Coaching for Chapter Leaders Based on “Effective Coaching” by Myles Downey

Synergistic Relationship Individuals join organizations to realize some of their goals Financial Learning Making a difference Organizations hire individuals to help fulfill its mission and reach its goals Strategic Mission/vision

As a chapter leader, as well as in the workplace, there are three skill areas that you will need to use to assist individuals achieve their goals and benefit the organization: Leadership Management Coaching

Overlapping Spheres of Influence

What is Leadership? Leadership is the element in your role that is concerned with the FUTURE Strategic planning Succession planning Vision Values As chapter leaders, your role as leaders include the chapter strategic plan, succession planning and keeping your volunteers and fellow leaders mindful of the vision, mission and values of the organization. Values: Member centric; flawless execution; forge powerful partnerships Vision: MPI will be the pivotal force in positioning meetings and events as a key strategic component of an organization's success. Mission: Meeting Professionals International is the leading global association that defines and shapes the meetings and events profession

Management is the part of your role that deals with current operations What is Management? Management is the part of your role that deals with current operations Finances Tactics Standards Rules and legal obligations Your management role as chapter leaders is ensuring that you are accomplishing the tactics set out in your strategic plans, that you have created a budget and are tracking expenses and revenues; that you are complying with the minimum expectations of MPI HQ; that you are legally compliant with your bylaws and with any government regulations above and beyond those bylaws (such as having a Privacy Policy).

What is Coaching? Coaching is a process of helping another individual realize their inner potential, delivering fulfillment to both the individual and the related organization. Motivation Excellence Achievement Intrinsic learning Intense satisfaction Coaching is the part of your role that is probably the least understood. It can overlap with your leadership function perhaps particularly in the area of succession planning. In being an effective coach to certain volunteers, you will likely increase their success, and encourage their continued involvement in the organization.

“Coaching is the art of facilitating the performance, learning and development of another” Myles Downey Effective Coaching

Coaching is NOT… Leading Managing Instruction Mandating Disciplinary Giving advice Offering opinions

A Coach Does Not Need… To be right To be the expert To know the “right” answer To be in control To “fix” it To heal it or make it better You don’t have to know a lot about the topic you are coaching. Think of many sporting coaches. Coaches are effective because they leverage the individuals own knowledge, talents and expertise, not their own. This is not about instructions or advice.

A Coach Needs… To remove any “interference” an individual might be experiencing in order to realize that individual’s own extraordinary innate abilities

What is Interference? Interference is anything that distracts the individual from being successful: Fear Lack of concentration Anger Boredom Trying too hard Lack of self-confidence Coaching tries to take an individual from “Self 1”, which is the part of the individual that has a lot of interference and gives itself instructions, to “Self 2”, the one who performs the action. The author describes “Self 1” as: the voices of our parents or those in authority. Self one seeks to control Self 2 and does not trust it. Self one is fearful, doubtful, distrustful and tense. “Self 2” is described as the whole human being with all its potential including an amazing capacity to learn. It is relaxed, trustful and has a high degree of focus.

Mentoring vs. Coaching Coaching is not mentoring. A mentor is usually long-term, while a coach is for immediate performance issues.

How Do I Coach? The GROW Model GROW stands for : GOAL Reality Options Wrap Up Of course, you need to set the topic first!

TOPIC This is setting the boundaries for the discussion: Scale Importance Emotional significance Understand specifically what the person wants to talk about Questions can be simply: What do you want to discuss today? And then some questions that clarify exactly the topic. Use paraphrasing or summarizing to let the individual know you have understood, or to give them to opportunity to clarify.

GOALS Establish the desired outcome of the conversation Identify and agree to a number of achievable outcomes within the session This has a huge impact on the outcome of the coaching session. You are trying to establish the outcome of the conversation, or what the expectation is of what will be achieved during the session. This is typically an action step, a plan, or simply a greater understanding of the problem. You wouldn’t, for example, be able to assist them to achieve the signing of a million dollar contract within the confines of the conversation, but you could help them set an action plan to achieve it.

REALITY Get an accurate picture of the problem Discuss and become more aware of all aspects of the topic The goal for the coach is simply to UNDERSTAND (not to fix it, offer guidance, advice or conclusions!) To understand, be curious! Ask questions. Listen! The purpose of listening is to understand, which generates understanding and awareness in the person being coached. It is important that you do not try to solve the problem for them. This is what you will instinctively want to try and do! Instead, follow the interest of the person being coached. Ask questions such as: What is that? What is the purpose? What is your intent? Who said that, to whom? Who else is involved? Who are your team members? Where are you stuck? When exactly are you doing this? How do you do that? How much? Don’t be afraid of silence. This might mean that the person is thinking. Paraphrase and summarize to ensure that your understanding is complete.

OPTIONS Draw out a list of possibilities that address the goals Encourage the person to think. Do not think for them Do not judge or evaluate the options Like a brainstorming session By “draw out”, do not add to the list yourself. Ask questions to aid the person in becoming more aware of possibilities. It is useful to be able to group, paraphrase or summarize some of the things that were said in response to the questions you were asking earlier ( a recap). Some questions might be: You mentioned a, b, and c. What option is the most interesting? Do not use the word “important”. “Important” is a ranking with emotional attachments.

WRAP UP Have the person being coached select the most appropriate option Agree to the next steps Check commitment Options generated in the previous step are evaluated and judged. Again, you are there not to offer advice or solutions. Get them to recap what they have agreed to and set measurements against that. If YOU recap, they may not have the understanding or buy-in to what you have been discussing. For example: Could you please tell me exactly the plan you have told me you will do? Do you need any other resources to help you achieve that?

When to Coach Performance Reviews Team setting (to generate buy-in for all team members) Individually In conjunction with set tasks This can also be an informal process. You can use this technique in the hallway with colleagues, with your children (probably easier with someone else’s children!) , with your spouse. You can also (with permission) coach “up”, that is, to persons who have management authority over you. Coaching is complementary to management and leadership. For example, as part of your management role you will need to ensure that volunteers accomplish their objectives. While helping them set those goals is a management function, the “HOW’ of how they are going to achieve them is a coaching function.

When Not to Coach When your task is to manage or lead, not coach When the person is not willing to be coached In order for coaching to be successful, the other person needs to be accepting of the process. If they are not, there is no buy in and this is the ultimate interference.

Coaching is Successful When… There are both action and awareness: Clear goals have been set Understanding is achieved “Interference” is gone There is a balance between the skill level and the desired outcome When the interference is removed and the person begins to link their thought and action, is sometimes called being in “the zone” or “flow”. The person is able, almost intuitively, to know exactly what to do next.

A Coach is successful when… The individual or team they are coaching is successful at attaining a higher level of performance. It is not the coach who “wins”. Coaching is not a role for anyone expecting a high level of recognition or accolades. Coaches are only successful if those that they are coaching are successful…in that way, it is like living vicariously through someone else’s actions.

Coaching for Teams Coaching for teams is, very specifically, to help them achieve their set goals and that of their organization ALL activities must help achieve goals Coaching teams is similar to coaching individuals, but multiplies it by team dynamics Each person needs to be heard, and consensus and “team” must be built Teams are challenging to coach because of the number of people involved. Instead of coaching one person through what can be seen as their “two halves, Self 1 and Self 2” – the person who has interference and the person who has been successful removing that interference – the entire team must get to this point while working through the dynamics and interactions, not always positive, of the team. This is what you as chapter leaders typically face in working with your Boards and committees, so this next section is about coaching for teams.

But potential is contagious too! Doubt Doubt is a very contagious form of interference. To a team, it can be paralyzing and can quickly evolve into panic. But potential is contagious too! Teams are very capable of “self coaching”. This can be negative, in terms of escalating doubt, or “group think”, when people tend not to disagree with one another in order to maintain the status quo and not create “waves”. . But it can be positive too.

Potential is Contagious Potential is contagious. It also can allow a team to add up to more than the sum of its individual parts as unique talents are exploited and complemented.

Team Interference Lack of trust in other team members Competition between members; rivalry Fear of looking ridiculous or uninformed Need for attention Hidden agendas Lack of understanding of goals Absence of process and ground rules I think the above list is probably a pretty accurate one of how many Board members actually feel about themselves and their colleagues. This is likely even more true for new Boards and new volunteers. The aura of uncertainly – and therefore the amount of interference – can be very high.

Teams Controlling Interference: “Team Think” Absence of hierarchy Open conversations Focus Desire to understand Creativity and innovation Big (but achievable) goals Feedback sought and given Mutual accountability To achieve “Team Think” (not “group think”) you can start off the year by establishing some ground rules of how you will operate as a Board. For example: Discussions at the Board will be open. Everyone is encouraged and expected to contribute. Board members will not make personal attacks. Once decisions at the Board have been made, everyone on the Board will support that decision publicly. The role of the Chair (President) is to facilitate conversations. In this sense, they can almost be seen as coaching each Board meeting.

Elements of Successful Teams Top three elements of successful teams: Who: know them enough that you can trust them and know their goals What: know the team’s goals and what success would look like if achieved How: agreed on processes (strategy, communication, ground rules)

Reducing Interference Create a common vision Agree on a process (strategy, communications, ground rules) Disclosure of personal goals (builds trust) Identification of internal and external obstacles Recognize and discuss conflict This is the role of teambuilding and strategic planning exercises within the chapter. It has the effect of both reducing interference and giving focus to the team. It helps everyone become more familiar and comfortable with the “Who”, “What” and “How” elements.

Stages of Teams Stage 1: Pretence that everyone is on the same page Stage 2: Disagreement, conflict, confusion Stage 3: Letting go of individual “rights” and learning to listen Stage 4: Fully present team

Stage 1: Pretence The belief is that everyone should “get along” and be in agreement To preserve this precarious balance, people pretend The result is that no-one is happy and the team will not perform well. This stage has uncomfortable undercurrents running through it that are probably obvious to everyone.

Stage 2: Conflict Individual disagreements will arise Tendency is to retreat back to stage 1 and pretend everything is OK Individuals try to convert others to their point of view “Camps” can evolve in this stage Teams do not perform well Although this is an uncomfortable stage, it indicates that the team is evolving. Individuals are more likely to share their true thoughts although it might be perceived negatively.

Stage 3: Losing the Individual Individuals need to listen and give up on their “positions”, acknowledging differences Individual positions move to team interests Very difficult stage: may try to impose order through committees, task forces, etc. leaving the team with unresolved differences This is probably the MOST uncomfortable stage, but it also has the most potential to move the team to a higher performing level.

Stage 4: High performance team In this stage, the team is able to: Focus on task Be creative, innovative Decisions easily made Team is aligned with goals High level of trust If your team is ever reluctant to leave the room after finishing…you probably have achieved this level!

Team Cycle Teams will naturally cycle through these stages Once teams get adept at getting to stage 4, they will get there more often and stay there longer Coaches can simply notice the stages and work through them or can explicitly reveal the model to the team, to help them understand the process

GROW Use the GROW model for teams the same way as you would with an individual It will be more complex but the principles remain the same Ask the question: How can I help my team be brilliant today?

The GROW Model Review the model.

Philosophy of Coaching “When people are achieving their goals, when those goals have some meaning and when learning and developing is part of the process, enjoyment ensues. These three components, achievement, fulfillment and joy, are interlinked and the absence of any one will impact and erode the others. Learning without achievement quickly exhausts one’s energy. Achievement without learning soon becomes boring. The absence of joy erodes the human spirit.” Myles Downey

How will I help my team be brilliant today? Last Word The only way to become adept at coaching is to do it. How will I help my team be brilliant today?