Be a Coach, Become a Leader
How well we lead and work with others tends to correlate with how well we get along with them. Teamwork is easy when the people we work with are similar to ourselves. Similar is comfortable, after all. Conversely, building unity out of differences, while often resulting in stronger relationships, can be a bit more challenging.
This is true whether we’re working on-site or online. Different personalities clash around urgency, communication, and more. As Indeed outlines here, success can be driven in any work environment when we adopt a coach mindset. By imagining ourselves in a game of strategy, we can analyze opportunities and challenges from a different, perhaps more objective perspective.
The understanding of psychometrics—the measures of mental capabilities and behavioral processes—is how good leaders, like good coaches, use data to navigate individual dynamics on a team to glean the best out of everyone while simultaneously building cohesion.
A coach mindset can help us focus on teamwork, unified strategy, and continuous improvement. By leveraging individual strengths and blind spots—while providing constructive feedback for each—we can form the basis for collective growth. It’s a point emphasized in this TED Talk by executive coach Saba Imru Mathieu.
Skillful navigation of personalities and the nuanced psychometrics thereof helps us build alignment and chemistry on our teams and in ourselves. Understanding what motivates and sustains each other also allows us to improve team culture, as discussed in this podcast with mindfulness teacher Kim Nicol and growth and strategy leader Lawrence Patrick.
Even a peripheral appreciation for the uniqueness of our team as individuals can empower us to create a flourishing environment for everyone—a point illustrated across various films and TV shows from The Mighty Ducks to Ted Lasso.
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
― President John Quincy Adams
Author
by Paul Tsagaroulis, Ph.D. & Faraz Gafoor, MBA
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