Being mindful is a complex activity. A mindful existence requires us to be actively and consciously aware of our surroundings,
perceptions, feelings, state of mind, physical body and relationships. Mindfulness further requires an understanding and mastery of our ultimate responsibility to choose in each and every moment.
When interacting with others, there is a special attention on our choice of language and our choice about when to speak and when to listen. As someone who spends a lot of time teaching leaders to
coach, I am keenly aware that a coaching approach to leadership requires a shift into mindfulness.
Let’s take the choice to commit to less talking and more listening. There are two choices at the core of how a leader chooses their leadership style, depicted in
this chart: do I focus on the problem or the solution and do I spend more time telling people what to do or do I choose to listen more and ask questions. As you can see from this diagram, leaders
who coach choose to focus on the solution while also choosing to listen and ask questions rather than telling someone what they think should be done. It takes mindfulness to make both of these
choices, and it is not easy. In fact, I often refer to this central challenge as getting over the coaching hurdle. Let me explain why.
Getting Over the Coaching Hurdle
First, consider the choice to focus on the solution rather than the problem. In school, most of us are trained to solve problems. That is certainly true of the
typical curriculum taught to MBA students. Many leaders would describe themselves as pragmatic problem solvers who get stuff done. They think they are paid to solve problems and at face value,
this is certainly true. It is also true that we are psychologically primed to be on the lookout for problems, danger and risk. Neuroscience is showing us that there is an instinctual bias to spot
problems and avoid them or otherwise minimize their negative impact on us. We are designed to spot problems. Focusing on solutions instead is an act of will that requires a mindful choice. This
orientation is so unusual that one of the descriptors of people who regularly focus on solutions is “positive deviant”. Letting go of our natural tendency to defend against problems and actively
choose to find solutions is indeed a choice that for most of us requires a high degree of mindfulness.
But in my work helping senior leaders adopt a coach approach, the biggest hurdle is actually the choice to hold back on telling someone your opinion and advice, and
choosing instead to listen and ask questions to draw the solution out of the person who brought you the problem to be solved. This conscious act of holding back, what most of us would recognize
as “taming our advice monster”, is actually what leaders in our time-deprived workplaces cite as their biggest challenge. This is doubly difficult because the people bringing us their issues to
be solved are usually more than happy to have us take on responsibility for fixing the situation.
Mindful Choices at the Heart of a Coaching Mindset
Deciding to do more of one thing and less of another is a helpful frame for leaders who want develop their leadership abilities. I have yet to see someone be able
to tame their advice monster overnight. The same is true of learning to focus on solutions rather than staying stuck in the details and drama of a problem. The neuroscience of change actually
indicates most of us find it easier to nudge ourselves and others into new behaviors using a “more of this” and “less of that” frame rather than the “stop, start and continue” behavior frame
often used to give leaders feedback.
Want to be a more effective leader? Then consider these mindful choices for your own leadership beliefs and behaviors:
- Less talking, more listening
- Less telling, more asking
- Less judgment, more curiosity
- Less focus on the problem, more focus on solutions
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Less focus on advice, more focus on expanding the thinking of another to find their best answer
These leadership behavior choices illustrate that a coaching mindset is a mindset of mindfulness. Practice them every day and you will soon find yourself enjoying the fruits of empowering others
to be their best because you demonstrated the mindful discipline to do less talking and more listening.
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Tom Rausch is an executive leadership coach and the developer of Coach2Lead, a blended learning program designed to help leaders at all levels create a culture of high performance through coaching. He works helping senior
leadership teams in large global organizations create great cultures where employees can flourish, and he also helps launch fellow change-agents who wish to live a life of maximum impact. His
work taps into the deepest values and highest purpose alive in each of us, weaving bridges to a new paradigm of business where people, planet profit and purpose are the common measures of
business success. Tom’s favorite mindfulness activity is playing with his grandchildren.
You can contact Tom directly at: tom@leadershipbeyondlimits.com
His LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomrausch
His Twitter profile: https://twitter.com/tcrausch
@tcrausch