The Leadership Coaching Framework should be built Brick by Brick

The practice of a leadership coaching framework reminds me of a story I once read that goes a little like this… A man was walking along a city street and came upon a crew of bricklayers at work. He stopped and asked the first one, “What are you doing?” The bricklayer looked up, shrugged and answered, “I’m laying bricks.” The man continued along until he encountered another worker. He asked her, “What are you doing?” And the worker replied, “I’m putting up a wall.”

The man walked on until he met a third worker. He asked him the same question: “What are you doing?” And the worker replied, “I’m building a cathedral.”

As People Leaders we are responsible for attracting, developing, and retaining talent. The research supports that some of the top predictors of successful talent management is to focus our coaching efforts on the following 4 activities;

1. Be the kind of leader employees will recommend to their friends and family
   Demonstrate commitment to self-improvement as a leader
   Do what you say you will do – stick to your commitments

2. Take the necessary steps to secure the organization’s future
   Rally the troops around common objectives
   Coach your teams to achieve or exceed their targets
   Inspire your team to a higher purpose

3. Create the environment for learning and growth
   Motivate the troops to achieve difficult goals
   Make good use of your team’s skills
   Treat your team as valued members
   Help your team grow
   Don’t tolerate poor performance from team mates

4. Serve your customers well
   Provide quality service and products
   Focus on listening to the customer’s voice
   Collaborate well with your internal customers, cross-functionally

Taken one step at a time, the predictors of success are small and simple acts – just like laying bricks, one on top of another. But when these small and simple actions are combined, you can build teams that are highly committed and high performing, just as surely as you build a cathedral – brick by brick. The important thing to remember is the wisdom of the third bricklayer, whose work was meaningful to him because he worked with the consciousness of the greater purpose behind his task. He worked with the responsibility to;

1. Grow personally
2. Achieve business outcomes
3. Coach a strong team
4. Serve customers and stakeholders

At times these coaching bricks can become overwhelming and a heavy task to execute. If so, take a moment to remember when you are present and when you refocus your coaching efforts, you are privileged to build a legacy, something meaningful, … something bigger than the individual tasks.

Remember the third bricklayer.

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