-by-step as he drove.



In the beginning, I used very little coaching. When your teen is about to drive through a r...