There are a variety of leadership styles and techniques; perhaps as many as there are people and personality types. However, tops among the most effective approaches in collaborative and coaching leadership style is an approach which fosters a growth mindset among team members in the workplace.
The coaching style of leadership is the antidote to command-and-control leadership, enabling your employee’s need to strive, experiment, and grow as individuals and team members. These leaders are very effective in settings where performance or results need improvement. They help each individual within a team to advance their skillset; build their “bench” for additional support; and provide a great deal of guidance to their team. The coaching leadership style is most effective when followers are more responsible, experienced, and agreeable.
Critical to this style of leadership is the promotion of a growth mindset among team members; reinforcing the belief in each of them that their level of intelligence and talents are not fixed and can be improved.
What is a Growth Mindset?
Professor Carol Dweck at Stanford University has found that, when it comes to achieving success, more important than believing in our abilities is the belief that we can improve upon our abilities. While much has been written about how these beliefs shape our individual success and well-being, her latest research suggests that these beliefs also exist within our organizations, and shape our ability to create innovative, risk-taking cultures and have happier employees.
The exact opposite of this is true when an organization promotes a “fixed” mindset by focusing on outcomes over effort; on the results over the people who made them possible.
Dweck’s research has found that employees in growth mindset workplaces are:
- 47% likelier to say that their colleagues are trustworthy
- 34% likelier to feel a strong sense of ownership and commitment to the company
- 65% likelier to say that the company supports risk taking
- 49% likelier to say that the company fosters innovation
Leaders who serve as coaches foster a growth mindset by offering guidance to their team members, providing inspiration and encouragement when needed. They tease out lasting personal strengths and work to grow the next generation of leaders rather than stifling young talent to better their own career. These leaders are aware of the priorities and goals of individuals on their teams because, as a leader, it is their job to align those with organizational goals.
Leaders who coach pave the way for a myriad of benefits from growth in technical skills to increased retention. At its core, a coaching style of leadership simply requires leaders let go of the old model of managing and build meaningful connections with colleagues to help them become more effective through appreciative inquiry, strength-based orientation, and coaching for both performance and development.
Would you like to develop a coaching leadership style to help you promote a growth mindset in the workplace for your team? Would you like to find the help you need to improve your performance as a leader? If so, let’s chat. Click here to schedule your FREE Discovery Call.
