​Leadership is a journey, not a destination. It is a way of being, not a place to go to. We don't become a Leader by moving into a role in an organization. By role, we may be a Leader and yet not know how to lead. By role, we may not be a Leader and yet be powerfully leading the business function within our influence from good to great. Leadership is an inner journey of personal evolution from good to great that results in us transforming our environment (personal, professional, social) from good to great.

Being a Leader, a Coach or a Parent require the same inner journey of personal transformation for us to effectively lead, coach and nurture our team members, our coachees and our kids to support them on their journey of joyous learning, fulfilling growth and massive contribution.

A Leader does 10X of what they tell their people to do and leads by example. A Coach unconditionally believes in the undeniable greatness of their coachees and holds space for them to fulfil their limitless potential. A Parent unconditionally loves and accepts their kids as they are right now.

A good leader only does 10X of what they tell their people to do and leads by example. A great leader not only does that but also plays the role of a coach and a parent to their people.

A good coach unconditionally believes in the undeniable greatness of their coachees and holds space for them to fulfil their limitless potential. A great coach not only does that but also plays the role of a leader and a parent to their coachees.

A good parent unconditionally loves and accepts their kids as they are right now. A great parent not only does that but also plays the role of a coach and a leader to their kids.

In Gear 1 consciousness, as a Nourisher of our own self, exercising our Agility of Mind leadership muscle, we can lead powerfully by doing 10X of what we tell our people to do. And, that makes us a good leader.

It's important to continue travelling on our good to great journey to:
Gear 2 consciousness, as a Guardian of our own energy and the energy of others, exercising our Being of Service leadership muscle. And, that makes us a better leader and our journey as a parent begins.

Gear 3 consciousness, as a Nurturer of our own self, of others and of life itself, exercising our Communicating Powerfully in the World of Others leadership muscle, we have the inner strength to become an Empty, Soothing, Nurturing Space for our kids, our coachees and our people to fully experience themselves. And, that makes us an even better leader, a better parent and our journey as a coach begins.

In Gear 4 consciousness, as an Awakener, we have the inner strength to unconditionally believe in the undeniable greatness of our coachees, our kids and our people; fully awaken them to their own limitless potential and hold space for them to joyously realize their full potential. And, that makes us a better coach, an even better leader, and an even better parent.

In Gear 5 consciousness, as a Creator, we have the inner strength to unconditionally accept, revere and love our kids, our coachees and our people as they are right now. That makes us a great parent, a great coach and a great leader with each consciousness built up on the previous consciousness; having us feel joyously fulfilled, deeply grateful and divinely blessed through the roles that we are playing.

We use 3 growth levers to progress on our good to great journey:
1. Leadership Depth - This is the journey of inner transformation from Fear Consciousness (Gear 0) to Love Consciousness (Gear 5)
2. Craft Mastery - This is the journey to learn and grow to make a much bigger difference to our customers and our people.
3. Business Excellence - This is the journey to make a massive difference through our work. Our business becomes the playground for our good to great journey.

In today's article, we will spend time learning the craft of coaching to make a bigger difference to our people. The exact same principles can be used for our coachees and our kids.

In the work context, our role as a leader is to coach our people to become A-players and that requires investment of our time. The Meeting Cadence as defined by Verne Harnish and Shannon Susko gives us the opportunity to continuously coach our people. I like Shannon's addition to Verne's Meeting Cadence of 30 minutes weekly one-on-one with each one of our Direct Supportees. I love the phrase coined by Verne for our team members, instead of Direct Reportees. They are our Direct Supportees because we are meant to support them to play their game at A level, and they are meant to support us to play our A level game.

To ensure you have the right people in your team, it is important to create your Organization Function Chart or the FACe tool. In order to coach your people effectively, it is important to create a strategic picture called - Key Function Flow Map. This will help you identify the metrics for each function in your team, which will in turn support you to create a Function Scorecard. The Function Scorecard tells the function owner how to win the game through giving them clarity on - Purpose of the Function, Accountabilities, Competencies, Metrics, and the Core Values and Core Purpose of the organization. 

The game has to be clearly defined and the scoreboard needs to be clearly articulated for them to know how to score runs to win. Without knowing how to win, you cannot coach your people to play at their A level.

Coaching can only begin from Gear 3 Consciousness. Here are key Gear 3 distinctions to remember for begin your journey as the Leader-as-a-Coach:
1. Relationship of Equals
2. Leading with Questions
3. Committed Listener - 90% Listening, 10% Talking 
4. Spiritual Values - Humility, Vulnerable Authenticity, Raw Honesty, Courage
5. Childlike Trust and Faith in the Universe

I will share 2 frameworks to learn how to coach. The first framework is inspired from the book -The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More and Change the Way You Lead Forever by Michael Bungay Stanier

Use these questions to powerfully coach your people and touch, move and inspire them to learn, grow and contribute at A level.

The next framework is a growth tool inspired from Rich Litvin's work. Rich is a master coach. He has beautifully put together a comprehensive Deep-Coaching checklist which has been used to create the RYD Growth Tool for increasing our coaching effectiveness as a leader, as a coach and as a parent. 

I am grateful to have been coached by him for nearly a year in 2017. I still look up to him and continually learn from what he puts out in the world in the form of his writings to forward my own journey as a coach, even as I have moved to another coach to deepen my experience of living and giving.

Download the RYD Deep Coaching Scorecard tool to self-assess yourself on coaching effectiveness and create a growth plan to become a better coach, quarter on quarter.