A coaching culture

- Imagine you just finished a presentation to your company's senior leadership team. During the meeting, you shared ideas on proposed changes to the annual budget process. Your boss saw the potential to streamline the process which would save time and money for the entire organization and that's why she set up the meeting. You felt it went well and had a brief conversation with a few leaders shortly after the meeting. The feedback included, your boss praised you for sticking to the agenda while addressing each person's concerns. She said time is a senior leader's most precious resource so presenting within the time allotted was critically important. The VP of finance liked your ideas but said there could've been more details around the estimated time savings and how that impacts the bottom line. He told you, doing this would win the CEO over more quickly. The head of sales pointed out that you said um quite a bit. She suggested you work on eliminating fillers like that in order to project more confidence. This is an example of a coaching culture in action. Each leader shared his or her perspective on what you did well or what could be better in the future. Each took the extra step to explain why something was important from their viewpoint. Based on what you learned from that meeting and the senior leaders, next time you go into a meeting with that same group, you'll have three concrete things to focus on that will help ensure success, brevity, more financial details, and eliminating um to project confidence. Making these tweaks not only helps your delivery in a specific presentation, it contributes to your overall professional growth. In this scenario, the leaders didn't just talk about coaching, they lived it. The few minutes it took to convey their thoughts is viewed as an investment in you because they recognize your professional development helps you and the entire organization. What about yoU? This type of feedback isn't limited to senior leaders. You can have this type of impact on the people you interact with. It starts with the belief that each person's professional growth benefits the entire organization. But belief isn't enough. Next comes your willingness to offer candid feedback. This takes courage because you don't know how someone will respond especially if you point out something that could've been done more effectively. Imagine working for an organization where the following are the norm: each person is concerned for every other employee's personal and professional growth, each person assumes the best in others, there is a recognition that the better each person performs, the better the organization performs. An organization that operates like this is not just a dream. It starts with simple choices that will lead to more employee engagement, cohesion, and better results. This is what underlies a coaching culture. Each person brings his or her unique perspective, experiences, and skillset to work everyday. They use these tools to help people grow for their own good and improve corporate performance.