Leaders communicate purpose, vision and goals. But no action or change can begin until your people engage to move in the direction you’ve specified.
As the constant companion of change, fear of the unknown must be overcome. Paralysis persists as the assessment of what could be gained or lost continues. If your team cannot visualize the goal, if they can’t see how the future will emerge, then you must help them push through the fear and move.
Once a vision or goal is articulated, leaders go deeper to help their teams “see” where they are headed. When someone does a great job satisfying a customer, what does it look like? When teamwork achieves a goal, how does that look and feel? What behaviors demonstrate initiative or quality assurance? When a sales or production person succeeds, what does that look like?
And since few goals are achieved in one leap, once the direction is established, leaders must remain engaged as their team works through the change process, guiding them through the iterative process of trial and error that constitutes learning. Reaching the goal will take practice, perseverance and encouragement.
Engaging your people in interactive learning looks like: “This step worked well; why is that?” or “How could this be improved?”
Coaching your people through a change process works best when you help them “see” the goal and learn to adapt while striving to achieve it.
How could you improve your iterative coaching process?
What does success look like once this process is improved?
