The idea of using coaching as a leadership style to drive and navigate change is all well and good, but some of the fundamental principles of coaching (e.g. questioning, using silence, not providing answers or direction based on experience) don’t at first seem conducive to leading a team through ambiguity. Many organisations have a desire to be coaching-centric in their culture or leadership style, but the reality is that managers often find themselves ‘too busy’ to use a coaching-style and default to micro-management or a more dictatorial approach when navigating change at pace.
However, coaching can be a useful leadership tool to navigate ambiguity, even where extreme agility is needed – the key is to use it appropriately. Most of us know, a coaching style of leadership can unlock incredible outcomes – increased accountability and independence amongst a team, as well as enhanced problem-solving skills and an innovative mentality to name a few. Ultimately, coaching increases performance.
So, how do leaders embrace coaching as a leadership style, even in extremely ambiguous or chaotic environments?
- Listen – really listen. Many leaders default to ‘tell’ not ‘listen’ when facing ambiguity, or perhaps there is a surface level of listening happening while the leader is forming a plan in their head. Taking time to tune into others and actively listen, with a genuine objectivity in terms of the outcome is a great tool in navigating ambiguity. It allows for a clear understanding of the issues at hand and avoids assumptions, which can be dangerous.
- Summarise – coaches summarise what they have heard in a conversation frequently, in an attempt to check understanding and simplify what can be a complex amount of information. This is really helpful in ambiguity, as it continually clarifies what may have previously been seen as muddy or blurred.
- Ask questions – having a bank of questions is a great way to drive clarity from ambiguity. I once took over as the leader of a team who were embracing inordinate amounts of ambiguity. Many were working until 10pm every night and there was a slight ‘glorification of busy’ mindset in the team. When going through their workload, me asking ‘why?’ – ‘why are you working on that?’, ‘why is that a priority?’ was revolutionary in terms of helping them to understand that the work they were doing was neither driving results nor contributing to the bigger picture. Instead they needed to focus their efforts elsewhere and, powerfully, this realisation came from them.
- Dial up curiosity – a build on questions, remaining curious can be helpful in uncovering deeper insights about a problem. Having a goal of truly understanding a problem as a team in the first instance, rather than jumping to solve it quickly, can be extremely impactful when dealing with defining and solving complex or ambiguous problems.
- Use silence – silence is the antidote to chaos. Silence provides not only thinking space but also calm. From silence, great ideas and authentic thinking happen. Silence may feel like time wasted, however silence can bring clarity at pace to cloudy issues.
- Ask for feedback – coaches are aware that it’s not a one-size fits all situation when it comes to coaching style. As a leader in an organisation, the same is true. Asking your team for feedback on your style, genuinely seeking constructive criticism and adapting your style where relevant, can increase your effectiveness as a leader working at pace and through ambiguity, ensuring reciprocal trust and respect is established upfront.
Of course, there will be some situations where coaching is just not appropriate. As I learned on my ILM Level 7 Certificate in Executive Coaching and Mentoring, ‘you cannot coach someone to a bus stop’ – meaning that naturally there are times when clear and precise direction is needed. As a leader, identifying these occasions is key. Some examples include teaching someone how to do something specific, like building an email in a CRM system, crisis management such as a product recall or when responding to a very short-term deadline. However, embracing the leadership techniques above despite a busy, frenetic and chaotic environment can genuinely help drive clarity in identifying and solving problems and ultimately delivering at high performance.