"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." - John Quincy Adams.
Last month we started a journey on examining the qualities of a coachable leader.
The foundational mark of a coachable leader is that they understand the concept of spiritual authority.They know that every great leader is a strong follower. Spiritual authority is something that is given by God to a leader who has exhibited faith and obedience in their lives.
2. A coachable leader is 'action oriented.'
There are thinkers and there are doers. Some are idea generators and others are the implementers. Both are invaluable in a team setting because there is nothing more horrendous that implementing a bad idea. The opposite is also true, nothing can be more disheartening than failing to deliver on a great idea.
In my experience I have found three reasons why idea people tend to be difficult to coach:
- Overthinking: Sometimes they get struck in the inner world of overthinking every scenario and find it hard to set specific action steps.
- Sacredness of the Idea: Sometimes they get protective of their idea, in some strange way, the idea becomes sacred and the objective takes a secondary role.
- Fear of Failure: Sometimes they get paralyzed by the fear of failure; gripped with thoughts of all the could go wrong with the project.
As leaders intuitively know, there is a fine line in how long a idea needs to germinate before action needs to happen. Acting too soon can be fatal. Not doing due diligence! Being reactionary instead of thoughtful. Being impulsive and not calculating. All can have disastrous effects on a leader and his team. But acting too late can be demoralizing. Overpromising and underdelivering chips away at your creditability. Indecision causes the loss of momentum. Inactivity generates confusion with those you serve and internally within the team. All of these cripple the morale of an organization. This is why every leader needs a coach who will help them clarify the issues they are facing and help them develop clear action steps to achieve the goal.
The bottom line is that coachable people are those who consistently take action in order to reach a goal. If a leader is just going to talk and not take action consistently, then the leader isn't ready for coaching and probably not for leadership as well. You cannot be a successful leader and consistently be inactive.
The Apostle James wrote, "But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was." (James 1:22-24 NASB)
Reflective Questions:
- What do my team and I need to accomplish today?
- What can I do today to make progress and gain momentum?
- How can I accomplish more in less time with fewer resources?
- What decisions do I need to make to move forward?
- What opportunities can I act upon right now?
- What opportunities will I miss if I fail to act quickly enough?
- What specific steps can I take immediately to get stalled projects moving?
- What did I do today that made a positive contribution to the organization’s success?
Next Time: Coachable people are ready to be stretched
