WHAT DO YOU NEED?

What are the most common needs that you have as a leader for yourself or your team? If this question gives you a moment of pause, I hope it also gives you a moment of curiosity and that it inspires you to take the time to ask and attempt to answer the question. A colleague of mine says “100% of unexpressed needs go unmet.”

Needs, while they can be covert, are drivers of performance, connection, creativity and building a cohesive work structure. The challenge with needs is without exploration, it’s easy to miss them or to assume you are addressing the right ones.

Here are common needs that I hear from leaders:

How to best respond to a team member who has an independent vs. an interdependent approach to the work or initiatives?

How best to build trust within a team or department where members come from different professions, cultures, generations or experiential backgrounds?

Navigating conflict.

How to guide through difficulties without discouraging the team?

How to be both strong and compassionate as a leader?

How to build confidence in team members so they use their own best judgement and critical thinking?

How to know if what you are experiencing in your leadership is unique to you or if others in your position experience the same challenges?

When I hear these questions. no matter what leader they are coming from, I know the leader is concerned about lasting solutions instead of the quick fix. In coaching, there are many ways to explore growth and change in these areas.

That’s the benefit of working with a coach, you nor your team members have to just figure it out. By using discovery tools and a coach approach, the growing and learning becomes a part of the coaching process.

What do you need? What does your team need? How will you find out? What will you do next?