Delegation in leadership not only helps get things done, but it also empowers employees by giving them greater autonomy. No leader can do all things at all times, and delegation is a key tool for boosting team and organizational performance and efficiency. A Gallup study found that companies led by CEOs who were strong delegators achieved a higher overall growth rate compared to companies whose CEOs delegated less.

Great leadership has many components, and delegation is an important factor for maximizing employee contributions and increasing productivity among all members of a team. Here are four reasons why delegation is essential for effective leadership.

Frees up Time

Achieving the right balance between the strategic and the tactical is important for any leader to be effective, especially with the many demands on their time and attention. In a survey conducted by the Strategic Thinking Institute, 96 percent of leaders said they lacked time for strategic thinking. When leaders delegate certain tasks to others, they become free to focus on higher-value activities and use their time more productively. Delegation not only gives leaders time for strategic thinking, but it also allows them to focus on other tasks that only they can perform, such as leading and coaching their teams. As outlined in a Harvard Business Review article, one team leader adopted a strategy of delegation and made the shift from simply being busy to being productive.

Encourages the Prioritization of Tasks

Delegation starts with determining which tasks can be delegated and which can’t. Prioritizing tasks helps leaders determine the most critical items to be delegated and who should perform them. One tool for developing a prioritization system for delegation is the Urgent vs. Important Matrix. Using this matrix, leaders can categorize tasks based on their time sensitivity and importance. Tasks or decisions that are less important but urgent, such as responding to a routine request from another team, can probably be delegated. Tasks that are both highly important and urgent might also be candidates for delegation as well, but perhaps to a more experienced member of the team.

Empowers Employees

Delegation empowers employees by enabling them to demonstrate their capability to take on new work. When individuals step outside of their typical day-to-day activities and have the chance to take on new tasks or get involved in decision-making, they become more invested in the outcome of their delegated responsibilities. Delegation helps people recognize their importance to the team, which fosters a deeper sense of commitment and engagement. Leaders can build a sense of empowerment among employees by delegating in areas such as:

• Project management—ask a member of the team to write the first draft of a project proposal.
• Client relations—select a member of the sales team to gather client data and background reading ahead of a client meeting.
• New system implementation—pick a couple of employees to test drive a new system and report back to the team with their findings.

Supports New Skill Development

Delegation builds new skills among team leaders and their direct reports. It gets newer leaders into a rhythm of accepting responsibility for outcomes without feeling that they must take on every single task themselves. When leaders learn how to delegate effectively, they are building competency in setting expectations, providing feedback, and ensuring accountability in others. For individuals who have responsibilities delegated to them, they have opportunities to learn a new process or interact with team members they might not deal with normally. These new experiences help them build skills in areas such as project management, teamwork, and communication.

Delegation involves more than just doling out tasks to other members of the team. Effective leaders carefully consider what to delegate and to whom, and understand how delegation makes their team more effective. Leadership development is a great way to teach leaders how to leverage delegation for improved productivity, empowered employees, and skill-building.

Coaching employees addresses performance objectives and helps unleash the potential within each person. In fact, research suggests that coaching not only helps individuals perform better, but it also drives overall motivation and commitment to their work. A meta-analysis of multiple studies on organizational coaching found that coaching at work positively impacts employee performance. It also encourages a more positive attitude about one’s work and the company as a whole.

This raises the question, are your leaders effectively coaching their employees to improve their performance? Do they have the skills they need to do so? Whatever your answer may be, the following tips may help them begin or motivate them to continue coaching employees to improve their performance.

1. Connect and Communicate

Relationships are key to the success of coaching provided at work. Connecting with your employees in an authentic and genuine manner can drastically improve the chances of the employee being receptive to training and feedback, not to mention acting on it. Before you coach an employee, make sure you are building relationships with your staff that are based on trust, so that down the road you can provide coaching with candor and empathy.

2. Observe

Good coaching requires a leader that pays attention to their staff and observes their behaviors and actions regularly. It is very difficult to provide accurate and relevant coaching when leaders are unaware of the day-to-day actions the staff they are coaching. Watch and pay attention to your employees’ behaviors so you can identify what aspects of their performance need to be coached to improve upon their performance.

3. Assess

Prior to coaching employees formally, it is imperative that you take the time to fully understand the actual performance of the individual versus the expectation you, or the organization, has of them. Once it has been determined that they are not meeting expectations, or that they could improve in a certain area in order to perform better, then is the time to coach. At this stage it may be helpful to use tools such as 360-degree or 180-degree feedback tools, multi-rater behavior assessments, or questionnaires and surveys, to get a better understanding.

4. Clarify

Coaching at work requires leaders to provide clarity by discussing and reviewing the gap between performance expectations and actual performance with employees. This requires providing detailed examples of alternative behaviors that employees can try in different situations. When coaching employees to improve performance, it isn’t about telling employees what to do in every possible scenario, but giving clear feedback that helps them identify an ideal solution.

5. Explain

Leaders who provide effective coaching give individuals a road map for how to apply what has been discussed in the workplace. You should be prepared to explain why specific behaviors, results, or actions need to change, how they should change, and where you would like to see the person as a result of changing their behaviors or actions. This will make it much easier for your recipient to understand that you are trying to help improve their performance on the job, and how these changes will accomplish that.

6. Ask Questions

Ideally, when coaching, there is some form of two-way communication happening. While it is important that you as the coach speak, you will also want to encourage the recipient of the coaching to ask questions, seek clarity, and provide insight. Having a conversation about what is being coached makes it far more likely that the recipient will take what you are saying and apply it in order to improve their performance.

Coaching to Improve Performance: Next Steps

Coaching must always be delivered in the right context and at the right time. If it’s not, your coaching efforts will likely fall flat. Many of today’s employees crave in-the-moment feedback and words of affirmation that will help them improve their performance. By applying these tips on the job, you can play an important role in the success of your employees.

Leadership development can take many forms in an organization. It can be an organic process that allows natural leaders to learn on the job and evolve over time, or it can be an intentional program that cultivates emerging leaders to fill a pipeline that is primed for smooth succession. For future-thinking organizations, implementing a thoughtful strategy will ensure easier transitions, minimize disruptions, and relieve tension. Vertical leadership is one approach to consider as you create or refine the development strategy for your organization.

What Is Vertical Leadership?

Vertical leadership is the application of vertical development in the leadership journey. Think about training and development in the context of two axes on a graph. The horizontal x-axis demonstrates an increase in skills and competencies as points move to the right. In the context of leadership, this might mean training in competencies such as time management, conflict resolution, and learning how to effectively lead a team. While these are valuable and necessary skills that should be developed in every potential leader, there is more to the equation.

The y-axis represents development of the mindset and capacity for delivering world-class organizational results. Rather than focusing on developing competencies, this type of leadership training teaches individuals how to think and behave like a leader. This preparation enables emerging leaders to adapt to ever-changing market conditions, handle a crisis, or act on new opportunities that require quick decision-making.

A well-rounded leadership development program will move candidates both horizontally and vertically to reach the highest level. Horizontal development adds knowledge, while vertical development adds capacity and the ability to think and behave optimally.

Why Should You Explore Vertical Leadership?

Vertical development applies to more than just individuals; you can also apply it to groups or teams within your organization—but only if you have the right leadership in place. A company that moves horizontally might increase profits over time as individuals become more efficient and improve productivity. On the other hand, a vertical move that enables a significant increase in market share might come from innovation, a radically different marketing plan, or identification of a gap in the marketplace.

If you want your company to move vertically in the industry, you need leaders with both vision and the capability to unleash the potential of employees. Strong leadership is about more than just good management skills. Having leaders at a development stage that affords them the ability to view a challenge or opportunity from a different perspective gives you a competitive edge in the marketplace.

Implementing Vertical Leadership in Your Organization

Teaching leaders how to open their minds and change the way they think requires an ongoing process that is connected to their daily work and is supported by supervisors and mentors. This leadership style is often developed through three approaches that intersect with each other.

1. Going through experiences that challenge norms
2. Being exposed to different perspectives that challenge current thinking
3. Understanding how new perspectives can be applied to challenging situations

This type of development can happen naturally when an individual is “thrown into the deep end” with a project or assignment that is beyond their current abilities. At first, they might experience failures and frustration, but as they seek out new information and resources to help them cope, performance will improve, and they will eventually master the process.

Although these types of scenarios happen all the time with varying levels of success, when you do it intentionally, you can generate predictable results with teaching moments along the way. Going through a challenging experience with access to the appropriate learning resources and support from coaches enables vertical growth in a controlled manner.

Leadership development doesn’t typically happen in a traditional classroom environment. It requires visceral experiences that are often uncomfortable because participants have no other choice but to grow and change the way they think to get through them. However, you don’t have to create real-life challenges that present actual risk to the organization or individual. Experiential learning allows you to create challenging situations in a safe environment that enables leaders to test what they have learned, see how applying new perspectives leads to success, and apply that new knowledge to real-world challenges.

Experiential leadership training can be beneficial at various levels, but it is important to start at the highest positions so that executives can model this mindset. Vertical leadership is also just one part of a comprehensive leadership development program that should also incorporate skills training, mentoring, coaching, and measurement and retention tools.

Change affects all organizations. It’s inevitable, and it can occur internally or as a result of market or industry change. Leading change effectively is not only necessary for survival, but it’s also a requirement for building and maintaining a competitive advantage. Towers Watson research found that companies with strong change management practices are 3.5 times more likely to outperform their peers. Organizations that successfully navigate change are able to overcome obstacles and continue to grow as they transform existing processes and introduce new tools.

The key to any successful change management initiative is having effective leaders who not only embrace change, but also effectively lead others through change. Organizational change isn’t always predictable and can occur at any time. As a result, leaders must be flexible and ready to recognize the need for change. They also need to take actions that help the entire organization support change on an ongoing basis. Here are eight important principles for leading organizational change.

1. A clear vision

For any company endeavor, there must be a well-defined plan. Successful organizational change requires a vision that details the reason for change, how it will impact employees, and what the end result will be. People need to have a clear line of sight that helps them see how things will change and how the company will be better once the change is implemented effectively. Without that clarity, it’s hard for people to see how and why they should support change. Instead of simply telling employees that change is coming, leaders can effectively communicate a clear vision for change by repeating the vision in numerous forums, including in meetings, one-on-one discussions, and emails. A strong vision inspires people to action. As people become more comfortable with the vision for change, they will have time to embrace it and support it by changing their behavior.

2. Involvement of the entire organization

Although it’s necessary for organizational leaders to establish and communicate the vision for change, leaders also need to ensure that the change initiative involves all levels of the organization. Successful change management must start at the top, but it can’t stay there. When the entire workforce is involved, there is less chance of certain groups or functions assuming they are immune to change or that they don’t need to participate. In addition, when everyone is included in organizational change efforts, there’s a greater likelihood that a culture that embraces change will result.

Functional and frontline leaders are uniquely positioned to ensure the involvement of the whole workforce. They touch all levels of employees and can help ensure that key messages about change are consistently delivered throughout the company. In fact, one study found that one of the most important factors of successful organizational change efforts was the effectiveness of mid-level managers. With the consistent support of all leaders, key messages are reinforced rather than diluted or lost.

3. Change agents

Organizational leaders can further drive the effectiveness of company change efforts by enlisting change agents who can also support and champion change. These informal leaders support change and lead by example, showing others how to approach change and how to develop a mindset that is less resistant to change. Change agents can lead a task force, explain a new process to a group of employees, or organize a Q&A session to help employees navigate change. When people see change agents and peers participating in change efforts, they may be more likely to join in.

4. Effective communication

Effective communication not only helps people understand change and how it will impact them, but also keeps change efforts on track. When the communication is two-way, individuals also have opportunities to share feedback and ask questions. According to a Robert Half survey, 65 percent of managers said that clear and frequent communication was the most important aspect of leading through times of change. Opportunities for effective communication exist before, during, and after a change initiative. For example:

• Before change – Clear communication about the change that’s coming helps employees prepare and adjust.
• During change – Frequent communication about progress and milestones helps individuals see what’s been accomplished and gain clarity on next steps.
• After a change initiative has concluded – Regular communication reinforces new behaviors and processes and helps to ensure people don’t fall into the “old way” of doing things.

5. Learning and development

Most people don’t show up to work knowing how to handle change; they need to be taught. Considering that organizational change happens so frequently and that there are many effective strategies for managing it, leaders can benefit from coaching and change management training that helps them master the art of leading change. When leaders have the skills they need to guide employees through change, they will lead with greater impact and drive change at the individual level. Targeted leadership development can help individuals build competency in the following areas:

• Setting expectations to help individuals understand desired outcomes
• Effectively delivering messages about change that drive individual behavior
• Giving feedback that inspires and motivates employees to embrace change

6. Employee support

Change can be a daunting and frustrating experience, but those frustrations can be allayed by leaders who provide the motivation and support that shows employees they’re not alone. Support for employees can come in many forms. Leaders can have one-on-one conversations with employees during which they show empathy and provide suggestions for how to navigate change. They can also provide individuals with tools that will help them adapt to a new process or workflow. Other examples of employee support mechanisms include:

• Feedback sessions that give individuals opportunities to raise concerns and ask questions about the changes they’re experiencing.
• Experiential learning exercises that provide a safe environment for learning and practicing new skills in areas such as teamwork, communication, or time management.
• Team building and off-site sessions that help individuals bond over shared experiences and benefit from each other’s advice.

7. Accountability in teams

Successful organizational change can only happen if everyone takes accountability for doing their part. Leaders need to be accountable for communicating clear expectations, providing feedback, and supporting their team through a change initiative. They also need to ensure that everyone on the team is accountable for the outcome of the change initiative, instead of viewing it as a management-only exercise. One way leaders can build accountability within teams is with MCR (Model, Coach, Require) coaching. In this three-step process, leaders model the behavior they expect of employees, coach individuals for improved performance, and then require the necessary change in behavior by setting clear expectations and consequences. When everyone does their part and takes ownership of organizational change, teams function more efficiently and sustainable change becomes more likely.

8. Reinforcement and measurement

Organizational change doesn’t stop just because a specific change initiative has come to its conclusion. Leading organizational change requires reinforcement of new employee behaviors and skills, as well as measurement of your progress on an ongoing basis. Regular reinforcement of newly learned behaviors supports better retention of training content. Additionally, measuring progress helps everyone see how far you’ve come and inspires them to stay the course. Examples of reinforcement and measurement activities that keep the momentum going for organizational change efforts include:

• Celebrating wins and other successes.
• Following up with employees in person and via email to reiterate the company’s commitment to change.
• Reinforcing new skills employees have learned through assessments and learning exercises.
• Measuring the results of change initiatives through surveys and performance metrics.

Leading organizational change requires a deliberate focus on developing leaders who can lead others through the waters of change. Leaders need to possess the ability to explain to employees why change is necessary, how change will impact them, and what each person must do to make the change initiative a success. When leaders have the tools to communicate, coach, and support employees through change, the chances of success are greater.

Have you heard of emotional agility? Coined by the Harvard Business Review, the term closely aligns with a more widely used term, emotional intelligence—but the two concepts are not interchangeable.

Emotional intelligence is defined as being aware of and in control of one’s own emotions. On the other hand, emotional agility is defined as approaching one’s inner experiences mindfully and productively, a feat that has become increasingly challenging during this COVID season.

The differences between emotional intelligence and emotional agility can have a profound impact on how leaders perform and how they treat others in the workplace. Just like emotional intelligence, emotional agility requires one to be in tune with their own emotions, but it doesn’t place emphasis on suppressing or controlling them. You can be emotionally intelligent but still lack emotional agility (though the reverse is not true). Leaders today are facing challenges surrounding mental well-being which are immune to demographics, thus, strategies that employ emotional agility are increasingly important. Becoming more emotionally agile will make you a better leader—while remaining emotionally rigid can compromise your ability to lead effectively and make the best decisions for your team. Here’s how:

How A Lack of Emotional Agility Affects Leadership

Leaders are always expected to be “in control”—so they tend to suppress negative emotions or push them away when in the corporate realm. In reality, though, they get hooked on these emotions, creating unhealthy and unsustainable habits to try to control them, as Susan David, the author of Emotional Agility, explained in HBR. When leaders become hooked on their negative emotions, their thinking becomes rigid and repetitive. They become stuck in old patterns. That’s bad news for leaders, since world-class leadership requires a high level of agility. Moreover, a lack of emotional agility in a leadership team can stifle innovation and stall personal development.

Lacking emotional agility can also impact a leader’s decision-making abilities. Leaders may try to avoid new situations or challenges that may trigger their negative thoughts, passing on opportunities that would actually be good for them and the company. Or they may take the opposite route, intentionally trying to push back their negative thoughts by taking on situations they’re not equipped to handle or that go against their values. Either way, they let their negative emotions—not rational business decisions—rule them.

Finally, a leader must always be thinking of how his or her actions influence those around them. Emotional inflexibility sets a bad example for employees. Employees take behavioral cues from their leaders, so employees will pick up on and adopt the negative emotional styles of leaders who aren’t emotionally agile. That can result in a toxic workplace culture, one where stilting emotions and not speaking freely or emotional outbursts become the norm. Consequently, when you account for the additional stress and pressure employees are tackling in work cultures that are struggling to accommodate the pandemic, you may well find yourself confronting a loss of camaraderie and respect amongst your team.

How Leaders Can Become More Emotionally Agile

The cost of remaining emotionally rigid is clear, while becoming more emotionally agile can help you become a world-class leader known for sparking change and embracing a vibrant organizational culture. Here are two ways you can become a more emotionally agile leader in the workplace:

1. Practice Acceptance

Instead of fighting or hiding from negative emotions, leaders should first accept them, allowing themselves to fully feel them. Unfortunately, this is especially tough for leaders to do because of the clichés associated with projecting leadership. For example, a survey recently revealed that the number one most important trait for a leader is positivity—expectations like this, of an always sunny and encouraging disposition, make it hard for leaders to accept their negative emotions. Doing so, however, gives leaders a chance to model healthy ways to deal with emotions to their employees while avoiding making important decisions based on said emotions.

2. Take Actions Based On Values Over Emotions

Of course, there’s a difference between acceptance and action. Just because you accept your negative emotions doesn’t mean you have to act on them. In fact, Susan David recommends that before responding from an emotional place, leaders should examine whether that reaction will further serve their own values or help others in the company. Making values-based, not emotion-based, decisions can also help leaders shape a workplace culture into one built on values. Leaders can use the stated values of their organization to guide their actions, instead of relying on their emotions.

3. Exercise Tolerance When Modeling Emotional Agility for Your Team

These practices will ensure that as a leader, you have the ability and skillset to handle emotionally laborious obstacles in a healthy way. However, you must take care to have patience when instilling these lessons in others, both in how they come to understand what emotional agility is, and in how they learn to apply emotional resolutions. Becoming emotionally agile isn’t something that will simply happen, nor is it something that all people will inherently understand. It will take time, and for many will be an arduous undertaking, especially for those who are unused to tactics that require being attuned to your emotions. They will be confronting their own negative or unwelcome experiences, which often perpetuates feelings of shame or frustration, and can manifest as disagreeable behavior. Being tolerant of this behavior, in yourself and in others, and of the time required to complete this education, is of paramount importance if you want people to grow to be emotionally agile leaders in their own right. As a leader, it is your responsibility to create an inclusive, safe space in which others can discover and progress along this journey for themselves.

Conclusion: Emotional Agility Impacts a Leader’s Effectiveness

How leaders deal with their emotions in the workplace has a profound effect on individual, team, and organizational success. Therefore, leaders need emotional agility in order to deal with negative emotions in healthy, productive ways. To encourage the development of this skill, organizations would benefit from including it in their leadership training and development plans.

Leadership is not just limited to a handful of individuals in the C-suite—leaders exist at many levels in an organization. Every supervisor, line manager, and department head should strive for a well-rounded and balanced skill set that will make them an exceptional leader. It might take time to develop all of the necessary skills, but each step in the right direction benefits both the individual and the organization.

To develop world-class leaders at your organization, ensure your training and development programs address these 10 qualities.

1. Charisma

Leaders must be likeable if they are going to be successful in the long term. Individuals gravitate toward those they enjoy working with, and if a leader doesn’t have this quality, they will have a hard time connecting with others and excelling in their position. Although many leaders naturally have a degree of charisma, this is a quality that can be continually developed and honed.

2. Clarity

Communication is a key skill for leaders, and the best ones do it simply, clearly, and memorably. When great leaders communicate, they focus on making the information easy to understand and recall later. Achieving a world-class level of communication takes practice, but the skill can be taught and improved over time.

3. Direction

Leading a team or an organization requires first having, and then sharing, a vision with clear goals. This involves creating a clear vision for yourself and then having the skills to effectively share it with others and translate it into actionable steps. Conveying direction requires a leader to have both clarity and strong communication skills.

4. Knowledge

Subject-matter knowledge is essential, but knowing how to use the power that comes from understanding is what makes great leaders stand out. Great leaders also recognize that they don’t always have all of the knowledge they need, and they take the time to read books, attend training events, and continually improve as leaders and individual contributors.

5. Decisiveness

Making important decisions is not always easy, but effective leaders take on this responsibility with confidence. They take the necessary time to assess a situation, and then act decisively. World-class leaders stand behind their decisions and are accountable for outcomes.

6. Conviction

Persevering in the face of challenges and displaying confidence in decisions comes from having strong conviction. Leaders who have this conviction will excel in their fields. When individuals recognize that a leader is firm in their convictions and believes in themselves, they are more likely to follow that person. The ability to set goals and persevere until they have been achieved is a sign of a true leader.

7. Accountability

Great leaders have the discipline to meet deadlines, fulfill promises, and follow through on commitments. Having the self-discipline to consistently deliver what they say they’re going to deliver and modeling the behavior they want to see in others are two strong leadership qualities that should be encouraged.

8.  Approachability

Leaders must interact with a lot of people in their daily work. The great ones are able to adapt and meet people where they are to make them feel comfortable. Leaders need to be approachable in order to stay in the loop and stay on track toward organizational goals. People are most inclined to approach others whom they trust, which is why leaders must have integrity and an affable demeanor.

9. Competence

Demonstrating skill in a range of areas is essential for leaders to earn the trust and respect of their team. Competence in a leader’s core field is critical, but great leaders seek to gain new skills as the world evolves around them. Continual learning to adopt new skills is a true indicator of a world-class leader.

10. Humility

A world-class leader might be a very skilled and talented person, but they won’t continue to improve and thrive if they don’t keep their ego in check. Don’t confuse being humble with being subdued or timid; it’s about controlling the ego, not eliminating it completely. Remember that humility and confidence are not mutually exclusive.

Conclusion

It’s rare to find an individual who excels in all of these areas, but it is possible to develop leaders with an effective training and development plan that teaches these qualities over time so participants can eventually master them. World-class leaders recognize that there is always room for improvement and will happily take the necessary steps to advance their skill sets. Work with each individual to Identify the qualities that could be better and invest the time and resources to improve them. This could include reading relevant books and articles, taking a course, going to a training event, and, of course, practicing every day.

For more tips on how to become a world-class leader yourself, read The Leader’s Pocket Guide for Leading Yourself, Others & the Organization.

Leadership accountability occurs when individuals reliably deliver on their commitments, showing others they can be trusted to do what they say they’ll do. Leaders further demonstrate accountability by taking responsibility for the outcomes of their actions and decisions and successfully transforming effort into results, whether in person or a virtual environment. As Phil Geldart, founder and CEO of Eagle’s Flight, explains in his book, In Your Hands: The Behaviors of a World Class Leader, leaders at all levels of the organization can demonstrate leadership accountability. Through their behavior and quality of decision-making, they can set the performance standard others want to emulate.

“Let the quality of your work and decisions be the gold standard against which the performance of others comes to be measured.”

“Gold standard” accountability is of such a high quality that others see it as the best possible combination of behavior and judgment, compelling others to follow it. It consists of performance excellence and the mastery of the key skills and behaviors necessary for any job. Drawing on some of the insights from In Your Hands, here are 5 ways to build “gold standard” accountability in leaders at every level of the organization.

5 Ways to Build Leadership Accountability:

Lead by Example

When individuals demonstrate accountability through their actions, they are setting the pace for leadership and performance excellence. They’re also showing others how to be accountable for doing what they say they’ll do. Leaders can be pacesetters and demonstrate accountability by exhibiting the following behaviors:

• Discipline – staying on track and not getting derailed by competing priorities or desires
• Integrity – being honest about the likelihood of delivering on commitments, and apologizing when something goes wrong
• Execution – mastering new skills and behaviors and striving to achieve executional excellence

Develop Accountable Leaders

Training in specific skills and competencies can help leaders understand what it means to be accountable and which behaviors help to demonstrate accountability. By building accountability into your leadership development program, leaders at all levels will learn how to deliver on commitments and then see the importance of being reliable and trustworthy in the eyes of others. Leadership development can also help managers learn how to set and communicate expectations within variable work settings, and how to hold their direct reports accountable for the results they commit to.

Communicate and Share Information

Demonstrating accountability and ensuring it in others also involves sharing information and knowledge that will help others know how to behave in certain scenarios. Individuals learn by watching others and practicing desired behaviors, but they also learn from the advice and guidance of others who are already achieving “gold standard” accountability. For those who manage others, it is also important to communicate the importance of results, so that effort does not get confused with outcomes. A juggling act many have come to bear as they navigate a disrupted work environment, set by Covid.

Build Individual Understanding

At the outset of any initiative or activity, whether virtual or in person, it’s important for individuals to understand expectations, the resources and support available, and what they need to do to be accountable for their part. This helps to avoid the pitfall of over-committing and under-delivering. Some of the tools that can help support individual understanding of the need to be accountable include:

• Mentorship and coaching – help individuals see different behaviors that can help them demonstrate accountability
• Multi-rater assessments – show individuals how their own accountability (or lack thereof) impacts others
• Team meetings – provide an opportunity for regularly reviewing and discussing the progress of everyone’s accountabilities and how they impact the team’s goals and objectives

Require Accountability

To ensure intention leads to actual results, ultimately individuals need to understand the requirement to demonstrate accountability. For individuals who manage others, it’s necessary to set clear expectations, and then ensure there is agreement that a commitment is doable and the goal is obtainable. Lastly, leaders need to insist on the delivery of the committed goal. They can provide support by setting up regular checkpoints to review progress, give timely feedback, and determine additional resources or support that may be needed.

Individuals demonstrate accountability every day—by delivering on commitments and showing in their behavior that they can be relied on to achieve results. When expectations are clear and individuals have the proper skills, knowledge, and resources to perform, they are more likely to show a greater level of accountability. With the help of leaders who model desired behaviors and leadership development and other training that teaches accountability, employees see the difference between effort and results, and learn to deliver both.

It is probably not hard to believe that the top five single factors that cause bad days at work include: a lack of help and support from leadership, negative coworkers, lack of praise or recognition, uncertainty about the organization’s vision and strategy, and busyness/high workload. Fortunately, a leader who effectively coaches their direct reports can positively influence and mitigate all of these factors if willing, aware, and able.

This is especially important in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environment, such as what is currently being experienced all over the world. Fortunately, there are a few best practices leaders can adopt to begin coaching employees in the workplace, whether that is in-person or virtually.

What Is Coaching in the Workplace?

Coaching in the workplace is when a leader addresses performance objectives and helps unleash the potential within a direct report. According to Harvard Business Review, coaching provides an opportunity to act as a sounding board, facilitate transitions, and address derailing behavior. Rather than traditional performance management systems, coaching allows leaders to communicate immediate changes or actions to be taken by employees that can improve the performance of the individual, team, and organization.

3 Steps to Coaching in the Workplace

Now that we have defined what coaching is, let’s discuss how to coach employees in the workplace. Leaders who follow the steps that follow will be able to not only improve short-term results, but improve engagement, inspire loyalty, and encourage future growth and improvement.

Step 1: Model the Behaviors You Want to See In Your Employees

An important initial step to effective coaching is showing individuals what great performance looks like. It’s one thing to tell people how to behave, but another to show them through your behavior. Leaders who “walk the walk” show through their actions how to adapt to change, how to incorporate new processes or behaviors into daily work life, and how to be a reliable member of the team. Ultimately, employees are more likely to be receptive to coaching when they have leaders who live the expected and required values and behaviors every day.

Step 2: Coach Employees In-the-Moment

Coaching is more than merely giving feedback or telling people what to do. Effectively coaching others requires taking an approach that ensures the feedback will be heard, accepted, and acted upon. Great coaches take the time to connect with the people they’re coaching, carefully observe their behavior, and offer new ideas that help individuals make the jump from good to great. Coaching must always be delivered in the right context and at the right time. If it’s not, the coaching is likely to be rejected or ignored.

Many of today’s employees crave in-the-moment feedback and words of affirmation that will help them succeed in day-to-day activities. When employees only hear feedback or get direction during an annual or semi-annual review, it happens after the fact and cannot be as easily worked out with the help of their leader. Conversely, when you provide coaching in the moment – for example, helping someone with a client negotiation as it is happening – the person can immediately apply the feedback to ensure a better outcome.

Now, the best coaches communicate in a way that encourages people to remain open to coaching and willing to take action based on feedback, regardless of whether it happens face-to-face or through a screen. Bear in mind that when coaching, how you communicate feedback will be just as important as what your feedback is. For example, if you need to have a difficult coachable moment with an employee, set up time to do so in private, away from the eyes and ears of colleagues. Then when that time arrives, follow the C.O.A.C.H. framework:

Connect and Communicate: Establish relationships and create connections before coaching so it can be conducted authentically and genuinely.

• • Online Coaching Tip: In the world of remote work, maintaining connection is more important than ever. For those you lead, find creative ways online to stay connected so you always have a relationship status that has “permission to coach.” Impromptu phone calls, notes, and caring questions help demonstrate that you care.

Observe: Always observe and ask probing questions before diagnosing and advising.

• • Online Coaching Tip: This is where most coaching breaks down, so to combat this leaders must be intentional about creating context where they can see team members performing. This requires forethought and making this explicit to the team member otherwise they will default to the leader. As an example; sales leaders need to be deliberate in creating a context to be on calls with their reps where the rep is owning the entire call and not relying on the leader to carry the conversation.

Assess: Gain an understanding of the actual performance of the individual versus the expectation you, or the organization, has of them.

• • Online Coaching Tip: Leaders generally default to one of two extremes, both of which break down learning. The first is that they overly weight context for the reason for poor performance and do not assess team members against what was possible for them to achieve. The other is that they assess team members against an abstract standard that is not possible in context. Accurate assessment is based on critically thinking through what performance was possible for the individual and holding them to that level. Only once they achieve that, then leaders can raise the bar.

Clarify: Clearly distinguish the gap between the expectation and an employees actual performance so they know exactly what to work on.

• • Online Coaching Tip: As leaders we often draw from a deeper well of experience and mental models that allows us to see the competency gap clearly. It can be easy to assume communicating the gap will make it clear to others, but this is rarely the case as they lack the context and framework that we have in our positions. Therefore, take the time to ensure that those you are coaching understand the gap (remember, this often takes longer than you think!). Ensure you plan appropriate time and check for clarity by having your team member explain the gap back to you in their own words.

Explain How-To and Encourage Questions: Having concrete actions that they will be supported in implementing is imperative to having coaching translate into better performance. Whether you provide the actions or facilitate them committing to them is situational, the key is that they are explicit, mutually understood and have a time frame for completion. Mutually agreeing to the anticipated results of doing these steps and encouraging them to initiate with you for support in achieving the outcome is also critical so that they don’t become a check the box exercise but rather a collaboration to improve their results.

• • Online Coaching Tip: In an era of zoom fatigue, leaders face a dilemma in that the best time to coach is immediately after the performance but the mental space to do all 5 steps in the coaching process well requires mental and emotional energy. When faced with this dilemma consider breaking your coaching into two parts. This first happens immediately after the observed performance and deals with assess and clarify. Then ask the person to think about how to improve and commit to giving it thought yourself. At this point, schedule the second part within 48 hours to provide any additional clarity and then tackle how to do it. 

Step 3: Require Action and Results

Coaching is only effective if it results in actual behavior change. You can model and coach all day, but there comes a point when you’ll need to hold individuals accountable for performance outcomes and results. At this stage, the coach needs to require individuals to take the necessary actions to meet performance expectations. This requires ensuring accountability by providing a timetable for reaching specific milestones and by establishing regular checkpoints to review and discuss progress.

Conclusion: Training Leaders to Be Great Coaches Is a Worthwhile Investment

Coaching is a powerful leadership strategy and yet research states that “only about two in 10 managers intuitively understand how to engage employees, develop their strengths and set clear expectations through everyday conversations. In effect, only about two in 10 managers instinctively know how to coach.” What this means is additional training may be needed to equip leaders with the skills, tools, and behaviors they need to start coaching employees effectively. Not to worry though, 86% of companies feel that they recouped the investment they made into coaching plus more on top.

Everyone experiences some kind of conflict in the workplace at some point. Something which Covid has added a realm of complexity to, to not only detect, but also resolve. Conflict can arise in many situations, but disagreements with coworkers commonly cause interpersonal strife. In fact, in an 18-month research study, nearly 100 percent of respondents cited interactions with coworkers as the primary cause of conflict at work. Conflict in the workplace also impacts employee productivity. According to one study, a single employee spends nearly three hours every workweek trying to resolve some kind of conflict. Even worse, unresolved conflicts can impact employee engagement and have negative implications for company culture.

Even with the right strategy, the necessary budget, and the most efficient systems in place, achieving the desired results comes down to a company’s most important resource: people. Keeping a team engaged and excited about their work can be a challenge for leadership at every level, which is why having a motivation strategy is so important.

Even when people are passionate about their work, it’s easy to get bogged down in the daily grind and lose motivation. Understanding why individuals lose motivation and how to overcome those hurdles will help you develop a motivation strategy that keeps employees enthusiastic and engaged. Use these six strategies to inspire your team to go the extra mile.

1. Communicate the “why”

Understanding what is required to complete a certain task or project is just part of the equation. In order for employees to stay motivated, they must also understand why they are doing it. When leaders clearly communicate the overall vision and keep it at the forefront through consistent communication, employees will have a deeper appreciation for the work they are being asked to do. Even the most mundane task can take on new importance when the reasons behind it are understood and embraced.

2. Create a culture of collaboration

People are much more motivated to complete a task or project if they feel that they have some ownership of it. One way to accomplish this is by inviting participation through a culture of collaboration. When employees know that their ideas and opinions are welcome, expected, and heard, they will become more engaged. Individuals who are able to provide input in the earlier stages of development and throughout the course of a project are more likely to be motivated to see it through to the end and do their best work because they have a sense of ownership and pride in the outcomes.

3. Show your appreciation

Although rewards and incentives can be great motivators, sometimes a few words of gratitude can have a much deeper and longer-lasting impact. Individuals want to know that their efforts are appreciated. When leadership acknowledges their accomplishments, both publicly and privately, this genuine praise can go a long way. Don’t wait until a project is finished to show your gratitude and give credit. Acknowledge the late nights, clever ideas, and other positive moments as they happen.

4. Set challenging but realistic goals

Give teams a challenge that will help them grow as individuals and as a team, offering people an opportunity to do work that extends beyond what they have always done. The occasional special project or urgent push to meet a deadline can help recharge a team that feels stuck in the daily routine. They might find different ways to work together, discover a new sense of camaraderie, or develop new skills that they can use to improve other projects. Make sure the goal is realistic and achievable so that the experience is motivating and not discouraging.

5. Provide development opportunities

People get excited when they learn something new, especially when it helps them do their jobs better. Provide ongoing training and development opportunities for both teams and individuals that enable people to continually improve and hone their skill sets. When teams learn something new together, it helps them bond and build new connections. When individuals bring new skills back to the team environment, it can lift everybody up.

6. Create a positive working environment

No matter what motivation strategy you execute, if the daily working environment is unpleasant, it’s difficult for people to get excited about going to work. Think about how each employee spends their day. Do they have the opportunity to take a break in a comfortable, welcoming space? How do coworkers treat each other? It’s up to leadership to create the type of working environment that sparks inspiration and keeps people motivated. This means that leadership has to create an inviting workspace and model the types of behaviors that contribute to this type of culture.

Conclusion

These are just a few examples of the many ways you can motivate and inspire your team. Think about strategies that will be most effective for your teams and make a plan for executing them. Some approaches, such as expressing appreciation and gratitude, can be implemented immediately and become part of the culture. Others, such as implementing a training and development program, will take more time to fully execute. Remember that people are your organization’s most valuable resource and that investing in them can provide invaluable returns.