In order to be an effective people manager or team leader, you need to be able to engage your team at a deeper level.
Often, this translates to helping them to take charge of their long term career-health.
Whether it’s giving feedback on their strengths and inclinations, or providing guidance on the areas they should pursue, Career Agility Coaching is a skill that can help retain your staff, motivate them and allow them to grow and develop themselves professionally.
But many leaders don’t quite know how to be a Career Agility Coach. In fact, many avoid having ‘that conversation’ because it is something that require a fair amount of skill, training, and finesse.
That’s why today, I wanted to share some of my ‘insider secrets’ about being a great Career Agility Coach with you that I’ve learnt over the years…so, here goes!
1. People don’t care how much you know unless they know how much you care.
Very often, when we go into coaching mode, the ‘problem-solving’ part of our brain kicks in (especially for us guys). We want to solve the challenges at hand and because of our experiences in life, we can see what we think the real issues are and have some good ideas on how to tackle them head on – right away!
However, until you’ve established a relationship and level of trust with your staff, they will never pay heed to whatever advice you dispense, no matter how clever, true or wise it is.
The individual you are advising needs to feel safe that the personal information they share with you does not get broadcasted over the water-cooler the following day and that the advice you furnish does not have a hidden agenda to it. Only then will a meaningful conversation even begin.
In other words, they need to know that you are coming from a good place and that you care. To achieve this, you have to be authentic, honest and sometimes, vulnerable yourself.
Without the trust of your staff, career conversations become nothing but checkboxes that are needed to be ticked by HR with no real outcomes at all.
2. If people aren’t ready, they won’t listen – even if they need the advice badly.
Early in my headhunting career, I saw someone who was clearly making a bad career choice.
She was already struggling in her role in a Recruitment firm as a Researcher and was offered a role as a Consultant in a bigger firm where she was required to do a lot of Sales Generation.
I told her it was not a wise move as Sales required an entirely different set of skills and that company was known for their “hire ’em, burn ’em out then fire ’em” practice. Instead of thanking me for my ‘sagely’ advice, she turned around and accused me of being a busy-body and a nasty person for breaking her dreams.
Indeed, very much later, things didn’t work out for her and she got into a lot of trouble because of that move.
I’ve learnt that if someone isn’t ready to receive Career Advice, we should refrain from handing any out as sometimes, some people need to learn things the hard way. They will come to you when the time is right, if at all.
3. Focus on the questions, not on the answers
A mentor of mine once said, “We often focus on getting the right answers that we never stop to ask whether we’re asking the right questions – after all, the right answer to the wrong question is still WRONG.”
Experienced coaches always ask the tough questions. Our favourite one also happens to be the late CNN host Larry King’s most powerful interview tool – it is the simple word, “Why?”.
When an individual is forced to explain, justify or even defend his position, a lot of insights can be released and assumptions demolished, often at the same time.
When made to answer the ‘Why?’ question, hidden motivations and fears are surfaced and these golden nuggets can lead you to uncover the subtle truths behind decisions and motivations.
I once had a client who was very focused on accelerating her career to the detriment to her health. She was clearly burning out and it was not sustainable, yet she wanted to continue expanding her portfolio and job title.
I had to drill deep into her psyche to find out why and she finally realised that she was competing for her father’s approval.
You see, her older sister who was his favourite, was a very successful lawyer and she didn’t want to lose out. When she realised the cause, she gave herself permission to step back and managed to re-evaluate her entire Career Strategy.
Sometimes, the old saying about God giving us two ears and only one mouth so we can listen more and speak less rings true. Ask the right questions, then listen to what is said, then probe to uncover what is not said.
Being a good Career Agility Coach is not easy, but also, not too difficult if you’re willing to learn.
We all know it’s going to be an essential Leadership Skill we all need to master, and practice makes perfect.
If you would like to learn more about this unique ability, do reach out to us as we are planning a new Program to train Leaders to become effective Career Agility Coaches!