11/21 2011

Posted in:  Coaching, Leadership

A few weeks ago, I provided my personal list of the characteristics of a great coach.  One of the adjectives on that list is to ensure that as a great coach, that you are purposeful.  What does being purposeful have to do with being a great coach?  Here are the reasons why purposeful is so important to you if you want to be a great coach.

1. Another word for purposeful is meaningful.  If you are using examples of performance that are not meaningful to your employees you will run the risk of losing their trust in your leadership.  Meaningful activities are ones that you have put thought behind.  If something is meaningful, you have considered ways to help the employee that will matter to them.  If things are not meaningful, your employees will not buy into what you are saying.  When you are about to coach an employee, ask yourself, “How is the information or suggestions that I have going to be meaningful to this employee?” If you have trouble answering that question, so will the employee, and your coaching will not be as effective as it could be.
2. Purposeful means relevant.  How relevant is what you are doing to achieving your goals?  I have seen leaders attend meetings that did not help them, participate in training classes that did not achieve results or read through emails that had no significance.  Ask yourself how relevant your task is to what your goals are.  If the task is not relevant, why are you spending your precious time on it?  Your time is too valuable to be spending it on things that are not relevant.
3. When you are being purposeful, you are also focused to the task at hand.  Because something is purposeful, it is usually something of importance.  When it is something of importance, you will have a tendency to be interested and focused in the task.  It is critical as a leader to be focused on your employees.  When you demonstrate that you are focused on them, you are showing them that you care and that what they are doing matters to you.  We all want our leaders to show an interest and to demonstrate care and concern for the issues at hand. 
4. Tasks that are truly purposeful are also enduring and lasting.  Purposeful tasks have a long shelf life and they make a difference to anyone and everyone who is leading your team.  Things that are not purposeful are usually fads and so they come and go.  But things that have purpose are resolute and have a great deal of substance. 

Purposeful leaders analyze what they are doing on a regular basis and ask themselves, “How does this task matter to me, my team and to the overall goals of this company?” Purposeful leaders pause to ask others, “How can we make this task/meeting/project/training more purposeful?” 

MOMENT OF REFLECTION
How purposeful are the items on your to-do list for today? How can you exercise creativity to make any of those tasks more meaningful to you or others around you?

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