Creating high-performing teams isn’t easy. If you’re looking for ways to create high-performing teams as a leader and coach, check out these seven strategies mentioned in this article.
Who Is an Executive Coach?
An executive coach is a person who helps leaders create high-performing teams by refreshing people’s perspectives to create a mindset change that will help them find solutions and have the right insight and awareness to lead their team effectively.
The main goal of an executive coach is to help leaders create a culture that empowers the team and is fully engaged in the organization’s success.
7 ways executive coaching can help leaders create high-performing Teams
1. Developing a personal and professional leadership mindset
A leadership mindset involves having certain attitudes, beliefs, and expectations that create the foundation of who you are, how you lead others, and how you interact with and influence your colleagues. This mindset is important to hone because it is the driving component of everything you do within your job.
It governs your opinions, decisions, and actions, and it impacts everyone around you in the work environment. Your thought patterns influence your relationship with others, how you achieve your goals, and the success of your overall performance.
A leadership mindset fosters excellent communication abilities with everyone, including colleagues and clients.
When you listen to understand instead of listening to respond, you can take your communication skills to the next level. It is important as a leader that you know how to successfully communicate with all ages, backgrounds, and cultures to help keep members of your company on the right path.
2. Building trust and relationships with team members
Trust in the workplace means your employees enjoy a culture of honesty, psychological safety, and mutual respect. They’re proud of where they work and are more willing to go above and beyond for your organization. Trust in the workplace also helps employees feel secure in their jobs and, in turn, reduces turnover.
3. Supporting individual autonomy, while maintaining accountability
Autonomy is one of the essential elements in building true employee engagement. Without it, your workforce may become the "land of the working dead," roaming endlessly in a zombie-like fashion, waiting to be told what to do next. Not an enjoyable workplace for employees or managers, by any stretch.
4. Learning to listen more than you talk
There are many reasons why learning to listen more is important. Let’s look at some of them:
You might just learn something
It’s Peterson’s 9th rule for life: Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don’t. After all, isn’t that more often going to be the case? Everyone has unique experiences, skills, and talents that you can learn from. By learning to talk less and listen more, you can reframe your part of the conversation to be more about ‘learning’ than about ‘preaching.’
5. Sharing your vision with your team
Every leader has a vision. If you want to see success as a leader, you need to effectively share your vision and ideas.
A "vision" tells your employees or coworkers why they are working for your organization. It paints a picture of success. It's the dream or goal everyone is working towards. The vision is the destination, and your leadership is the driver on the road towards that objective.
6. Understanding the role of emotions in decision-making
Emotions can play an important role in how you think and behave. The emotions you feel each day can compel you to take action and influence the decisions you make about your life, both large and small
7. Making sure there’s enough work for everyone on the team
An important part of your job as a leader is making sure everyone on your team has the right amount of work. It’s tempting to give the workhorse more projects than others (especially if she’ll get them done the fastest) or to ease up on someone who is struggling, but you also need to be fair. You’re adamant that automated email campaigns are the way to go. After all, you’ve been doing them for years and had great success. It’s one of the reasons you were hired as a sales leader in the first place.