Coaching Solves Problems

Years in ministry and leadership have revealed to me the power of coaching! I used to think leadership was about giving people tools to lead change, offering methodologies, or creating plans. We are leaders. We have solutions. Right?

While tools are necessary to solve problems, they may not always offer the best approach. When people come to us with a problem, our default is to offer solutions. It’s true with friends, colleagues, team members – all of our people. They may even be brilliant solutions! But, if that individual doesn’t own the problem and the solution, change will not be sustainable. 

"I never cease to be amazed at the power of the coaching process to draw out the skills or talent that was previously hidden within an individual, and which invariably finds a way to solve a problem previously thought unsolvable." 

- John Russell 

Your job as a leader is to draw out the solution from your people. They come to you with their list of problems looking for answers. And, in a crisis that is exactly what you need to give them. But, more often than not, you would serve them better by helping them find their authentic solution. 

Authentic solutions are inside an individual, but they might be hidden. Hidden behind a lack of confidence, confusion, limited resources, incomplete information, fears or many other reasons that keep solutions below the surface.

That’s where coaching comes in. Coaching has the power to draw out what is hidden. 

What makes it powerful?

Listening that really hears, notices the nuances, or mirrors a feeling. Then, bottom-lines the problem, issue, obstacle, doubt, or frustration.

Questions that draw out the insight living just below the surface. Questions that dive deeper to see the situation from different angles.

Facilitating action that emerges from the conversation, guiding next steps and creating the opportunity for your people to own the problem and the solution. 

If you have a desire to be a coaching leader who draws out hidden solutions in your people, I have a special gift for you. The Ultimate Leader Guide: Six Strategies to Fix People Problems or Avoid Them Altogether. Get started on designing your coach approach using the three ways that coaching solves problems:

1. Slowing down to accelerate solutions 
2. Turning problems around through conversation
3. Finding authentic and sustainable solutions

Get access to the Ultimate Leader Guide and add strategies to your leadership toolbox to build the team you've always wanted!