Over the past few weeks America and the rest of the world has been introduced to a new virus named COVID19, or Coronavirus, that has been dominating our media, culture and organizational dialogue. Not only are we being encouraged to take personal responsibility for our own health and sanitation (washing hands thoroughly, not touching our face, etc.) but we are also seeing many organizations take a strategic approach to working remotely and avoiding gathering together in this season.
 
While we don’t know exactly what the coming weeks and months will bring, what seems certain is that we are walking on a path of uncertainty! So many of these steps are unprecedented and it is times like these that coaching can absolutely be the winning tool in your leadership toolbox. The traditional approach to leadership is effective when the leaders are walking a known path with a knowable destination. What we are experiencing now is more on track with an unknown and even unknowable future…the perfect conditions for coaching!
 
At Leadership Systems, Inc. we’ve been coaching leaders for nearly 3 decades using a model that is designed to breed success in situations where the future is unknown. Coaching is a skill that we utilize to pull the best solutions and ideas from others, specifically the people who are closest to the problems and challenges. This gives us a unique approach to supporting our clients in seasons of uncertainty.

Here are a few ways our history, expertise and passion can help you in 2020:
 
     1. Our Coaching Model: At LSI we see our role as coaches, not consultants. We don’t primarily provide answers, but we facilitate the best answers to come from our coachees. Our coaches have been trained to focus on the person closest to the problem and pull their best thinking. This model is a vital tool to helping our clients achieve success.

   2. Remote Coaching: In this season of minimized travel and face-to-face meetings, many organizations are looking to dip their toe in the water of remote communication for the first time. In our deep history of coaching, the majority of our coaching sessions have been done remotely through phone and video calls. LSI is prepared to support you and your team through effective coaching that can be done from anywhere and to anywhere!

   3. Online Coach Training: Your outlook on this year may be shifting right now, and it is completely normal to search for ways to simultaneously reduce costs and increase productivity. We have created an online video training series called Leadership Systems University that will do just that. You can learn our coaching model and begin to add to your leadership toolbox from the comfort of your office or remote-work-from-home-space.

Regardless of what 2020 will bring for your organization, we are proud to offer unique ways to support your leadership along the way. Contact Leadership Systems today to explore even more custom options for team building, enhancing communication strategies and executive coaching for you and your team.

Recently I took my car to get the oil changed at a new service station in town. As I pulled in to the “stay-in-your-car” bay and the technicians began working under the car the back-and-forth dialogue between the employees piqued my interest.
 
I noticed that not only was the team communicating about every line of the oil change checklist, but they all consistently responded with the same audible response. After each task was announced, the phrase “heard that!” echoed through the station. It didn’t matter whether the task was moving an oil filter from the shelf to the floor, directing a new car into an empty bay, or requesting a different size wrench, every employee joined in the cacophony of “heard that!” as they continued working on their individual tasks.
 
While I sat in my car listening to the ongoing chatter, which must quickly become mundane for the technicians, but was fascinating to me, an outsider, my mind wandered to the various teams I have been on over the years. One of the most crucial aspects of any team is the level of communication that the team members work to achieve. I have been on teams that had very little group communication, and others where there was an unprecedented level of inside language and cultural jargon. But no team that I have been a part of focused enough on what these oil change technicians did exceedingly well: Communication Confirmation.
 
We often see our responsibility when it comes to communication as crafting and sending our message in the clearest way possible, but what would happen if we modeled for others the value of confirming when a message is received? This is a vital part of the coaching process as we offer a version of “heard that” when listening to a coachee by either repeating or rephrasing their statements to make sure that what we heard is what they intended to communicate. Whether you see yourself as a coach with your team or not, the value of confirming that other’s messages have been received, and received accurately, cannot be overstated.
 
What would it mean for your team if you practiced this “heard that” mindset?

How would it impact you if others on your team took the time to confirm what they heard you say?

What can you do this week to move the needle on team or organizational communication to minimize miscommunication and maximize the cohesion that comes from accurate communication?