Friday, September 29, 2006

Leadership Reminder

I just found this list presented by Scott Hodge. It is a great reminder for leaders on the difference between coaching and just the "gitter done" mentality. Read these and see where you fall some of the time and/or most of the time.

A few differences between a "tasking" mentality and a "coaching" mindset.
  1. Tasking focuses on WHAT. Coaching focuses on WHY. A good coach always explains the "why" behind the "what." If a person is only in tune with the "what", they will never catch the vision and purpose behind it and therefore will not be able to fully reproduce themselves and the type of culture that we value.
  2. Tasking focuses on a job well done. Coaching focuses on WHY it was done well. A coach explains WHY the job was done well. The impact of being specific in your praise towards someone else increases the impact more than we can imagine.
  3. Tasking sees people as a tool to get a job done. Coaching sees every opportunity as a chance to better others and to build relationships. The relational aspect is huge! Because........people don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care.
  4. Tasking focuses on HOW the job was done wrong. Coaching always corrects by going back to the vision/mission.

If we can help people identify for themselves where they went wrong or dropped the ball by bringing them back to the vision/purpose of the environment, the response will almost always be more positive. This can be accomplished by asking two simple questions: "Did we hit the target?" and "Why or why not?"

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Chris,

This will preach. I am in the middle of trying to restructure Cornerstone for more effective leadership. This "coaching" piece is a huge part of it. Many times people see themselves as leaders when in reality, they are just "giterdoners". There is a huge difference, and the Kingdom can't be realized with "giterdoners". It takes real leaders who are real coaches. Good stuff...God stuff.

Chris Whitehead said...

Brett,

I think you are correct. I hired a coach for myself a while back. It is good to have someone that can help keep the leader of leaders focused on the Kingdom and not just on getting things done in order to look important and/or busy.

Keep up the good work. I am excited about the things you are doing at Cornerstone! God is using you in extraordinary ways.

Anonymous said...

And also with you!